Day 18: Your Favorite Dialogue

[a_t_rain]

I was tempted by the "willow song" scene with Desdemona and Emilia, but I think I've got to go with the future Richard III seducing Lady Anne (and the audience).

Ian McKellen as Richard.

Andrew Jarvis as Richard (continued here).



The dialogue in this scene is like setting off a string of firecrackers, and it's so much fun that even though you know it's going to turn out disastrously, you totally have to go along for the ride and root for Richard. Taken out of context, the dialogue could come straight out of Much Ado or Love's Labour's Lost -- it's got all the snap and wit of the comedies, only with a strong undercurrent of menace that makes it all the more sexy:

Duke of Gloucester. Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
Lady Anne. Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man:
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
Duke of Gloucester. But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
Lady Anne. O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
Duke of Gloucester. More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed-evils, to give me leave,
By circumstance, but to acquit myself.
Lady Anne. Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man,
For these known evils, but to give me leave,
By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.

Lady Anne gives as good as she gets through most of this scene -- she's a worthy opponent, and that matters. She knows better, and so do we, but damn, Richard's hard to deny, especially when he places himself at her mercy. And so, little by little, he beats her down...

Lady Anne. I would I knew thy heart.
Duke of Gloucester. 'Tis figured in my tongue.
Lady Anne. I fear me both are false.
Duke of Gloucester. Then never man was true.
Lady Anne. Well, well, put up your sword.
Duke of Gloucester. Say, then, my peace is made.
Lady Anne. That shall you know hereafter.
Duke of Gloucester. But shall I live in hope?
Lady Anne. All men, I hope, live so.
Duke of Gloucester. Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
Lady Anne. To take is not to give.

But she is so, so SOLD by the end of this scene. And then Richard turns to the audience, and pulls out all the same stops with us that he just pulled with Anne -- the acerbic wit, the appeal to pity, the hints that we're special and are being taken into his confidence -- and we're sold too, despite the fact that we've just witnessed his modus operandi and he's just told us it's all a con job. Because Richard can do that. And it's awesome.



Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play
Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line