Shakespeare's plays have been interpreted and performed in different formats to appeal to modern society and culture. King Richard III by Shakespeare (1593), is an Elizabethan historical play, describing King Richard's Machiavellian rise to power. Al Pacino's "Looking for Richard" (1996) is an educational docu-drama that integrates a collage of actors' and scholars' perspectives, along with improvised vox pops with American audiences to make Shakespeare accessible to the public. Looking for Richard aims to “communicate a Shakespeare about how we feel and think today”. Al Pacino integrates key ideas from Shakespeare's work and the Elizabethan era, including the importance of religious morality and Machiavellian ideas, and translates them into American culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "King Richard III" by Shakespeare, highlights the pursuit of power and its consequences. In the early Elizabethan period, audiences were familiar with Machiavellian ideas including “The Prince: Politics Has No Relation to Morals,” which contained ideologies including “Politics has no Relation to Morals” and “It is better to be feared than loved." The Elizabethan era was in a time of tension between free will and providentialism, and religious ideologies are a major theme in the play. In Act 1, scene 2, Richard courts Anne, whose father-in-law and brother had been murdered. Shakespeare portrays Richard as a Machiavellian character and as the protagonist who has a secular worldview. In the scene that takes shape in the stichomitic dialogue and soliloquy, religious imagery is used in “Thou hast made the earth happy thy hell” to exemplify Richard's abandonment of religious morality, motivating his evil behavior to this cause. Shakespeare also uses an antithesis, to criticize Richard's ambitions for power, while the dichotomy between God's earth and hell reinforces the extent to which the Elizabethans viewed morality, in terms of extreme positions. Once Anne leaves the stage, in a soliloquy Richard proclaims, “Was ever a woman wooed with such humor? A woman with this humor has been defeated”? Shakespeare's incorporation of anaphora through the repetition of “Was ever,” along with the repeated rhetorical questions, almost forces the audience to admire his rhetorical skill, despite his cruelty, making us complicit in his intrigues. Shakespeare involves us through the abandonment of our conscience, in order to portray the corruption of humanity by power. Looking for Richard is set in a secular society, so Pacino focuses on Richard's ambitions and how far he will go to achieve power, rather than on religious tensions. . In the scene where Anne is courted by Richard, the use of medium camera angles and turning away are used to reinforce the fact that Anne is subservient to the powerful Richard. Al Pacino skillfully uses chiaroscuro through the use of shadows and lights, to contrast the dark and monstrous Richard with the innocent Anne. The omission of sentences about Richard's physical deformity is integrated into the scene, so as to make the play suitable for modern society, focusing the source of Richard's wickedness on his psychological state, rather than his physical deformities. A voiceover is used to give the audience an understanding of the context of the play, while also explaining why Anne fell in love with Richard so easily. “She needs protection, she was on the losing side in the Wars of the Roses, she is young,without a husband, she has no future.” The scholars are used in this particular scene not only for additional information, but also for comedic purposes (“Why does the scholar get to talk to the camera? /Scholar/: “I really don't know why?”). Although comical, this brings up the idea that there is a power struggle between the actors and the academics in the text. AlPacino portrays Shakespeare's message that the pursuit of power corrupts humanity, in a form accessible to the community, through the search for one's understanding of the Elizabethan context. In Act 1 Scene 4 and Act 2 Scene 1, the themes of morality and conscience is prominent in the scenes where Clarence is murdered. Prophecies and religious beliefs played an important role in Elizabethan society, which centered on religious morality. In Act 1 Scene 4, Clarence's dream/prophecy, which occurs while he is locked in the Tower of London, is filled with negative visual imagery and biblical allusions. This is evident in “I Saw 1000 Scary Idiots” and “I Was in Hell.” Later in the scene, when the assassins decide how to kill Clarence, the corruption of conscience through the pursuit of power is clear. The murderers, whose conscience “brought forth a kind of remorse,” were corrupt and had turned to the “Duke of Gloucester's Purse,” reinforcing the fact that conscience can be corrupted by greed and power. Biblical allusion is significant in this scene and is used when Clarence warns, “Do not commit murder.” After killing Clarence, Shakespeare puts into practice a biblical simile, “Like Pilate, I would wash my hands / of this most grievous murder,” to warn the audience of the harm that comes from ignoring one's conscience and morality. Al Pacino reshapes key themes and values ​​for modern audiences, whose morality is informed not by religion, but rather by pop culture. In the same scene where Clarence is murdered in the Tower of London, Alec Baldwin, who plays Clarence, is famous for playing heroic roles in Hollywood, while Al Pacino is known for his complex anti-hero roles. This allows the audience to see Clarence as morally correct, juxtaposed with the morally corrupt Richard. Pacino uses omission to vernacularize the battle between providentialism and secularism, in a simplified scenario of good versus evil, appealing to the secular audience. The dichotomy between good and evil is further symbolized by the juxtaposition of clothing, with only Clarence wearing white, while the sinister Richard wears black. The blood support can also be seen as a metaphor, as the murderer will forever be stained with innocent blood. Pacino connects with his modern audience on the issue of polarized religious views displayed by politicians in today's world, while the omission of religion throughout the scene makes the mode more relevant to all cultures and social classes. In Elizabethan times, people were superstitious about dreams. They were often believed to have prophetic properties. In Act 5, scene 3, all the ghosts of Richard's victims appear to him in a dream, wishing good luck to Richmond and death to Richard. The scene takes place in a split scene, with Richard and Richmond both appearing on stage, representing simultaneous events. Shakespeare uses epistrophe and isocolon through the repetition of the mantra “Refrain and Die”, to emphasize Richard's misdeeds, while at the same time foreshadowing his impending battle. Richmond, the deus ex machina of the play, is glorified and praised by the ghosts. Richard comes to realize that he is actually a murderer, an epiphany, in a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy: “Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am. Shakespeare maintains textual integrity, with the structure of"..