Semantics of Conscience in Richard III: Worm, Coward, Witness

The article surveys a number of meanings of the polysemantic word “conscience”, which defines the religious and moral concept of Shakespeare’s Richard III. The biblical roots of these meanings are shown, to which Shakespeare returned his public over well-known idioms, including the origins of the proverb from Erasmus' Adagia “Conscientia mille testes“. Studying Shakespeare's three early correlations of conscience with cowardice (“coward”), which will become a part of proverbial language only after Hamlet, the author reveals the original content of this comparison, its connection with the theme of “conscience” and the “thoughts” of the pagans as a “witness” in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 2:15). We come to the conclusion that it is this dual complex (separation of conscience leading to repentance, and thoughts as awareness without repentance) that predetermined two divergent vectors of reading the “conscience – coward” verbal link in Richard III, then in Hamlet and after. This duality often leads to ambiguity, paradoxical interpretations, misunderstandings. Meanwhile, of the two vectors for Shakespeare only one is true in each case, and it depends on the meaning of the word “conscience”. Mentioned with annoyance by the Murderer “conscience” which “makes a man a coward” (I, 4, 133–134), is a person’s susceptibility to the divine (moral) law named “conscience”. The same with “Conscience is but a word that cowards use” (V, 3, 309) – the teaching of Christ that irritates the usurper-Richard. Whereas the “coward conscience” (V, 3, 179) of a tyrant who wakes up in a cold sweat is no longer conscience, but a “coward”-mind that gives rise to fear of retribution. The article also provides arguments for interpreting the corresponding expression in Hamlet (III, 1, 83).

Keywords

meanings of the word “conscience”, Richard III by Shakespeare, conscience and consciousness in the New Testament, “Conscientia mille testes”, biblical roots of Erasmus’ proverb, methapor conscience-“witness” in the Epistle to the Romans, meaning of the comparison “conscience – coward” in Hamlet

Received

27.06.2023

Publication date

28.06.2023

Number of characters

17626

Cite

GOST	Semantics of Conscience in Richard III: “Worm”, “Coward”, “Witness” // Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka – 2023. – V. 82. – Issue 3 C. 58-63 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://izv-oifn.ru/S160578800026315-2-1 (circulation date: 20.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S160578800026315-2
MLA	, "Semantics of Conscience in Richard III: “Worm”, “Coward”, “Witness”." Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 82.3 (2023):58-63. DOI: 10.31857/S160578800026315-2
APA	(2023). Semantics of Conscience in Richard III: “Worm”, “Coward”, “Witness”. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 82(3), pp.58-63 DOI: 10.31857/S160578800026315-2

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