Humor
Lady Anne from “Richard III” in Conversation with Margaret Atwood at the 92nd Street Y
Like, we’ve had over 400 years to solve feminism…WTF?
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Margaret Atwood: The 16th century was heavily critical towards women exercising their basic human rights when facing danger, and none of these women were ever able to tell their side of the story — until now. It’s a privilege to be able to speak today with Lady Anne from William Shakespeare’s historical tragedy, Richard III. Lady Anne, it’s a pleasure to have you here.
Lady Anne: Ah, puh-lease — as someone who’s already been around one literary genius in her lifetime, I’m, like, just as honored, Queen.
M: So, you were almost put in prison for an interesting crime — what’d you do?
A: Okay, so there’s this gremlin looking guy named Richard, right? He kills my fiancé after making a joke that ends with him calling the guy “Dicky” — from what other soldiers told me, it was, like, huh-larious. So, there I am, moaning and wailing over my dead future hubby, and this Richard guy comes up, and not only doesn’t apologize to me, but says he wants to get it in my bedchamber… Like, what an ass, right? Then, this question-mark-looking, dog-faced Richard guy has the nerve to say he “loves” me, and asks me to marry him! So, obviously, I spit in his face. Then, he takes out his sword, like, “oh you’re gonna kill me now?” No, instead he gives me the sword, points the pointy end to his heart, and tells me that if I’m still angry with him that I should kill him, y’know, “plunge it through my heart.” …So, I did. I mean, he told me I could do it! I was given permission to do something — if anything, this was more like an assisted suicide.
M: Are you remorseful about it?
A: No! He told me to do it! And I feel like I saved a lot of people! He was probably going to use me as some kind of pawn to help him get into politics. Can you imagine a hotheaded wannabe soldier like that in politics? I mean, I was actually excited to know my fiancé — we met, what, three times when he was alive, but he seemed like, legit, a nice guy. We were going to see this local lute trio at an underground church. In terms of arranged marriages, I lucked out.
