Act 1, Scene 2
Webtext: Folger Shakespeare Library
Audio: Greatest Audio Books via YouTube
Encountering the Text
This scene in Richard III is perhaps the most cited early modern representation of disability, even by scholars outside our field. We included it for that reason, but also to question its place in the canon.
- What are the consequences of centering this as the early modern disability text?
- Is Richard’s disability disabling here?
- What actually are the power dynamics in this scene, especially around our expectations of the scene and our understandings of disability?
- How is this scene in conversations with the tropes of The Blind Beggar?
