Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Different Take on History

Shakespeare wrote about a Richard III who was deformed and evil.

The playwright took his information from Tudor historians - the victors. The men writing about Richard III after his death were trying to put him down in order to make Tudor look better.

Richard III, in short, was treated unfairly. In her book, The Sunne in Splendor, Sharon Kay Penman presents a much more sympathetic picture of Richard. Gone are the physical deformities. Gone are the evil actions of child murder and poisoning. Instead, Penman's Richard is a man with a conscious, and who loves only one women.

The reader follows Richard from the time of the battle of Wakefield, where his father and brother Edmund were killed, to Bosworth where Richard himself was killed. Penman skillfully crafts her characters. By the Battle of Bosworth, the reader has come to know Richard, crying with him as he loses the people he loves.

Penman's depictions of battles are as vivid as her characters. She also remains as close as possible to historical fact. When Richard's nephews vanish from the tower, Penman puts the blame on the suspect with both motive and opportunity. What actually happened to the boys is lost to history, and Penman does not try to say what happened. She only logically places blame and does not try to invent historical fact.

The Sunne in Splendor was a gripping read until the very last page. It's filled with vivid characters, battles, and scenery. It's also informative because of Penman's careful adherence to fact. She ends her narrative with two characters talking about their fears that Richard would be remember by the Tudor propaganda that had begun to be written at that time. Not only was that a fitting way to end the book, but it also leaves a careful reader wondering - how will history change the leaders of today? Will heroes be turned into monsters by vicious propaganda? Only time can tell.

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