Conscience as a Phenomenon in Shakespeare’s Richard III and Macbeth Olav Rian A Thesis Presented to the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, the University of Oslo in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Master’s Degree Autumn Term 2005 Advisor: Juan Christian Pellicer Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Juan Christian Pellicer who, with his enthusiasm and interest in Shakespeare, has encouraged me and put me back on track many times during this process. Thank you for your patience. I would also like to thank Domhnall Mitchell, Jeremy Hawthorne and the other staff members at the English department at NTNU, who first got me interested in literature studies and Shakespeare studies. Many thanks go to Charles Moseley, Eugene Giddens and all lecturers and staff members at the Shakespeare Summer School programme at Cambridge University. Thank you for an inspiring course, and for sharing your wisdom and experience. I would also like to thank Erik Karlsaune, lecturer in comparative religion and sociology at NTNU, who was under no obligation to help me and comment on my theories, but did so anyway. Muchas gracias to Dag Flem Mæland, Dagfinn Karlsen and Sølve Sjeg, my good friends. Without your wonderful example of actually finishing your theses I doubt I would have been able to finish this one. Thank you, Dagfinn, for valuable close reading. I would also like to thank Richard, Duke of Gloucester and Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, who have been a great inspiration in my work, haunting my sleep and prolonging my days. May they rest in peace, and may God have mercy on their dark souls.