William ShakespeareKing Richard III King Richard III was probably written in 1593, making it oneof Shakespeare’s earliest plays. He would have been 29 in that year. He had hada success with his chronicle plays about the Wars of the Roses, Henry VI, parts1, 2 & 3, and Richard III followed these as the culmination of the story.This play however differs from its predecessors, being a more structured piece,examining the development and motivations of a single character, Richard Dukeof Gloucester. Shakespeare was breaking new ground, testing his skills, thoughthe play’s structure owes much to the classical drama, and its characterizationto the early English morality and mystery plays. He hadn’t as yet, entirelyfound his own voice. His main source was Sir Thomas More’s History of Richard IIIwritten in 1513, with other material taken from the later histories of EdwardHall: Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (1548)and Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England (1587). These later chronicleswere the same sources as for the Henry VI plays, but it is the ironic tone ofMore’s History (often scorned now as mere Tudor propaganda) that seems to haveinfluenced Shakespeare’s style of writing in this play. In structuring his play, Shakespeare seems to be attemptingto write a classical tragedy in the style of the Roman playwright Seneca. It isa formal play using rhetoric and the classical device of choric odes (thelamentations of Queen Margaret, Duchess of York and Queen Elizabethparticularly.) It has a clear classical pyramid shape charting the rise ofRichard to the point of his Coronation and then his fall. Certain scenes aremirrored to emphasize the journey. Thus, the successful wooing of Lady Anne byRichard (1.2) is balanced by the unsatisfactory attempt to woo Queen Elizabethto agree to Richard marrying her daughter (4.4). Clarence’s fearful vision ofthe afterworld and the debate of his murderers about conscience (1.4) matchRichard’s own nightmare vision of the ghosts of his murdered victims and hisbrief struggle with his conscience (5.3). Margaret’s soliloquy (4.4), marks thechange of Richard’s fortunes and echoes, in its imagery of changing seasons,Richard’s own soliloquy at the beginning of the play: So now prosperity begins to mellowAnd drop into the rotten mouth of death. Seneca’s plays were characterized by a use of ghosts and thesupernatural, prophecies, omens, violence and bloodshed, all of which pervadeShakespeare’s play. Often, too, the central character of a Senecan tragedy wasa cruel tyrant. Seneca’s plays however, for all their sensationalism, were alsohighly moral in their purpose; the pattern was set for a debate between goodand evil, often expressed in soliloquy, as in Shakespeare. It is also interestingto note that Seneca’s plays were written at a time when play going wasunpopular with the Romans, so his plays were written to be read by a selectstrata of Roman society. Perhaps Shakespeare too wrote the most complete text we have, in the First Folio, to be read,consisting as it does of 3,600 lines and 57 speaking parts as well as numeroussmaller parts, which would have been a challenge to the most accomplishedtroupe of Elizabethan actors. The Quarto version of King Richard III may wellrepresent a slimmed down practical performing edition of the play. As well as using the structure and devices of Seneca,Shakespeare also drew on his own native tradition of drama, the Mystery andMorality plays, which had been the staple theatrical diet available to thepublic since medieval times. From the former, the re-telling of Bible storiesin dramatic form, he used the image of the three Marys at the tomb of Christ asan echo for the trio of lamenting women (Margaret, Duchess of York andElizabeth). A contemporary audience would have recognized the reference. Theirfunction is to comment upon the action of the play, both past and present, anddraw attention to its moral consequences, a function shared with the classicalchorus. From the Morality plays, homely tales of virtue rewarded by God, hetook the recurring character of Vice, an allegorical figure who seeks tosubvert the virtuous, a comic devil who delights in his villainy, and graftedit on to his main protagonist the tyrant-hero. The result is the daring characterization of Richard III, aman who can murder while he smiles and share with the audience his gleefulrelish in his actions. It is an audacious mixture of humor and evil, andShakespeare’s masterstroke. THE CENTRAL THEME The central moral conflict of the play is expressed in thestruggle betweenthe audience’s instinct to identify with the attractive andpersuasivecharacterization of Richard, and the objectifying of hisactions by the trio of lamenting women, Elizabeth, the Duchess of York andMargaret. King Richard III represents the change from the old world tothe new. Medieval determinism represented by the women versus the unfetteredideas of the Renaissance, represented by Richard. THE CHARACTERIZATION OF KING RICHARD III Richard III is a self-motivating character who defiesdeterminism (a life preordained by God), and sets his life on a course chosenby his own will and desire, as he puns in the opening soliloquy: I am determined to be a villain Determined by birth and god, and determined in the othersense, by his own will This essential aspect of the characterization of Richardowes much to the writings of the Italian politician Niccolo Machiavelli(1469-1527). In his book, The Prince (1513), he proposes that politics andethics should be separated. That morality be of secondary importance to stronggovernment, which should be achieved by any means. The state matters more thanan individual’s conscience. The Elizabethan dramatists who created theamoral self-centered Machiavellian villain, who became familiar to Elizabethanaudiences, though most of them had never read Machiavelli first hand, exploitedthese ideas. Richard III is one of the best examples. He makes choices with acool intellectual logic. He rejects love, as being physically unsuited for it,and brotherhood, because he finds no sympathy with his fellow man. Instead heembraces self-aggrandizement and personal success. This is where the ‘tragedy’ of Richard III lies, (of all theHistory plays, this is the only one called a Tragedy), that a man of suchenormous intellectual powers, who is a natural leader of men, should choose touse his energies for evil rather than good. As the play progresses, he stripshimself of potential supporters and allies so that by the time he reaches thenight before the battle of Bosworth (5.3), he is an isolated figure, trappedin his own egotism, his language, so florid and self-confident in the earlyscenes of the play, now reduced to almost monosyllabic sterility: Richard loves Richard, that is, I am I.Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am. This soliloquy of self-discovery represents the final momentof choice for Richard; his instinct to ask for salvation (‘Have mercy, Jesu!’)is quickly rejected for a re-assertion of his will. He has no ‘pity’ or lovefor himself, so why should he expect any from God. He must live or die by thecourse he has determined for himself. LANGUAGE The language of the play falls into two distinct styles. Theformal language exemplified in the speeches of the royal women contrastsstarkly with the casualness of Richard’s speeches. Once again, Shakespeare isshowing the conflict between their conformity and his individualism. Richard’stone is often proverbial and homely: ‘But yet I run before my horse to market’(1.1), yet he is capable of the cut and thrust of legal debate, as is seen inhis exchanges with Lady Anne and Queen Elizabeth. He also employs rhetoric, with its device of repetition toemphasize a point in argument: ‘Our bruised arms hung up for monuments Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings’ (1.1) Consistently throughout, images of animals are used todescribe Richard. He is at times a dog, a toad, a spider, a boar, emphasizinghis brutality. Other recurring images of trees, orchards, fruit and leaves arelinked to the Royal family and its destiny. References to the Tower of Londonalso add to the mood of darkness and threatening times. THE CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY As we have seen, it is Richard who dominates the play, atthe expense of any development in the other characters. The other mostdeveloped character is Queen Margaret, who stands as a challenge to Richard’sprogress. She is not in any sense a fully naturalistic character, butrepresents a commentator on the action, reminding the audience of recent eventsand prophesying the future destruction of Richard and his allies. Her energeticdenunciations and fiercely angry curses are a good balance to Richard’sdiabolic energy. Hastingsrepresents the over-confident loyal follower, blind to his own danger in a tottering state. Clarence too, is shown as atypical victim of Richard’s, deceived by his smooth tongue to the last. His isthe only murder to be shown on stage, a symbolic image. Buckingham is seen asan opportunist, hitching his fortunes to Richard’s star, even resembling hismaster in his duplicity, but finally lacking his ruthlessness. In general, most characters in the play react to Richard andillustrate his skills of manipulation and superior intellect. This enforces theformality in the play’s structure. It is a ritualistic play of expiation. Allthe characters are tainted by their, or their family’s involvement in the warsof York and Lancaster. There is a collective guilt. The years of corruptionexemplified by Richard must be purged away by Richmond.But if this is Shakespeare bolstering up the Tudors’ shakyclaim to the crown, his characterization of Richmond seems to be weak. Thoughrepresenting the chosen instrument of God, he is matter-of-fact, practical andone-dimensional, and at the end of the play, we look back with regret for theloss of the colorful, albeit evil, Richard. For, in the final analysis, thisplay belongs to Richard, Duke of Gloucester. It is no surprise that actorsconsider Richard one of the best Shakespearean roles, for Richard himself is aconsummate actor, ever ready to turn on the tears or the laughter to suit hisends. He is an attractive villain and the thrill of the play finds us drawnineluctably into the web of this ‘bottled spider’ and, taken into hisconfidence, made to feel complicitous in his evil deeds. It accounts for thecontinuing power of the play 400 years after it was written. SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY Act 1 Scene 1: Richard, Duke of Gloucester tells us that therecent civil wars are over, but he, at odds with the peace, is determined to bea villain. He has evolved plots to cause dissension between his brothers,Edward IV and the Duke of Clarence. Clarence enters, escorted by guards,towards the Tower. Richard feigns sympathy, implying the Queen and her familyare the true enemies. Hastings, newly released from the Tower, arrives andinforms Richard that Edward IV is gravely ill. Richard, in soliloquy, revealsmore of his plans. Scene 2: Lady Anne mourns the death of her husband andfather-in-law, Henry VI, during the civil wars, and curses their murderer,Gloucester. Gloucester interrupts her obsequies and skillfully woos her againstall odds. Scene 3: Queen Elizabeth, wife to Edward IV, is concernedfor the future of her family, should the King die. Her family and Stanley andBuckingham, who reports that the King wishes to reconcile all hostile factionsin the court, comfort her. Richard enters and stirs up the conflicts betweenthe old aristocracy (his family) and the new (the Queen’s). This quarrel iscompounded by the appearance of old Queen Margaret, the widow of Henry VI, whohas been watching them. She denounces them all as traitors to her, the rightfulQueen, and curses, and prophesies their destruction. The court is summoned tothe King. Two murderers arrive to get the warrant from Richard for the murderof Clarence. Scene 4: Clarence, in the Tower, awakes and recounts to hisKeeper his nightmare of drowning and visiting the underworld, and being accusedof perjury by his dead relations. He resumes sleep. The twomurderers enter and, by means of the warrant, are left alone with Clarence.They debate with him upon the justness of their instructions. One murdererappears to relent, but the other kills Clarence. Act 2 Scene 1: Edward IV, mortally ill, struggles toreconcile the opposing factions of his court. The Lords unconvincingly sweartheir friendships for each other, and Richard, with a display of mock, humilityjoins with them. Queen Elizabeth unwittingly pleads for Clarence’s release.Richard tells a stunned court that Clarence is dead. Lord Stanley enters andasks the King to pardon his servant who killed a man in a brawl. The incongruityof having the power to give or take life as a King yet not save his brotheraffects Edward, who is led away to his deathbed. Richard suggests the Queen andher family are responsible for Clarence’s death. Scene 2: Clarence’s children question their grandmother, theDuchess of York, about their father’s death. They believe Richard’s version ofevents, but his mother, the Duchess, is not so sure of her son’s honesty. QueenElizabeth enters in distress with the news of the King’s death. She and the Duchesslament their circumstances. Richard and the other nobles arrive, and Buckinghamsuggests the immediate dispatch of a small escort to bring the young PrinceEdward to London to be crowned. Old suspicions surface in Rivers, the Queen’sbrother, at this suggestion, but Buckingham prevails. Buckingham allies himselfwith Richard, who plans to bar the Queen’s relatives from access to the young Prince. Scene 3: Three citizens of London discuss uneasily thechanging fortunes of the state since Edward IV’s death. Portents abound, andthere are rumors of dangerous factions that could make a bid to rule. Scene 4: Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, theArchbishop of York and the young Duke of York (brother to Prince Edward)eagerly await the arrival of the Prince. The Duke of York shows himself to bewitty and precocious. A messenger arrives to report the imprisonment of theQueen’s relatives, Rivers, Grey and Vaughan. Elizabeth foresees the downfall ofher house, and decides she and the young Duke of York will take sanctuary. Act 3 Scene 1: Prince Edward arrives in London to be greetedby Richard and Buckingham. He is unhappy about the arrest of his mother’srelatives. Hastings arrives with news that the Prince’s brother, the Duke ofYork, is in sanctuary. Cardinal Bourchier, who is present, is persuaded byBuckingham to fetch the Duke, with force if necessary. Richard suggests toPrince Edward he could stay at the Tower. York arrives, released fromsanctuary, and exercises his wit at Richard’s expense. Reluctantly, the Princesgo to the Tower. Richard and Buckingham send Catesby to discover whetherHastings will support Richard’s bid for the throne. Richard says if he doesn’t,he will be executed. He promises Buckingham the Earldom of Hereford as hisreward for helping him. Scene 2: A messenger from Stanley tells Hastings ofStanley’s dream about Richard’s ambitions. Hastings laughs off the omens andsends the messenger to bid Stanley to go with him to the council that is to beheld at the Tower. Catesby arrives but Hastings refuses to accept hissuggestion that Richard should be King. Stanley arrives, full of foreboding,but accompanies Hastings to the council. Scene 3: Rivers, Grey and Vaughan, the Queen’s relatives,are led out to execution. They reflect on Margaret’s curses coming true andhope this will be the case for others. Scene 4: Stanley, Buckingham, the Bishop of Ely and Hastingsare met at the council to discuss the Prince’s coronation. Richard arrives andprivately informs Buckingham that Hastings is not going to support them.Richard accuses the Queen and Mistress Shore, Hastings’ mistress, of witchcraftagainst his person. Richard accuses Hastings of treason and orders his immediate execution. All leave, whilst Hastings laments thefuture of England and his own folly. Scene 5: Richard and Buckingham, in great high spirits,perform an elaborate charade to convince the Lord Mayor of London thata plot against their lives justified the hasty execution of Lord Hastings.Buckingham goes to persuade the citizens that Richard has the only true rightto the crown. Scene 6: A scrivener, who has been given the job of copyingout the indictment for Lord Hastings, reflects that it was given himto do many hours before Hastings was accused. Scene 7: Buckingham reports to Richard that the Mayor andcitizens have not responded enthusiastically to Richard’s claim. The Mayor andcitizens arrive, however, willing to be convinced. Richard pretends to be athis religious devotions, and though Buckingham urges him on behalf of thecitizens to accept the crown, he refuses twice. With feigned reluctance hefinally accepts, and the Mayor and citizens hail him as their king. Act 4 Scene 1: Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, LadyAnne and Dorset arrive at the Tower to visit the young Princes. Brakenburyrefuses them access on the orders of Richard, the Lord Protector. Stanleyarrives with orders for Lady Anne, now Richard’s wife, to accompany him toWestminster to be crowned Richard’s queen. The women lament the prospect ofRichard as King and the future of the Princes. Elizabeth urges Dorset to fleeto join Richmond abroad. Scene 2: Richard, now King, ascends his throne. He suggeststo Buckingham that his position will only be sure if the young Princes aredisposed of. Buckingham hesitates, and Richard, angry, decides Buckingham is nolonger trustworthy. He enlists the help of Tyrrel to carry out the Princesmurder. Stanley brings news of Dorset’s flight to Richmond. Richard ordersCatesby to spread the rumor of his wife Anne’s death, while at the same timeplanning to marry Elizabeth’s daughter. Buckingham returns to claim hisEarldom, but Richard treats him with contempt. Left alone, Buckingham reflectson Hastings’ fate and decides to leave the court. Scene 3: Tyrrel soliloquizes on the brutality of the murderof the two Princes. Richard is pleased at Tyrrel’s efficiency in carrying outhis orders. Ratcliffe brings news of the Bishop of Ely’s flight to Richmond andBuckingham’s uprising. Richard prepares for war. Scene 4: Whilst Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of Yorklament their woes, Margaret sees them as a just retribution for her sorrows.The Duchess and Queen Elizabeth, who curse him for his deeds, interruptRichard’s military progress. Richard presses Elizabeth to woo her daughter onhis behalf, and she leaves apparently agreeing to his demands. Ratcliffe bringsnews of Richmond’s navy arriving in the West. Stanley, Richmond’sfather-in-law, confirms this, and is accused of disloyalty by Richard.Richard orders him to raise his forces but leave his son behind as hostage.More messengers bring news of further uprisings. Catesby brings news ofBuckingham’s capture. Richard orders his army to march to meet Richmond. Scene 5: Stanley meets his chaplain Sir Christopher Urswick,and learns of the strength of Richmond’s army. He sends a message by Urswicksaying he cannot openly support Richmond whilst his son is held hostage. Act 5 Scene 1: Buckingham is led out to execution. Hereflects on the justness of his death for his treachery, and that Margaret’scurses are being fulfilled. Scene 2: Richmond enters and speaks of their unhinderedsuccess. He has received Stanley’s message of support, and he and his armyoptimistically march on to meet Richard. Scene 3: Richard sets up his camp to intercept Richmond, andsets off to study the lie of the land. Richmond sets up his camp, sending asecret message to Stanley. In Richard’s camp, Richard sends an order to Stanleyto bring up his forces or lose his son. He then retires into his tent to sleep.Stanley secretly visits Richmond to pledge his support in the battle. Richmond,left alone, prays for victory and then sleeps. The ghosts of all those Richardhas murdered visit the two camps, promising destruction to Richard and victoryto Richmond. Richard awakes in terror, conscience-stricken. Ratcliffe comes totell him it is morning and time to arm. Richmond’s followers come to his tentand wake him from a peaceful sleep. He makes an encouraging oration to hisarmy. Richard sets out his battle plans, calling for Stanley to bring hispowers. He also makes an oration to his army. News that Stanley refuses to joinhis army coincides with Richmond’s advance, so Stanley’s son is spared. Richardand his forces go to meet Richmond’s army. Scene 4: The battle of Bosworth is raging. Catesby speaks ofRichard’s incredible courage, yet fears the day is lost. Richard appearsseeking a horse to regain the advantage in the field. Scene 5: Richard and Richmond meet face to face in singlecombat. Richard is killed. Stanley presents the crown to Richmond. Richmondcongratulates his soldiers on their victory. He says that by marrying EdwardIV’s daughter, he will unite the warring houses of York and Lancaster. He praysthat after the madness of civil war, England will enjoy a period of peace andprosperity. Notes by David Timson