The Shakespeare Book

60

Stepfather to

Kills

RICHARD III

As the seasons turn from Richard’s
busy sunshine to his autumnal fall,
Margaret returns. In a counterpart
to Richard’s prologue she ushers in
the inevitable conclusion: “So now
prosperity begins to mellow / And
drop into the rotten mouth of death”
(4.4.1–2).

The shape of villainy
Richard’s physical shape is a gift
to any dramatist and Shakespeare
makes much of it. Many in the
audience would have enjoyed the
hugely successful Henry VI plays

and also known the crookback figure

as he is portrayed in Tudor history—

a monstrous creature of bloody civil

war and a future demon king.

Shakespeare capitalizes on

Richard’s physical nonconformity

by making it his motivating force.

In the preceding play, he severs all

links to family and faction and sets

himself against the principle of

blood bond that took York and

Lancaster to war. Given his

deformity he feels that family bonds

and natural inheritance have let

him down. He decides, therefore,

to be self-sufficient—“I am myself

alone”—and, like an actor, turn his

shape to advantage by playing

his way to the throne. This is the

performance he introduces us to at

the opening of the play. There he

lets us in on his plots and simplifies

history into fiction with its heroes,

lovers, and villains.

The disruptive force of Richard’s

villainous nonconformity is clear

in his first five appearances in

the play. Upsetting the smooth

running of Edward IV’s new state,

he interrupts a series of courtly

ceremonies and meetings

and redirects them all. Some

productions show him appearing

through a different entrance from

that used by the other characters

as if, like the morality play figure

Vice, he comes to create chaos

from quite another place.

Wit and wordplay

Richard shows us he’s the master of

improvised duplicity, especially with

language, and is equally at home in

street speech and witty repartee.

His versatility takes him from mock

anger to mock modesty. The wit and

smooth rhetoric that let him catch

his opponents off-guard often take

us in the same way.

If something thou wouldst

swear to be believed,

Swear then by something that

thou hast not wronged.

Queen Elizabeth

Act 4, Scene 4

Richard

Duke of Gloucester

Comes back as a ghost

The villainy of

Richard III

Lady Anne

A widow

Lord Hastings

Friend

Duchess of York

A widow

Mother to

Clarence

Brother

Edward and

Richard

Nephews

Curses

Richmond

Becomes

Henry VII

Kills

Derby

Survivor

Threatens

Father to

Edward IV

King and brother

Married to

Queen Elizabeth

Buckingham

Cousin

Helps