ENGL 4203/5583: Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 8: Richard III (R3)

Background

You will find the answers to many of these questions in Study Guide 5 and/or in the textbook’s introduction to the play.

1. Richard III is one of the best loved and most frequently performed of Shakespeare’s history plays. It belongs to one of Shakespeare’s two tetralogies of history plays.
1. To which of Shakespeare’s two tetralogies of history plays does Richard III belong?
2. Where does Richard III fit in its tetralogy? What other plays precede and/or follow it in the tetralogy?
3. When did Shakespeare write Richard III? Was this before or after the composition of the other three history plays studied in this course?
4. Where does Shakespeare’s composition of Richard III fit into his career as a playwright? Is it at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of his career?
5. Do the events of Richard III take place before or after the events of the other three history plays studied in this course?
6. In addition to being a history play, is Richard III a tragedy, a comedy, neither, or both? Support your answer.
2. According to the textbook’s introduction to the play (pages 749-50), what features make the language of this play especially “formal”? What aspects of the play’s “formal” languages are found in the lamentations in 2.2 (especially lines 71-88)?
3. What is the relationship of each of the following texts to Shakespeare’s Richard III?
1. Holinshed’s Chronicles
2. Hall’s Union of the Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York
3. Sir Thomas More’s History of King Richard the Third (1513)
4. More’s biography is the first source to present Richard III as a villain. When Thomas More wrote his biography of Richard III, he was a young man close to Cardinal John Morton, Bishop of Ely, who is a character in Shakespeare’s Richard III.
1. In Shakespeare’s play (3.4), how does Richard use John Morton, Bishop of Ely, as an unwitting pawn to crush Hastings?
2. Later in Richard III (4.3), what position does Morton take with regard to Richard III? How does this position help explain More’s negative view of Richard in his biography?

Historians now know that More’s biography of Richard is not historically accurate:

· Richard did not have a pronounced hunchback or a withered arm, and he was not ugly.

· Richard was not responsible for the murder of his brother Clarence.

· Richard was not responsible for the murder of his wife, Anne Neville.

· It is questionable whether Richard was involved in the murder of the two little princes in the Tower.

According to the Tudor myth, Richard was responsible, as mentioned in Richard III, for two additional murders:

• The Tudor myth claims Richard killed Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI, in cold blood right after the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471.
• The Tudor myth claims Richard had a role in the murder of King Henry VI in the Tower of London later in May 1471.

5. What lines in Richard III refer to Richard’s role in the deaths of Edward, Prince of Wales, and of his father, Henry VI?

The Wars of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York (1455-85)

Henry VI, a Lancastrian, becomes king as an infant 1422

Wars of the Roses begin; Yorkists attempt to get crown from Lancastrians 1455

Edward of York deposes Henry VI and becomes Edward IV 1461

Henry VI retakes throne for 6 months 1470-71

Yorkists win Battle of Tewkesbury; Edward IV resumes throne 1471

Prince Edward, son of Henry VI, is killed after Battle of Tewkesbury 1471

Henry VI is murdered in Tower of London 1471

Edward IV dies after 22-year reign 1483

Richard III, a Yorkist, reigns 1483-85

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a Lancastrian, wins Battle of Bosworth Field and becomes Henry VII 1485

1. According to the textbook’s introduction (page 750), in Richard III, how does Shakespeare condense and rearrange historical events?
2. What is unhistorical about Richard’s wooing Anne Neville while she follows the coffin of Henry VI?

Use the genealogical chart on pages 630-31 to help you answer the following questions.

3. Which of the seven sons of Edward III is Duke of Lancaster and therefore ancestor of the House of Lancaster? In what play that we have studied is he a character?
4. Which of the seven sons of Edward III is Duke of York and therefore ancestor of the House of York? In what play that we have studied is he a character?
5. Prior to the beginning of Richard III, what Lancastrian kings have reigned?
6. In Richard III, what Yorkist kings reign? In Richard III, what Yorkist king is killed as a boy before he has the opportunity to reign?
7. In the Wars of the Roses, which royal house is symbolized by a red rose? Which royal house is symbolized by a white rose?
8. How does Henry VII’s accession to the throne “unite the White Rose and the Red” (R3 5.5.19)?

Richard III and the Tudor Myth

1. How does the Tudor myth see each of the following rulers or events?
1. The deposition of Richard II
2. The reign of Richard III
3. The accession of Henry VII (previously Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond)
2. In what ways is Shakespeare’s Richard III consistent with the Tudor myth? In what ways does Shakespeare make Richard look as bad as possible? In what ways does Shakespeare make Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, look as good as possible?
3. In what ways, if any, does Shakespeare’s Richard III not follow the Tudor myth? Are there any ways in which Shakespeare makes Richard look good or Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, look bad?

Richard III as a Composite of Stage Stereotypes

In creating the character of Richard III, Shakespeare combined features of several different stage stereotypes known to his audience.

1. Machiavel: Based on a twisted version of the successful ruler described in Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513), a Machiavel is a stage villain who is evil, amoral or immoral, and power-hungry. Besides Richard III, other Shakespearean Machiavels include Iago in Othello and Edmund in King Lear. Macbeth behaves also like a Machiavel except that he has a conscience.
1. We have previously discussed the potentially Machiavellian behavior of Bullingbrook in Richard II, of Prince Hal in 1 Henry IV, and of Henry V in Henry V. What keeps all these characters, however, from being clear examples of Machiavels?
2. One scholar has found 595 direct references to Machiavelli in Elizabethan drama. Can you find a reference to Machiavelli in Richard III?
3. How does Richard III fit the definition of a Machiavel?
2. Vice: The Vice or Iniquity character frequently appears in medieval and early Renaissance morality plays; he is similar to the devil in medieval mystery plays. Shakespeare’s Richard III has two of the main traits of a Vice character:
1. A Vice character uses deceptive word play to accomplish his ends. For example, Richard III says in an aside, “Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity, / I moralize two meanings in one word” (3.1.82-83).

i. What is the situation at this point in the play? What “two meanings in one word” has Richard just used?

ii. How does Richard use deceptive word play in his conversation with Clarence when Clarence is being taken to the Tower?

1. “Mean time, this deep disgrace in brotherhood / Touches me deeper than you can imagine” (1.1.111-12)

2. “Well, your imprisonment shall not be long, / I will deliver you, or else lie for you.” (1.1.114-15)

2. A Vice character takes great delight in the hypocrisy of his evil deeds. How do the following scenes or passages show that Richard takes great pleasure in having lied to and/or otherwise manipulated each of the following characters?

i. Clarence (1.1)

ii. Lady Anne Neville (1.2)

iii. Derby, Hastings, Buckingham (1.3.323-37)

iv. Queen Elizabeth (4.4; see esp. line 431)

3. What other Shakespearean character that we have studied derives in part from the Vice character? Which of the two characters more clearly represents Vice or Iniquity?
2. Senecan tyrant: In ancient Rome, Seneca wrote a genre of play called “tragedy of blood,” in which the villain commits many murders before he eventually is paid back for his violence. Macbeth, a Shakespearean character who resembles a Senecan tyrant, says, “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (Macbeth 3.4.135-37).
1. What does Richard III say in 4.2.63-64 that is similar to the above quotation from Macbeth? What is the situation when Richard says this?
2. Who says to Richard, “Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end” (4.4.195)? How does this quotation relate to the traits of a Senecan tyrant?
3. How does Richard fit the definition of a Senecan tyrant?

Richard’s Psychology

A merely stereotypical villain commits evil acts just because he’s evil. Shakespeare’s characterization of Richard III, however, transcends mere stereotypes by revealing psychological insights.

• Freud writes, “Richard is an enormously magnified representation of something we can all discover in ourselves. We all think we have reason to reproach nature and our destiny for congenital and infantile disadvantages; we all demand reparation for early wounds to our narcissisms, our self-love” (my emphasis). Freud’s paraphrase of Richard’s opening soliloquy includes the statement, “I may do wrong myself, since wrong has been done to me.”

1. Carefully read and study Richard’s famous opening soliloquy (“Now is the winter of our discontent . . .”) (1.1.1-41).
1. What physical deformities does Richard acknowledge in this soliloquy?
2. What other physical deformities of Richard’s are mentioned elsewhere in the play?

i. Richard, Duke of York, younger of the two sons of King Edward IV, says he has heard that Richard “grew so fast / That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old” (2.4.27-28). What myth about Richard does this statement reflect? What other lines in the play refer to this myth?

3. What hardships does Richard say he has suffered as a result of his deformities?
4. What does Richard say he will do to compensate for his deformities?
1. What contrast does Richard make between himself and Edward, Prince of Wales, Lady Anne Neville’s late husband (1.3.239-50)? According to the footnote on page 754, what was the actual relationship between Lady Anne and Edward, Prince of Wales?
2. Queen Margaret takes every opportunity to bitterly denounce Richard as being less than human.
1. On a single page in your textbook (page 760; 1.3.215-302), Queen Margaret (widow of Henry VI) likens Richard to three different animals. What are these animals? According to Queen Margaret, how is Richard like each of these animals?
2. In speaking to Richard’s mother, the Duchess of York, Queen Margaret compares Richard to what animal? How was his birth like that of this animal? How has his behavior been like that of this animal?

• Being rejected by a parent may have disastrous consequences for the development of a child. In the play, Richard’s mother never misses an opportunity to tell him how much she has always hated him.

4. What does Richard’s mother, the Duchess of York, say about or to Richard in each of the following passages? How could each passage relate to Richard’s lack of self-worth?
1. “He is my son—ay, and therein my shame, / Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit.” (2.2.29-30)
2. “He was the wretched’st thing when he was young. . . .” (2.4.18-20)
5. In the passage beginning “Thou cam’st on earth to make the earth my hell” (4.4.167-75), what five stages of Richard’s life does his mother, the Duchess of York, identify?
1. According to her account, what was Richard like in each of these stages?
2. What similarities and/or differences can you see between this speech and Jaques’s “seven ages of man” speech in As You Like It and Feste’s song “When that I was and a little [tiny] boy” at the end of Twelfth Night?

Plot of Richard III

The plot of Richard III concerns both the rise and fall of King Richard.

1. In order to become king, Richard must remove (or allow other circumstances to remove) those who stand between him and the throne. How does Richard (or some other circumstance), either before or during the play, remove each of the following from Richard’s path to the throne?
1. King Henry VI (of the house of Lancaster)
2. Edward, Prince of Wales (son of Henry VI)
3. George, Duke of Clarence (Richard’s brother)
4. The two young children of the Duke of Clarence (Richard’s nephew and niece)
5. King Edward IV (of the house of York; Richard’s brother)
6. Edward, Prince of Wales, and Richard, Duke of York (young sons of Edward IV)
2. Turning points in the plot include Richard’s loss of supporters.
1. Hastings

i. Where does Hastings first state his opposition to Richard’s becoming king (3.2)?

ii. Why does Hastings oppose Richard’s becoming king?

iii. How does Richard deal with Hastings’s opposition? How is Hastings’s relationship with Jane Shore used against him?

iv. What happens to Hastings?

2. Buckingham

i. Although Buckingham is instrumental in getting Richard on the throne, he does not approve of Richard’s plan to do what (4.2)?

ii. How does Richard withdraw his favor from Buckingham? How does Buckingham withdraw his support from Richard?

iii. What is the chain of events concerning Buckingham after this?

3. Dorset (a son of Queen Elizabeth by her first marriage, before she married Richard’s brother, who became King Edward IV)

i. To whose camp does Dorset flee? At what point in the play does Richard announce Dorset’s defection (4.2)?

ii. Why does Dorset’s action make Richard suspicious of Stanley (4.2)? What is the relationship between Stanley and Richmond?

4. John Morton, Bishop of Ely

i. To whose camp does Morton flee? At what point in the play is this defection announced (4.3)?

Parallel Scenes in Plot

Shakespeare uses parallel characters and parallel plot elements in all his plays, but Richard III contains an unusual number of parallel scenes.

1. Richard’s “acting” scenes, including two wooing scenes

Scenes in which Richard hypocritically manipulates other characters often follow this pattern:

• First, before he tricks a person, Richard typically explains in a soliloquy what he’s going to do.
• Second, Richard manipulates the person as planned.
• Third, in another soliloquy, Richard gloats about his success in tricking the other person.

Explain how Richard uses the above three stages in each of the following scenes:

a. Richard’s duping of Clarence (1.1)

b. Richard’s wooing of Lady Anne Neville (1.2)

c. Richard’s wooing of Princess Elizabeth (through her mother, Queen Elizabeth) (4.4.199-431)

2. Murders and descriptions of murders

What happens in each of the following scenes in which murders are enacted or reported?

a. George, Duke of Clarence (Richard’s brother) (1.4)

b. Edward, Prince of Wales, and Richard, Duke of York (sons of Edward IV; often called “the little princes in the Tower”) (4.3)

3. Curses

What does the speaker say in each of the following curses?

a. Lady Anne Neville curses Richard and, ironically, herself (1.2.14-28)

b. Queen Margaret (widow of King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster) curses the House of York (1.3.190-213)

c. The Duchess of York, Richard’s mother, curses Richard (4.4.184-95)

4. Dreams

What happens in each of the following dreams, and how is it prophetic?

a. Clarence’s dream in the Tower (1.4.1-63)

b. Stanley’s dream, which he reports by messenger to Hastings (3.2.10-34)

c. Richard’s and Richmond’s parallel dreams the night before the Battle of Bosworth Field (5.3.118-76)

Famous Lines

For each of the following lines, identify or explain each of the following:

a. the speaker

b. the situation in the play

c. the meaning of the lines

1. The entire opening soliloquy, beginning with “Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York. . . .” (1.1.1-41)
2. Clarence’s account of his dream (1.4), including the line “Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks; / A thousand men that fishes gnaw’d upon” (lines 24-25)
3. “[I] seem a saint, when most I play the devil.” (1.3.337)
4. “Chop off his head!” (3.1.193) and “Off with his head!” (3.4.76)
5. “I had an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him;

I had a [Harry], till a Richard kill’d him:

Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill’d him;

Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard kill’d him.” (4.4.40-43)

Be able to identify all the characters in quotations like this that name historical figures.

6. “Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end.” (4.4.195)
7. “A horse, a horse! my kingdom for a horse!” (5.4.13)
8. “We will unite the White Rose and the Red.” (5.5.19)

Extra-Credit Opportunities

Extra-credit reading: Read and take an oral exam on (or write a response to) Josephine Tey’s murder mystery The Daughter of Time, which attempts to determine who really murdered the little princes in the Tower and other characters supposedly killed by Richard III.

Extra-credit research: Research Richard III on the Web site of the Richard III Society (www.R3.org), and write in your own words what you learn.

Extra-credit viewing: In the 1996 film Looking for Richard, Al Pacino and an all-star cast go through the process of trying to mount a production of Richard III. The actors analyze the plot and characters of the play and enact some of its scenes.

Extra-credit viewing: In the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl, Richard Dreyfus portrays a New York actor who is directed to play Richard III as a flamboyant homosexual. (This is, however, only a minor element of the film.)