Richard III

"And now, instead of mounting barded steedsTo fright the souls of fearful adversaries,

He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber

To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,

Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;

I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty

To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;

I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,

Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time

Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,

And that so lamely and unfashionable

That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;

Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,

Have no delight to pass away the time,

Unless to spy my shadow in the sun

And descant on mine own deformity:

And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,

To entertain these fair well-spoken days,

I am determined to prove a villain

And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,

By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,

To set my brother Clarence and the king

In deadly hate the one against the other"

This quote is among the first words of the play Richard III. This passage gives us insight into Richard's character and is an excellent example of foreshadowing the rest of the play. It is obvious from Shakespeare's description of Richard that he is in some way, shape, or form physically unattractive to look at, even in his own eyes. Shakespeare makes numerous allusion to the fact there is something wrong with Richard. It is pretty bad if even dogs howl at his hideousness. His deformity contrasts his drive for power to the extreme. Powerful kings are supposed to be tall and manly, but the image Shakespeare paints of Richard is one that brings to mind pictures of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. This fact plays a key role in the drama because it appears that Richard may feel he has to make up for his deformity by gaining power. His self-loathing drives him to stop at nothing to reach his ultimate goal; even if it means that people who stand in his way face their own demise.

While some people may consider Richard III to be a tragedy, it is primarily one of Shakespeare's histories. Shakespeare histories deal with actual families in England's history. His source for his historical plays is Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of English history. Families from this history are focused on by Shakespeare on one small part of their lives. It is interesting that Shakespeare can take things that had happened in English history and transform them into a source of entertainment. However, the fact that it is based off real life events takes away from some of the originality and creative genius that is normally used to describe Shakespeare. He is successful, though, in using real life events to make a statement about various ideas. In this play he shows through portraying Richard's constant manipulation of everyone around him that if one makes too many enemies it will eventually come back to haunt them.

Overall, this play was probably the least favorite of mine that we read. It was interesting to witness Richard's creativity in making all the pieces fall into place to his advantage. The way he was able to manipulate people was, in a strange way, extremely breathtaking. The evil that welled up inside of Richard because of his troubles and deformities could not be contained. It was great to see Shakespeare make Richard try to draw sympathy from those around him (only to double cross them later) and the audience itself. However, I think the genre took something away from the play. Shakespeare did not develop this character from scratch, which took away some of the authenticity from Richard's evil because it was based on facts. All in all though, Shakespeare did do a good job at adapting this piece of history into a historical drama.