The Character of King Richard III in William Shakespeare's Play

Richard, the main character of the Shakespeare’s play, Richard III is portrayed as socially destructive and politically over-ambitious. His destructive potential is depicted by the way he relates with the other protagonists in the play and also by what he confesses as his intentions.

Connections of commonality and dissimilarity may be drawn between a multiplicity of texts through an appreciation of the values and attitudes with which they were composed. Accordingly, the values and attitudes of the individual being may be defined as an acute blend of externally induced, or contextual and internally triggered, or inherent factors. Cultural, historical, political, religious and social influences, dictated by the nature of one’s surroundings, imprint a variable pattern of values and attitudes upon the individual. Thus any deviation in any such factor may instigate an alteration of the contextual component of one’s perspective. By contrast, the

Shakespeare’s King Richard III and Al Pacino’s 1996 documentary ‘Looking for Richard’ enhance a deeper understanding of ambition and identity through depicting explicit connections between each text and their audience. Enhancement of each text is gained through differing contexts and text types which are presented through literary and cinematic techniques. Both composers use anachronisms to parallel beliefs and values such as ambition and identity which transcend both contexts.

Shakespeare uses sexuality and gender roles as a tool of manipulation; those with the power use their sex, gender, and sexuality to make those around them act the way they want them to. Richard III is a wonderful example of this idea being used prominently in Shakespeare’s work. After killing her husband and her father-in-law in battle, Richard attempts to seduce Anne, saying the only reason he killed them was because he is in love with her. Despite her making it obvious that his advances are unwanted; indeed, that she is grieving, he pursues her anyway.

Richard constant use of manipulating characters around him to get what he wants is majestic and beautiful with his play on words. Ultimately, manipulation is the key to Richard success and he does it so well that he manipulates the audience. As he allows the audience to enter into the play by learning the secret details of his plots he creates the audience to be involved in the wrong doings as Richard takes us on the journey. The ways Richard uses his manipulation skills makes the play as though the audience is a part of it and creates the audience to be on his side for the majority of the

Richard’s aspiration for power caused him to sacrifice his morals and loyalties in order to gain the throne of England. Shakespeare refers to the political instability of England, which is evident through the War of the Roses between the Yorks and Lancastrians fighting for the right to rule. In order to educate and entertain the audience of the instability of politics, Shakespeare poses Richard as a caricature of the Vice who is willing to do anything to get what he wants. As a result, the plans Richard executed were unethical, but done with pride and cunningness. Additionally, his physically crippled figure that was, “so lamely and unfashionable, that dogs bark at me as I halt by them,” reflects the deformity and corruption of his soul. The constant fauna imagery of Richard as the boar reflected his greedy nature and emphasises that he has lost his sense of humanity.

land in the north of England after both the Earl and Anne died. He was

Shakespeare adapts these tenants to construct a power thirsty character. Consequently, while the London elite was introduced to these ideals, Shakespeare shaped the overall plot of the play to exemplify the discussed the power quest introduced by Machiavelli. This results in Richard’s actions that lead him to kill his brother and manipulate his family into getting the throne.

Much like Julius Caesar and Macbeth, Shakespeare’s Richard the Second is full of prophecies. The most notable and multifaceted prophecy, of course, being that which predicts the downfall of the king. Shakespeare often uses natural disaster or strange things in nature to foreshadow a King’s death. In Macbeth, there was a terrible storm the night that Duncan was murdered, Julius Caesar similarly there was a storm the night the conspirators plot to murder Caesar. Richard the Second also includes omens in the natural world that precedes Richard’s death the trees are withering, the moon has turned red, and meteors fill the sky.

William Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ is an historical tragedy written in 1591. The play covers events in the latter years of the War of the Roses (1455-1485). That war a prolonged, intermittent conflict between the two noble houses of York and Lancaster; the play chronicles the bloody deeds and atrocities perpetrated by its central figure- the murderous and tyrannical King Richard III.

“With Richard II, then, Shakespeare turns to the events that had launched England’s century of crisis” (Bevington, 2014). “These events were still fresh and relevant to Elizabethan minds” (Bevington, 2014). “To begin with, we should not underestimate Richard’s attractive qualities, as a man and even as a king” (Bevington, 2014). “Richard is consistently more impressive and majestic than his rival, Bolingbroke” (Bevington, 2014). “Richard fascinates us with his verbal sensitivity, his poetic insight, and his dramatic self-consciousness” (Bevington, 2014). “These qualities notwithstanding, Richard is an incompetent ruler, compared to the man who

Shakespeare created the new style of villains he shows the battle between the good and evil side of human soul. Shakespeare gave more human qualities to a villain than it was already shown in sixteen century’s plays. Shakespeare’s villain like Edmund, Iago and Richard iii express their intentions and motives in the soliloquy effectively. Soliloquy helps them to build a connection with audience while explaining their motives (Jones, 2010)

In modern-day society, many individuals do not believe that supernatural or immaterial qualities could play such a tremendous role in everyday life. However, in early British times, the citizens considered it normal to see supernatural aspects holding significant importance. Although William Shakespeare was not entirely historically accurate when crafting his play Richard III, he attempted to maintain the root structure of this period. Shakespeare uses many immaterial qualities including curses, dreams, ghosts, and time to not only foreshadow a myriad of critical events but also to emphasize Richard's avarice.

According to my point of view, Richard II is not a complete tragic hero. He did not have the qualities of a real tragic hero though he was from a high ststus and died at last. He was not a good person, a foolish king, a weak and unwise politician, irresponsible self-centered person. He misused his power, increased taxes to accomplish his luxury expenses, took wrong decision, murderer of his uncle, in a word, he was an unworthy leader.