FREE ESSAY ON RICHARD THE III

RICHARD THE III

Richard the III 
In the play, Richard the III, by William Shakespeare, the character Richard (Duke of
Gloucester) is a very manipulative and deceiving person. Richard acts like this in order
to fulfill his dream to become King. And since he is at the bottom of a long, long list
to be King, he has a lot of people to deceive. But when he does manipulate people, such
as his brothers, Lady Anne, and Buckingham, he does without mercy and conscience.
Richard's brothers are one of the first people to be manipulated and he does it by making
them think that one is trying to kill the other. From Richard's opening soliloquy from
the beginning of the play he tells us:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says that 'G'
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.(I,I, )
And this is where King Edward the IV comes up with the assumption that their
brother(George Duke Of Clarence) is going to murder him. So King Edward locks George up
in the tower after Richard tells him about his false dream. Then Richard works his
deceiving mind on George saying, "And whatsoever you will employ me in,/Were it to call
King Edward's widow sister,/ I will perform it to enfranchise you." (I,I, ) And what
Richard is saying if you want I will kill the King for you so that you can get revenge
for this terrible act committed against you. And just like that the two brothers already
hate each other.
Richard is a very smart and deceptive man. But the real question should be whether he has
the intelligence to win the love an affection of a women who has lost her father and
husband to the hands of Richard. The funny thing is that Richard does accomplish this
feat. Lady Anne, when we meet her in the beginning of Act I, Scene II, has a bitter
hatred towards Richard. She even puts several curses on him such as, "If ever he have
child, abortive be it,/Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,/Whose ugly and
unnatural aspect/May fright the hopeful mother at the view,"(I,II, ). But her attitude
soon changes as Richard weaves his web of deceit. Richard makes her believe that the
reason why he murdered her husband and father was over her beauty. That he was committing
the acts for her sake, "Your beauty was the cause of that effect;/Your beauty: which did
haunt me in my sleep/To undertake the death of all the world,/So I might live one hour in
your sweet bosom.", that it was her love that he was trying to win and all opposition
would perish if they were in his way. And as soon as Richard said those words, Lady Anne
starts to question her thoughts and mentality. And that is when it all goes down hill for
her and by the end of the scene Lady Anne is wearing Richard's ring.
Yet there is still one character that is essential to Richard's plans and that is
Buckingham. Buckingham seems like a strong and intelligent man yet he can not comprehend
the power behind Richard. For instance, Buckingham is thanking the Queen Margaret for not
putting a curse on him but then Richard asked what did she say and Buckingham replies,
"Nothing that I respect, my gracious Lord", and in saying that he has just disrespected
Queen Margaret. Richard even goes so far in manipulating Buckingham, that Buckingham
himself breaks his own curse by going against the Queen Elizabeth in which he said he
would never do. He is also becoming Richard's right hand man even though Richard makes it
look vice-versa.
And just by manipulating these few people, he has turned bother against brother, turned a
woman who hated him into his wife, and turned a man who was loyal to everyone to
Richard's accomplice. Richard's power of deceit and manipulation is about a thousand
times higher than anybody in "Richard the III", by William Shakespeare, which makes for a
wild and interesting ride.
Bibliography
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