Shakespeare’s histories Richard III

2. Shakespeare’s histories Richard III

“The Life and Death of King Richard III” is William Shakespeare’s version of the short career of Richard III of England, who receives a singularly unflattering depiction. The play is sometimes interpreted as a tragedy; however, it more correctly belongs among the histories. It picks up the story from “Henry VI”, Part III and is the conclusion of the series that stretches back to Richard II. It is the second longest of Shakespeare's 38 plays, after Hamlet. The length is generally seen as a drawback and the play is rarely performed unabridged often cutting out various characters peripheral to the main plot.

Synopsis

The play begins with Richard eulogizing his brother, King Edward IV of England, the eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York

The speech reveals Richard's jealousy and ambition, as his brother Edward rules the country successfully. Richard is an ugly hunchback, describing himself as “rudely stamp'd” and “deformed, unfinish'd”, who cannot “strut before a wanton ambling nymph.” He responds to the anguish of his condition with an outcast's credo: “I am determined to prove a villain / And hate the idle pleasures of these days.” With little attempt at chronological accuracy (which he professes to despise), Richard plots to have his brother Clarence, who stands before him in the line of succession, conducted to the Tower of London as a suspected assassin; having bribed a soothsayer to confuse the suspicious king.

Richard next ingratiates himself with “the Lady Anne” – Anne Neville, widow of the Lancastrian Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Richard confides to the audience, “I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter. What though I kill'd her husband and her father?” Despite her prejudice against him, Anne is won over by his pleas and agrees to marry him.

The atmosphere at court is poisonous: the established nobles are at odds with the upwardly-mobile relatives of Queen Elizabeth, a hostility fueled by Richard's machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns in defiance of her banishment and warns the squabbling nobles about Richard. The nobles, Yorkists all, reflexively unite against this last Lancastrian, and the warning falls on deaf ears.

Edward IV, weakened by a reign dominated by physical excess, soon dies, leaving as Protector his brother Richard, who sets about removing the final obstacles to his ascension. He meets his nephew, the young Edward V, who is en route to London for his coronation accompanied by relatives of Edward's widow. These Richard arrests and (eventually) beheads, and the young prince and his brother are coaxed into an extended stay at the Tower of London.

Assisted by his cousin Buckingham (Henry Stafford, 2^nd Duke of Buckingham), Richard mounts a PR campaign to present himself as a preferable candidate to the throne, appearing as a modest, devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Lord Hastings, who objects to Richard's ascension, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge. The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as king, in spite of the continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).

His new status leaves Richard sufficiently confident to dispose of his nephews. Buckingham conditions his consent for the princes’ deaths on receiving a land grant, which Richard rejects, leaving Buckingham fearful for his life. As the body count rises, the increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had; he soon faces rebellions led first by Buckingham and subsequently by the invading Earl of Richmond (Henry VII of England). Both sides arrive for a final battle at Bosworth Field. Prior to the battle, Richard is visited by the ghosts of those whose deaths he has caused, all of whom tell him to: “Despair and die!” He awakes screaming for “Jesu” (Jesus) to help him, slowly realizing that he is all alone in the world and that even he hates himself. Richard's language and undertones of self-remorse seem to indicate that, in the final hour, he is repentant for his evil deeds, however, it is too late.

As the battle commences, Richard gives arguably the least motivational pep-talk in English literature (“Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls; Conscience is but a word that cowards use... March on, join bravely, let us to't pell mell; If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell....”). Lord Stanley (who happens to be Richmond's step-father) and his followers desert, leaving Richard at a disadvantage. Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the battle, and utters the often-quoted line: “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” He is defeated in the final “hunting of the boar”, so to speak, and Richmond succeeds as Henry VII, even going so far as to marry a York, effectively ending the War of the Roses (to the evident relief of everyone involved).

In dramatic terms, perhaps the most important (and, arguably, the most entertaining) feature of the play is the sudden alteration in Richard's character. For the first 'half' of the play, we see him as something of an anti-hero, causing mayhem and enjoying himself hugely in the process:

I do mistake my person all this while;

Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,

Myself to be a marvellous proper man.

I'll be at charges for a looking-glass;

Almost immediately after he is crowned, however, his personality and actions take a darker turn. He turns against loyal Buckingham (“I am not in the giving vein”), he falls prey to self-doubt (“I am in so far in blood, that sin will pluck on sin;”); now he sees shadows where none exist and visions of his doom to come (“Despair and die”).

Depiction of Richard

Shakespeare's depiction of Richard and his “reign of terror” is unflattering, and modern historians find it a distortion of historical truth. Shakespeare's “history” plays were not, of course, intended to be historically accurate, but were designed for entertainment. As with “Macbeth”, Richard's supposed villainy is depicted as extreme in order to achieve maximum dramatic effect. In addition, many previous writers had depicted Richard as a villain, and Shakespeare was thus following tradition.

Nevertheless, it is important to question why this particular king became a symbol of villainy during the Elizabeth’s period. Critics have argued that this dark depiction of Richard developed because the ruling monarch of Shakespeare's time, Elizabeth I, was the granddaughter of Henry VII of England, the Lancastrian Earl of Richmond, who had defeated the last Yorkist king and started the Tudor dynasty, and Shakespeare's play thus presents the version of Richard that the ruling family would have wanted to see.

Shakespeare's main source for his play was the chronicle of Raphael Holinshed but it also seems likely that he drew on the work of Sir Thomas More, author of the unfinished “History of King Richard III” published by John Rastell after More's death. Rastell, More's brother-in-law, compiled the text from two work-in-progress manuscripts, one in English and one in Latin in different stages of composition. More's work is not a history in the modern sense. It is a highly coloured and literary account which contains accurate and invented details in (arguably) roughly equal portions. More had many sources available for his account (most of whom, like his patron Cardinal John Morton, were extremely hostile to the old regime) but like Shakespeare his main source is his own imagination: over a third of the text consists of invented speeches.

Richard III is the culmination of the cycle of “Wars of Roses” plays. In “Henry VI”, part II and part III, Shakespeare had already begun the process of building Richard's character into that of a ruthless villain, even though Richard could not possibly have been involved in some of the events depicted. He participates in battles in which historically he would still have been a boy. From an overview of the cycle, it can be seen that Shakespeare's inaccuracy works both ways.

Historical context

Shakespeare is not famous for his historical accuracy; this play is representative of his work in that respect. Queen Margaret did not in fact survive to see Richard's accession to the throne; her inclusion in the play is purely dramatic, providing first a warning to the other characters about Richard's true nature (which they of course ignore to their cost) and then a chorus-like commentary on how the various tragedies affecting the House of York reflect justice for the wrongs the Yorkists performed against the Lancastrians (“I had an Edward, till a Richard killed him; I had a Henry, 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...”).

It is perhaps strange that in presenting the cycle of vengeance Shakespeare omitted the fact that the real-life Richard himself had a son who died prematurely, which some contemporary historians viewed as divine retribution for the fate of Edward's sons - which of course Margaret would claim as retribution for the fate of her son. Shakespeare's Tudor patrons might have welcomed this additional demonstration of Richard's wickedness.

Comedic elements

Despite the high violence of the play and the villainous nature of the title character, Shakespeare manages to infuse this play with a surprising amount of comic material. Much of the humor rises from the dichotomy between what we know Richard's character to be and how Richard tries to appear. The prime example is perhaps the portion of Act III, Scene 1, where Richard is forced to “play nice” with the young and mocking Duke of York. Other examples appear in Richard’s attempts at acting, first in the matter of justifying Hastings’s death and later in his coy response to being offered the crown.

Richard himself also provides some dry remarks in evaluating the situation, as when his plan to marry the Queen Elizabeth's daughter: “Murder her brothers, then marry her; Uncertain way of gain....”

Other examples of humor in this play include Clarence’s ham-fisted and half-hearted murderers, and the Duke of Buckingham's report on his attempt to persuade the Londoners to accept Richard (“...I bid them that did love their country’s good cry, God save Richard, England's royal king!” Richard: “And did they so?” Buckingham: “No, so God help me, they spake not a word....”)

Puns, a Shakespearean staple, are especially well-represented in the scene where Richard tries to persuade Queen Elizabeth to woo her daughter on his behalf.

Film versions

The most famous player of the part in recent times was Laurence Olivier in his 1955 film version. His inimitable rendition has been satirized by many comedians including Peter Cook and Peter Sellers (who had aspirations to do the role straight). Sellers' version of “A Hard Day’s Night” was delivered in the style of Olivier as Richard III. The first series of the BBC television comedy Blackadder in part parodies the Olivier film, visually (as in the crown motif), Peter Cook's performance as a Richard who is a jolly, loving monarch but nevertheless oddly reminiscent of Olivier's rendition, and by mangling Shakespearean text (“Now is the summer of our sweet content made o'ercast winter by these Tudor clouds...”)

More recently, Richard III has been brought to the screen by Sir Ian McKellen (1995) in an abbreviated version set in a 1930s fascist England, and by Al Pacino in the 1996 documentary “Looking for Richard”. In the 1976 film “ The Goodbye Girl”, Richard Dreyfuss’s character, an actor, gives a memorable performance as a homosexual Richard in a gay stage production of the play.

Conclusion

 

The war of the Roses (also called the war of the two Roses) is a very important period for the British culture and history. It has been a turning point in the history of the United Kingdom : a very large part of the aristocracy was killed (some noble families even disappeared) and the royal dynasty changed. It has also been a vast source of inspiration for English authors, such as Shakespeare.

The history of the war of the two Roses is really propitious to literary narration : you have a Queen with a strong personality (Marguerite), a mad King, traitors, multiple reversal of situation, ... But the myth is different from the reality : what is disappointing is that the version of Shakespeare is a bit far from the reality whereas it needed not to be thrilling. For instance, Richard III was not the ‘‘nice’’ King of Shakespeare’s play. However we must not forget that he could not question the foundation of the Tudor dynasty ands its legitimity !

This period will remain one of the most epic in the English history, even if it concerned principally the aristocracy (the armies were small and one implicit rule was to kill the nobles, not the simple peasants).

References:

1.  E. F. Jacob, The Fifteenth Century (1961);

2.  P. M. Kendall, The Yorkist Age (1962, repr. 1965);

3.  S. B. Chrimes, Lancastrians, Yorkists, and Henry VII (1964);

4.  J. R. Lander, The Wars of the Roses (1965);

5.  C. D. Ross, Wars of the Roses: A Concise History (1976);

6.  E. Hallam, Wars of the Roses and Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses (1988);

7.  J A.J. Pollard. Richard III and the Princes in the Tower

8.  Alison Weir. The Princes in the Tower.

9.  Anne Sutton, Livia Visser-Fuchs. Richard III's Books.

10.  Anne Sutton, Peter Hammond. The Coronation of Richard III.

11.  Bertram Fields. Royal Blood.

12.  Charles Ross. Richard III. Methuen, 1981

13.  Charles Wood. Joan of Arc and Richard III.

14.  Desmond Seward. Richard III: England's Black Legend.

15.  Jeremy Potter. Good King Richard?

16.  Keith Dockray. Richard III: A Reader in History, Sutton, 1988

17.  Michael Hicks. Richard the Third, Tempus, 2001.

18.  Paul Murray Kendall. Richard III: The Great Debate.

19.  Paul Murray Kendall. Richard the Third.

20.  Peter Hammond and Anne Sutton. Richard III: The Road to Bosworth Field.

21.  Richard Drewett & Mark Redhead. The Trial of Richard III.

22.  Rosemary Horrox. Richard III: A Study in Service.

23.  Rosemary Horrox. Richard III and the North.

24.  V.B. Lamb. The Betrayal of Richard III.

25.  Winston Churchill. History of the English Speaking Peoples. The Birth of Britain, Vol. 1.

26.   Pollard, Wars of the Roses (1995); A. Weir, Wars of the Roses (1995).

Appendix 1

 

King Henry VI (1421-1471)

He ruled England from 1422-1461 and then again from 1470-1471. Henry may fairly be said to have been a very good man, but a very bad king. He was pious and devoted to education, but lacked either the governing or the military skills to run 15th Century Britain. In 1445, Henry married Margaret of Anjou. Her favorites, such as Somerset and Buckingham ruled the court in all but name. In 1453, however, a mental breakdown by Henry allowed Richard, Duke of York, to step in as "Protector". When Henry regained his sanity, he was urged by his wife and her favorites to throw York and his allies out of the Government. On May 22nd of that year, York and his allies began to take that Government back. (Trivia: Henry VI was the first King of England to never personally command an Army against a foreign foe.)

King Edward IV (1442-1483)

He ruled England from 1461-1470 and again from 1471-1483. Upon the death of his father, the Duke of York, in the battle of Wakefield on December 31, 1460, Edward took up both the position and the quarrel of his sire. In 1461, He was taken to Parliament by "The Kingmaker", Richard Neville, and crowned king. The two of them then headed north and engaged with the Lancastrian army in the battle of Towton; a Yorkist victory. This spelled the beginning of the end for the Lancastrians. Edward ruled for the next 9 years and it would take the influence of the Kingmaker to bring the Lancastrians to power again. (Trivia: The battle of Towton was the largest battle ever fought on English soil. Contemporary sources reported the numbers of men in the hundreds of thousands, though they were prone to spice up amounts (the big fish syndrome) and the actual number was probably nearer to 40,000 individuals.)

Queen Margaret of Anjou (1429-1482)

Margaret was married to Henry VI in 1445. Despite the King's inate shyness and fear of women, they appear to have had a good marriage. With Henry's mental failings, however, it was left to Margaret and her favorites to try and hold the kingdom. Until the death of her son (at Tewkesbury in 1471), she was truly the backbone of the Lancastrian cause. At Tewkesbury in 1471, her son was defeated and killed and she was imprisoned. She was eventually ransomed by Louis of France in exchange for her French lands.

King Edward V (1470-1483

Duke Somerset

Edmund Beaufort (Somerset) supported Henry and the Queen during the King's breakdown. Unfortunately for him, he also had a private feud in the north with the Nevilles. When York became Protector, Somerset found himself thrown out of court and into the Tower of London. In a reversal of fortunes, however, the King regained his sanity and Somerset was freed. This too was shortlived, however, as the Yorkists returned with an army that met with the Lancastrians at St Albans in the first battle of the Wars. The Yorkists were victorious (in great part due to the efforts of the Kingmaker who would begin to gain his personal fame at this time) and Somerset was hacked to death in front of the Castle Inn; May 22, 1455.

He reigned from 1483 until his death in 1485. One of the most controversial rulers in the history of the British Isles, Richard remains something of an enigma to historians. Histories surrounding him range from Sir Thomas More and Shakespeare portraying him as evil incarnate, to some modern revisionists who would clear him of all possible guilt and proclaim him to be the greatest of the English monarchs. As with all things the truth is probably somewhere in between. Opposing views on the subject are readily available even on the Web (see my intro page) and so I will refrain from pursuing the debate to any degree. Richard came to power in 1483 probably fearing for his power and perhaps his life under a Woodville Monarchy. He seems to have been content under his brother's rule (Edward IV), but when Edward died and Edward V was too young to rule for himself, Richard became Protector. He seems to have been a successful administrator, but his rule was wracked with as much controversy then as it is today and many in power mistrusted him. In 1485, at the battle of Bosworth Field, Richard was defeated and killed by the army of Henry Tudor (King Henry VII). (Trivia: Richard III was the last English Monarch to personally battle beside his troops in war.)

Richard Neville (Earl of Warwick)(1428-1471)

Also known as the Kingmaker, this figure has been called the last of the English Barons. He was central to the Wars and could even be considered to be the third party in them (ie. Lancastrians, Yorkists, and Nevilles). (Trivia: Richard Neville once held two Kings of England captive at the same time. Henry VI and Edward IV both feel under his control in 1469. For those of you who are vampire buffs, you might be interested in learning that the Kingmaker was born in the same year as Vlad Dracula; 1428.(There are others, including Rand McNally who put the Impaler's birth at 1431 which would make this trivia pointless, but I thought I'd mention it in order to be fair.)

Henry Stafford, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1454-1483)

Stafford became duke in 1460 with the death of his father. When Edward IV died, Buckingham supported Richard III's claim to the throne and was rewarded with the high constableship of England. In the same year, however, he led a rebellion against Richard and was captured and executed for treason.

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (1411-1460)

Father of Edward IV and Richard III, Richard was the namesake of the Yorkist side of the Wars. His claim to the throne was considered strong enough so that he was heir to Henry VI, until Henry produced a son. After the Battle of St Albans, Richard was again made heir to Henry disinheriting Edward of Lancaster. Queen Margaret would have none of that and by 1459 the two sides were in outright war with one another. In 1461 in Wakefield, York was tricked into leaving his castle and his forces were slaughtered by the Lancastrians. He, his son, and Salisbury were killed.

Henry Tudor (1457-1509)

The first of the Tudor kings, Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Fields on 22 August 1485. Henry was born to Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort, though his father was killed before his birth and his mother was only 13. He spent 14 years in Wales and then another 14 in exile in France before making his bid for the throne. Early in 1486 he married Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter and ostensibly united the two houses of York and Lancaster. His reign lasted from 1485 to 1509 when the crown passed to his more famous son, Henry VIII. (Trivia: Henry VII was something of a Mama's boy. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, had tremendous political influence during his reign as well as controlling the household. She even went to France to order them to pay up on War debts.)

Richard Neville (Earl of Salisbury)(Abt 1400 - 1460)

Father of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Salisbury was the oldest of the Yorkists. He was a capable warleader and often seems to have been the voice of reason. Successful in the early part of the war, he was captured and beheaded just after the battle of Wakefield.

Louis XI

The King of France from 1461 until his death in 1483. Known as the "Spider King", Louis ran a game of serious international intrigue in order to rebuild his country which had been plagued with a century of war. In his 22 year reign, he showed a great understanding of changing politics and reclaimed the duchies of Burgundy and Brittany.

Charles the Bold (1433-1477)

The Duke of Burgundy. When his father, Philip the Good, died in 1467, Charles began his dream of expanding his Dukedom. In 1468 he married Margaret of York, the sister of Edward IV, and formed an alliance with England. He fought intermittant battles with France before being defeated and killed by Switzerland at the battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. (Trivia: Fantastically wealthy, lavish, ambitious and tenacious, Charles had an abominable war record. In his war with Switzerland, his forces were defeated soundly at Grandson and later even more soundly at Morat. Despite the fact that he was a losing agressor, he nevertheless ignored peace attempts and laid siege to Nancy.)