Richard even though he threw the throne away had to be very clever to get to the position in the first place. It took great judgment of time and carefully crafted plans to succeed. The way that Richard manages to woo Anne is amazing. Through a number of manipulative moves he has transformed the mind of Anne. "Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? Was ever woman in this humour won?” Richard in the quote above finds it hard to believe that his plan had worked and that he had won Anne over. Richard cleverly tests the loyalty of Hastings by setting a trap. When Richard found out that Hastings didn’t want him to be king he had him executed. This just shows how well Richard can remove those who stand in his way without them knowing till it’s too late. “I’ll have this crown of mine chopped from my shoulder before I see the crown so foul misplaced.” Richard cleverly pretends that Hastings poses a threat to them when having him executed. “Look back, defend thee, here are enemies!” Richard does this so that the Mayor feels that the execution is just and fair. Richard before accepting the crown denies that he wants it and therefore it looks less like he had plotted his way to the thrown. “How far I am from the desire of this.” However Richards’s clever schemes do not always work for him. When he kidnaps Lord Stanley’s son he thinks that he will fight on his side. This plan was a failure as it angered Lord Stanley and he joined the other side as a result.
Throughout the play Shakespeare presents Richard as evil, not just in his words and thoughts but in his actions. Some of the things that Richard does in the play shows that he is pure evil. From the start we can see that Richard is evil. “Since I cannot prove a lover ….. I am determined to prove a villain…..I am subtle, false and treacherous” The fact that he will see his brother Clarence imprisoned and then have him murdered show that he is evil. “Simple plain Clarence I do love thee so, that I will shortly send thy soul to heaven.” The fact that Richard orders the death of two innocent young boys to secure his power tells you a lot about his character. “I mean those bastards in the tower.” He also doesn’t stop to think about taking Lord Stanley’s son hostage. His son is just something Richard can use to bargain with and when his plan fails he orders his death. “Off with his sons Georges head!” In Richards’s oration he simply insults the enemy repeatedly. “A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways, A scum of Bretons, and base lackey peasants”
Richard also can be seen as a risk-taker. This is why he is able to become King, he takes many risks in the play and many of them pay off. When Richard woos Anne he takes many risks, he asks her to take his life. Luckily he has a good judge of character and Anne doesn’t but it takes a great deal of bravery to put your life in somebody’s hands. “Here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword.” When pretending that he thought he wouldn’t be a good king he could have taken it to far causing the citizens to believe him but he doesn’t. .“So might and so many my defects.” When he takes Lord Stanley’s son hostage he knows that Lord Stanley could react to this in the wrong way and join the other side. Like most of the risks he takes after being crowned this one back fired. “My lord he doth deny to come.”
Richard proves that he has acting ability’s during the play and it is this aspect of his character that he finds useful. Richard played the loving brother to Clarense until his death.” But what’s the matter Clarence? May I know?” When he woos Anne he has to make her believe that he loves her. “Your beauty was the cause of that effect.” Richard when he shocks the king with the news of Clarence’s death must appear to be innocent. “Who knows not the gentle Duke is dead?” Richards’s best acting however was defiantly when he pretends that he doesn’t want the crown. He very skilfully manages to convince the mayor and citizens that he doesn’t want the crown and will be a bad king but will take it anyway and so they are relieved. “So mighty and so many my defects.”
Richard is portrayed throughout the play as a murderer. The list of his victims is impressively long for just one play. He is responsible for many deaths but lets the other people do the dirty work. Grey and Rivers were removed as they were related to queen Elizabeth who was on to Richards’s evil plan and wanted to keep the princes away from him. Clarence was removed for being disloyal and hesitating when asked to kill the princes. “Give me some little breath, some pause.” He also has Hastings remove for a similar slip up. Richard ordered the death of the two princes that were in the tower. Shakespeare shows that to Richard the Princes meant nothing and that he didn’t think twice about killing them. This proof that Richard is shown as a cold evil villain who will take away the lives of those who stand between him and power.
Shakespeare shows that Richard is evil and shouldn’t be on the thrown by presenting Richmond as a saint like character. He comes in right at the end of the play and rescues England from its evil king. Richmond when giving his speech to the soldiers talks about how god is on their side in the battle. “God and our good cause fight upon our side.” Richard on the other hand just insults the enemy which shows a clear contrast.
The side of Richard that Shakespeare shows is probably simply the extreme of what he actually believed along with the majority of people at that time. This harsh view of Richard may not be true but it was the Tudor historians that pushed through the idea of Richard being a deformed illegitimate king. Sir Thomas More’s History of Richard III shows Richard as the evil deformed man similar to how Shakespeare presents him. This is true also of Historia Anglia written by Polydore Vergil after Henry VIII requested it to legitimise the Tudor dynasty, which involved making Richard the evil illegitimate king that needed to be removed from the throne.
When Shakespeare had such doctored resources it was no wonder that he gives the same impression of Richard. In the sixteenth century everyone believed that Richard was an evil illegitimate king. This would suggest that Shakespeare did not make Richard evil to make the play interesting.
We know that Richard wasn’t responsible for the death of Clarence, and also he didn’t spread rumours to get him imprisoned. Shakespeare however has Richard as the orchestrator of this act. “Plots have I laid.” This would be the view of the historians that wrote about Richard as apposed to the truth.
Anne died naturally after a happy marriage to Richard. However in the play nothing is mentioned about the relationship as Shakespeare did not want to show that the evil Richard could have a loving side. Shakespeare also implies that Richard would have killed Anne had she not have died naturally. “I’ll have her, but I will not keep her long.” Shakespeare again fails to report the truth but except goes with a story line that will makes Richard appear more sinister, however it is hard to tell how distorted his view of Richard was as the Tudor historians did such a good job of changing the public opinion.
Edward IV appointed Richard as Lord Protector. Shakespeare however implies that Richard takes advantage of the princes and assumes the position without consulting them.
The fact that there is no evidence that Richard killed the Princes he cannot be proved innocent. When looking at the death of the Princes Richard is the most likely suspect, however in this period of time murdering to secure your spot on the throne was common place.
Richard before the death of the king was a very loyal follower. Richard was rewarded for his loyalty with large amounts of land in northern England. He ruled over these lands well and became popular amongst his people. Richard believed that he was the rightful king of England. Shakespeare implies that Richard knows that he is a usurper. There is evidence to suggest that Richards’s claims against the princes could be true. If this was the case then Richard did the right thing and asserted himself as the rightful king.
Richard was also a well educated religious man who read books on philosophy. This would also suggest that he was not the evil tyrant that he was labelled. Richmond was defiantly not the rightful king. His claim to the throne was extremely weak as hardly any royal blood flowed in his veins. Richard however was the soul member of the royal family apart from the princes that had a solid claim.
There is proof that the Tudor historians went about blackening Richards’s name. Recent x-ray scans have shown that many paintings were altered to enhance Richards’s deformity. This is because during the fifteenth and sixteenth century’s deformity was linked closely with evil, and therefore by enlarging his deformity they blackened his name.
I think it is clear that Shakespeare represents Richard as an evil usurper who murders his way to the throne. I think it is fair to say that this play does reflect the Tudor view of the events. This is because the only resources that Shakespeare could have used would have been written by historians who worked for the Tudor monarchs to blacken Richards name in order to secure their own seat on the throne.