In act 1 scene 2, In this scene Richards persuasive and manipulative side is shown, Anne absolutely despises Richard to start off with but this suddenly changes with a few of Richards words, She calls him “Foul devil” and “Lump of foul deformity” this shows complete hatred for Richard, but Richard still tries to win her over by being a gentleman and complimenting her by calling her a “Sweet saint”, this shows that he is determined to win her over and will not be put down easily by the words she uses against him.
Richard denies that he killed Anne’s’ father and persists on it too, when he does this the audience is able to see how much of a great actor he is and how charming he is, he tries to make her believe that it was her beauty that made him kill her father, “ your beauty was the cause of that effect”. He tells Anne to take his sword and stab him through his heart but she does not, she resists and she takes Richards ring and places it on her finger. This shows him being a deceiving yet good actor.
In the next scene we see Margaret clearly expressing her true feelings about Richard, these feelings are possibly the most hatred feelings anyone has ever felt, Margaret calls Richard a “Dog”, “Hunch backed toad” and a “bottled spider”, this shows that Margaret knows that Richard is evil, deceitful and a liar.
Also in this scene we see Richard ordering the villainous act of ordering his own brother’s death in the tower.
In the tower, Clarence is talking to the keeper about his dream that he had of him being on a boat trying to escape, he then gets struck overboard by Richard, and this is the same as seeing into the future because it is Richard who has killed him. Clarence also tells him about his soul going to hell where he gets accused of killing prince Edward who he killed but had never confessed.
Richards’ partner in crime is Hastings, but Richard is only using him to get to the top, Hastings knows about all of the killings and everything Richard has plotted and has accomplished. Hastings thinks that Richard needs him more than he needs Richard, but he is wrong because Richard does not really mind if he has Hastings or not because in the end he kills him and reaches the top. Richard also places Rivers Grey and Vaughn to death because he sees them as a threat to Richard.
Richard starts to cast aspersions upon his family saying that they his nephews are illegitimate which casts aspersions on his brothers’ name.
In act 3 scene 7, Richard tries to act like a noble Christian by having two Bishops beside him whilst making a speech, this is offensive to a Shakespearian audience because they are not using Christ properly, he is just using them to make him look good. The public are deeply suspicious of Richard here. The theme of appearance and reality is prominent here.
By doing this Richard conveys a false impression, but doing this is again shows just how skillful he is at manipulating others, but then he makes is into a villainous thing because it is ridiculing religion. Richard takes great delight here in pretending to be a spiritual and religious man.
When Richard is offered the crown he does not accept because he wants the people to make him want it even more so they keep offering it to him.
Richard parts with Buckingham in act 4 scene 2 because Buckingham does not understand Richards orders which were with spite to order the death of the princes in the tower, to be blunt he says “Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead”. This is the first time that people are able to see through Richard as Catesby says “The king is angry; see, he gnaws his lip.”
In this scene Richard is associated with the Ultimate biblical villain, king Herod, this is because Richard is ordering the deaths of the princes in the tower so Richard can become king because legally the princes are kings, and king Herod orders the death of all the children in the town because Jesus is going to become king and Herald does not want to lose his place as king. Children are a sign of innocence and purity.
The first 3 acts in this play show Richard starting of as just a member of the royal family but then deceiving people to be on his side against his family and friends to deceive his way to the top of the world, Richard is the most deceiving person and best ever actor because of the amount of people he has manipulated, Richard starts off like this but then during acts 4 and 5 he starts to lose his grip and people start to realize the true villain within him.
In the battle between Richmond and Richard, there is completely different atmosphere between the two sides because on one side, Richmond is calm and relaxed and is sure o win, but on the other side Richard is scared and is spying on his own side to see if they are going to betray him or not.