The woman whom we meet next is my favourite character in the play because she too is a victim like many others in the play, but is the only one who manages to defeat Richard. This is Queen Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth is a passive character throughout most of the play until she is no longer queen. As I have already mentioned Queen Elizabeth is a victim in the play but more so than any of the other characters because her husband dies of ill health due to Richard’s scheming and lies, and then her two sons are murdered due to Richard’s demands, but she still stays strong enough to send her remaining son abroad to save him. Her dramatic role in Richard III is to show that evil can be overthrown. She is Richard’s victim throughout until she deceives him by making him believe that he will take her young daughter in marriage ‘I go. Write to me very shortly, /And you shall understand from me her mind.’ In this scene we see Queen Elizabeth in a different light, not as a grieving widow or mother, but as a strong, determined character that is intent on overthrowing her tormentor. She sees a chance to be Richard’s victor and grasps it, while he believes that she is a ‘relenting fool’ to give her daughter up so easily. She is manipulative and uses her own daughter as a pawn in her private game of power, for she does not give her daughter to Richard but offers her to Richmond, who becomes king after killing Richard in battle.
The audience are introduced to Queen Margaret in the same scene that they are introduced to Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare has chosen to do this because Queen Elizabeth is Queen Margaret’s alter ego. Queen Margaret reveals antagonism for the woman who has made her shadow which causes great tension in this scene.
Shakespeare has altered history by retaining Margaret because originally she never returned to England after the deaths of her son and husband. Not only does he bring her back to England but he gives her an important role in the play. She acts as a narrative voice, predicting the doom of those who are to blame for the deaths of her son and husband and also to those whom she resents and blames for her loss of power. To Queen Elizabeth she predicts that she will ‘Die neither mother, wife, nor England’s queen!’ She also predicts for Richard that he will have dreadful nightmares ‘No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine/ Unless it be while some tormenting dream/ Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!’ All of her predictions come true and therefore she feels that her mission is completed.
Although Margaret is Richard’s arch enemy, she is actually like him in many ways. They both have a slanderous tongue and are both in the play for specific reasons; Margaret to seek justice and Richard to become king. Each character is a lone figure although Richard has many contemporise whom he cares little for. Margaret is the only female character (besides his mother) who knows of Richard’s true character, ‘A murderous villain, and so still thou art’ and his intentions. Margaret represents Richard’s past and her dramatic role in the play is to remind the audience of the War of the Roses and the consequences. Her function is to act as justice, and justice is done when Richard is killed in battle and both houses unite.
The final female character in the play is the Duchess of York, Richard’s mother. Her role in the play is to show the audience the evil, inhumane side of Richard by his lack of feeling and impatience for her ‘O, let me speak’ ‘Do then, but I’ll not hear/… And brief, good mother, for I am in haste.’ Unlike the rest of the characters his mother sees through him very early on. From seeing through him and knowing of his wickedness she wishes that she had never born such a vile son, ‘O ill-dispersing wind of misery! / O my accursed womb, the bed of death! /A cockatrice hast thou hatched to the world/ Whose unavoided eye is murderous’. The Duchess of York is not fooled as are the rest of the characters such as Richard’s brother Clarence. Two murderers are sent upon Richard’s command to kill Clarence, but Richard frames King Edward IV for the evil deed ‘Offended us you have not, but the King.’ One of the murderers then admit that it was actually Richard who sent them, stating ‘Your brother Gloucester hates you’ but Clarence who has already been taken in by Richard replies ‘O, no, he loves me and he holds me dear.’ He is totally oblivious to Richard’s innate evil and meets a terrible death.
The audience who are aware of Richard’s true character like him despite all his murders because he is a lovable rogue. His mother who also knows of his true character despises him. She, unlike us, is not susceptible to his charms. Her dramatic role in the play is to reveal his evil to us because we are under his spell.
One of the most dramatic scenes in this play is Act IV scene 4 when Queen Elizabeth, Queen Margaret and the Duchess of York unite to overthrow King Richard. Queen Elizabeth seeks to create a bond with Queen Margaret because they both want the same thing; King Richard’s end. It is a powerful and dramatic scene because they have all been victims of King Richard and finally realise that they have to support each other because they have no-one else. Queen Elizabeth asks Queen Margaret for instructions in cursing ‘O thou well skilled in curses, stay a while/And teach me how to curse mine enemies!’ which I believe is her way of saying sorry and treating her as an equal.
The women in this play are vital to the script and although they have no power whatsoever in this play, without them neither would Richard. Part of each of the female characters role was to show that in their era it was the men that held the power and the women were entirely powerless which Shakespeare presented superbly.
Kelly Nicholls
12.2
