‘To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber’
This also suggests that Richard is envious of this type of behaviour, this is shown by the contempt that he pours into the words: ‘caper’, ‘nimbly’ and on the next line ‘lascivious’ all suggest either effeminacy or self indulgence- not the sort of behaviour befitting a soldier at all. It is at this point, line thirteen, where the whole mood of the soliloquy changes.
In lines fourteen to fifteen the thoughts are much more personal. This is because they comment on Richard’s own physical ugliness,
‘But I, that am not shaped for sportive ticks
Now made to court an amorous looking-glass’
It is at this point where we first understand how Richard is more than a simple theatrical villain, we gain a hint of the scorn and hatred he really has. A ‘simple’ theatrical villain would not be, in this way, like Richard. Using a simple two lines Shakespeare conveys to the reader that Richard is much more complicated than a simple theatrical villain. He continues on to complain about the incompetence, with which he has been ‘manufactured’, and he looks scornfully upon the love-making for which, he says he unsuitable. This also shows us that Richard is a realist and does not imagine himself to be startlingly attractive like many other villains believe themselves to be; it also shows us, however, that Richard has a very low self-esteem. Which may explain his hatred of the world and why he focuses all his efforts on becoming king. Richard also adds tells us that he is ‘not shap’d for sportive tricks’ which gives us an understanding that he is not handsome enough, or does not have the ability to, play sexual games. In the Mckellan film Richard says this standing in the lavatory and provides the impression that he does not wish to look at himself in a mirror, this is shown by the expression of contempt Richard shows when he does observe himself in the mirror. He associates himself with a badly minted coin ‘ rudely stamp’d’. He blames nature that has dishonestly cheated him of his rightful proportions. This is also out of character for a ‘usual’ villain. The word ‘proportion’ introduces a can of images continued in ‘unfinished’, ‘ unfashionable’ and deformity. All this imagery suggests that Richard conscious of his deformities and does not find the need to hide his problems and pretend that they do not exist. Shakespeare has particularly mentioned Richard’s disability because in Elizabethan times it was common belief that your appearance and your fitness was related to your future in the afterlife that is, Richard must be evil and going to hell because he is deformed. In this way Shakespeare is subtly hinting at the possibility of Richard’s true evil, Richard however blames his outwardly appearance as the cause of his villainy,
‘…since I cannot prove a lover…
I am determined to prove a villain.’
What Richard carries on to say is even more alarming. He openly tells the audience of his plot to reach the throne and remove all the people standing between him and the throne. It is at this point where Richard shows qualities displayed by few villains; he makes the audience co-conspirators. He actually addresses the audience at openly discusses his plans. This is done my Richard apparently talking to himself when in reality he is actually addressing the audience. By doing this Shakespeare almost makes the audience as guilty as Richard and this has a great affect throughout the play. The next lines portray Richard as being cruel and merciless. He says he has laid plans to:
‘set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other’
He is supposedly taking advantage of a prophecy that depicts the murder of the king, the prophecy states that the king will be murdered by a person who’s name begins with G. it is in this way that Richard arranges for his very own brother to be sent to the Tower of London. The soliloquy then runs on straight to Clarence’s departure. It is only here where we get a glance at Richard’s acting ability. At line one hundred and two Richard ‘embraces; Clarence, weeping’. Richard blames the queen for Clarence’s misfortune when it is however, at Richard’s command that Clarence has been imprisoned, Richard’s following words are characteristically vague and ironic:
‘ Well you imprisonment shall not be long:
I will deliver you, or else lie for you.’
Clarence believes that Richard means that Richard would ‘take your place’; however in reality, of course Richard truly means ‘tell lies about you’. It is this type of ‘dark humour’ that characterises Richard throughout the play. Richard continues on, in classic villainous style to perform the customary ‘murmuring under his breathe’ when he says:
‘Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne’er return;
Simple, plain Clarence, I do love the so
That I will shortly send thy soul to Heaven –
If Heaven will take the present from our hands.’
It is typical of Richard to use this type of humour and the ability to mock something to precious as fraternal love as well as show his obvious contempt for religion. This is also another example of Shakespeare associating Richard with the devil. Richard finds it humorous that Heaven would accept any gift from his hands, let alone the innocent soul of his murdered brother. It is at this point the mood for the rest of the play changes, with Richard’s treachery and his dark humour appearing to be the key aspects of Richard’s character.
My own personal favourite scene in the entire film and play is the scene in act I scene 2 where Richard attempts to woo lady Anne, whose father and husband he himself had murdered. When lady Anne firstly begins to think Richard is a cruel, corrupt, picture of evil she expresses this when she says:
‘Villain, though know’st nor maw of God nor man:
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity’
Richard counters this by ‘playing innocent’ McKlellan’s acting in this scene was superb and he was very convincing as being innocent, and so he says,
‘But I know none. An therefore am no beast’
When he states this Lady Anne finds this deeply amusing that someone of Richard’s evil could possible be kind. She gets worked up and says that it is ‘wonderful, when the devil tell the truth!’ It is then when Richard finally says his supreme line to win Lady Anne over,
‘More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouch safe, divine perfection of a woman,’
In the rest of the scene Richard threatens to take his own life if lady Anne does not love him and in this way he woos her over. This shows how corrupt Richard is if he thinks that he can woo a woman after killing her father and husband, however even more corrupt may even be the fact that he succeeds.
The next major scene is Act III scene 4, which is at first about the meeting of the council and eventually Hastings’s death. The scene starts with the council being in session.
Richard, distracted by his own superstitions withdraws to confer with Buckingham about Hastings. They re-enter the council room, he is enraged and is clamouring about plots against himself, it is at this point when Hastings unfortunately speaks reassuringly to Richard. It is at this point where Richard shows how merciless he truly is; Richard accuses Hastings of protecting the supposed plotters and sentences him to death. It is notable that Richard exploits anything, in this case superstitions:
‘Look how I am bewitched; behold, mine arm
Is like a blasted sapling wither’d up.
And this is Edward’s wife, that a monstrous witch,
Consorted with that harlot strumpet Shore,
That by their witchcraft thus have marked me.’
What is most important about this scene is that Richard, unlike stereotypical villains, uses his own weaknesses (his deformity) for his own political advantage. This again shows that Shakespeare has created anything but a ‘run of the mill’ villain in Richard instead a much more complicated, cunning character.
The next scene again illustrates Richards acting ability, which combined with his cunning provide him with the throne. The scene (Act III scene 7) begins with the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman and Citizens come to Richard to beg him to become king. Buckingham and Catesby aid Richard in fooling the visitors into believing that Richard is a deeply religious man, the irony adding to the humour of the scene:
‘I do beseech you grace to pardon me,
Whom earnest in the service of my God,
Deferred the visitation of my friends
But, leaving this, what is your grace’s pleasure’
In his speech Richard refers to his ‘visitors’ he fools the Mayor, Alderman and Citizens into believing that he was praying with two bishops, Richard reinforces this by holding a ‘prayer book’ in his hand when he was talking to the guests.
It is firstly Buckingham who attempts to “convince” Richard to become king. He says that Richard ought to become king to prevent the country falling to the corruption of a blemished stock. Richard replies:
‘And much I need to help you, were there need,
The royal tree hath left us royal fruit’
What Richard states is that he need not be king because there is already an adequate heir to the throne in the young prince. However, Buckingham counters Richard’s words by calling the two young princes ‘bastards’. Buckingham states that Edward, the father of the two princes, did not conceive the two with his wife and therefore the two are illegitimate to take the throne. Then Buckingham takes a different tone with Richard and threatens him,
‘If you refuse it…
…we will plant some other on the throne
To the disgrace and downfall of your house’
At this Richard ‘reluctantly’ accepts sovereignty and wishes it to be known how unwilling he was and that it will be a terrible burden for him and that it would draw him away from his prayers. Buckingham that hails him as king, and Richard’s coronation is set for the next day. In the McKellan film the coronation is a very disturbing affair. The music and the military uniform that Richard was wearing appeared to resemble that worn by the communist party. Richard’s coat of arms is scribed in black upon a blood red background and it has quite intentionally been designed to resemble the Nazi swastika and finally when Richard has been crowned the salute that everybody in the room performs resembles that of the Nazi salute.
Act V scene 3 is important because it truly shows the ostentation that Richard emits. It characterises his cruelty, and his irresistible humour. The scene is preceded by the death of the two princes in the tower, by Dighton and Forrest, who had been hired by Tyrell. When Tyrell describes the murder he uses words such as ‘tyrannous’ and ‘bloody’. Dighton and Forrest themselves hardened criminal are effected by the killings, this makes the deaths appear even more evil. When Richard greets Tyrell he asks him, ‘ am I happy in thy news?’ This statement does more than merely startle Tyrell (along with the audience), the fact that Richard would be happy in the deaths of his two nephews. He further shocks Tyrell by not wanting to know that they are dead but the manner in which they died. This surely is a prime example of the sheer level of hatred Richard is able to show. Once Tyrell departs from the scene Richard begins a brief but knowledge providing soliloquy. He recites the entire catalogue of crimes he has committed and all the suffering he has caused. He shows no remorse at all and indeed he seems to find his cruelty and his villainy humorous.
Act V scene 3 is the second most important part of the whole play. There is a huge contrast between Richard’s mental attitude and that of Richmond, Richard’s enemy. Richard himself is in a terrible state of despair. He believes (correctly) that, ‘ no creature loves me’. The spirits of those he has so cruelly betrayed and murdered continuously disturbs Richard’s sleep. All of the ghosts repeating the same line to Richard, ‘Die and despair.’ Richard expects them to claim vengeance on the day of the battle. These nightmares destroy Richard’s confidence more than any number of soldiers led by Richmond.
The same ghosts also visit Richmond, however instead of speaking evil to Richmond they wish encouragement, ‘live and flourish!’ It is clear to see which of the two commanders had the better sleep and a better mental attitude towards the next day’s proceedings.
Another difference between the two commanders is the oration each gives to their troops. Firstly we shall discuss Richmond’s oration to his troops. He starts of by giving a cause to the battle, he believes that there is a just cause to their fight and their fight will be a holy one. Richmond has to motivate his troops greatly because after all he is fighting a battle against a king. He attempts to convince his troops that Richard is merely a fraud; he states that even Richard’s men themselves would prefer Richmond to beat Richard.
Richard then begins to insult Richard. He publicly condemns Richard as a ‘bloody tyrant’ and a homicide who is only on the throne out of deceit and murder. Richmond also believed that God is upon his side and that he will protect the troops if they fight against Richard. He also mentions that they are fighting to protect their wives and their children:
‘If you do not fight in safeguard of your wives,
If you do free your children from the sword’
Richard also adds that he is willing to choose death over failure, but if he is successful his men will share in his victory. Finally he ends in a very confident mood and sets the tone for the events to follow:
‘Sound drums and trumpets boldly and cheerfully:
God and Saint George! Richmond and victory!’
It is important to note that the word ‘God’ is used six times during Richmond’s speech.
Now we move on the Richard’s speech. Richard appears to be desperate; he is forced to resort to slander and lies about his opponent. It is also important to not that the ‘devilish’ Richard never mentions the word ‘God’ at all in his speech, there is a sodden sense of irony with this as Richard pretended to be religiously devout earlier on and now he simply does not even mention God. Richard in no way attempts to justify his position instead he relies on insults. He spits out poisonous remarks like the evil serpent that he appears to be. He refers to Richmond’s men as ‘vagabonds’, ‘rascals’, ‘scum’, ‘base’ and ‘peasants’. All this insulting portrays Richard as a child not an evil villain that he appeared to be earlier. In this way Richard is similar to a simple theatrical villain. He also insults Richmond directly,
‘A milksop, one that never in his life
Felt more cold as over shoes in snow…
…a paltry fellow.
He states that his enemies are less than men: ‘let men conquer us,/And not the bastard Bretons.’ He says that the enemy have already been ‘beaten, bobb’d, and thumped’ by ‘our fathers.’ By this Shakespeare is referring to another one of his plays, Henry IV, where the British fought the French in the battle of Agincourt and won. He states that these people who will take over their land and sleep with their wives and rape their daughters. In summate I believe it is acceptable to say that Richard’s speech is entirely negative when oppositely Richmond’s is positive. This is another characteristic that Richard shares with many other theatrical villains, a negative attitude.
Now we finally move on to the end of the film. The end of the film is quite extraordinary and it is completely unexpected. Mckellan’s battle was set using tanks and Battersea Power Station however it gave a very exiting and unusual ending. When Richard’s Jeep gets stuck in the mud Richard utters the famous words, ‘A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!’ Richard is then pursued to the top of the power station by and eager Richmond who is carrying a revolver in his hand. When they confront each other Richard utters the following words and throws himself off the top whilst he is falling music plays and Richard plummets to his death with a sly grin fixed upon his face,
‘March on, join bravely, let us to’t pel-mell,
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.’
The fact that Richard was in control of his own destiny and killed himself is another, very ‘theatrical villain’ like move. Hitler and his regime have obviously been implemented in the film and like Hitler Richard instead of letting his enemy have the pleasure of taking his life he took his own.
In conclusion, there are many qualities that make Richard so resistible to any audience, a modern audience can understand and associate him to many modern commanders and the classical audience could dream of a leader like Richard. Richard is full of the qualities it takes to be an excellent villain; he has charisma; he is self-confident; he is merciless and he is exceptionally funny. His cold heartedness just adds to his humour and this is what makes him so enjoyable to watch. Hi wins over the audience’s admiration my addressing them directly in his soliloquies. He is a master of deceit and in many ways, yes, he is a classical theatrical villain. However, there is something that separates Richard from the rest. Maybe it is his excessive cruelty, his ability to crack a joke while plotting his brother’s death, or his ability to get what he wants. It is difficult to name exactly what makes Richard different however, one thing is for sure; it is the kind of difference that is uniquely Shakespearean in its depth and complexity.
