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The Tragedy of King Richard III (The character of Richard III (Good time…
The Tragedy of King Richard III
Historical context
The play is set around the end of the dispute over the English throne between the Houses of York and Lancaster
The Wars of the Roses
The House of York -white rose
The House of Lancaster - red rose
Henry Tudor, the member of the House of Lancaster ended the war by defeating Richard III (a York)
Henry Tudor founded the line of kings and queens that continued to Elizabeth I, who was Queen when Shakespeare wrote the play
History play
History plays became a device to bring the cultural and national inheritance to the common illiterate masses.
Related to a tetralogy of history plays
Richard II
Henry IV, part 1 and 2
Henry V
The character of Richard III
Good time of peace and sex, but he is hated by everyone, even nature.
He is unfit for womanizing so he turns to a villain and kills the king.
Is he determined to be a villain by nature or is it his choice?
The end of the play is ambigouos, the hero dies.
He was not as severely deformed as Shakespeare described him in the play.
Is he a villain or we should feel sorry for him?
The main character is setting the play. Exception! We always have to think about if we trust him or not. The Yorkists are always victorious and he belongs to them.
He is a puppet in the hands of God.
Thomas More created the negative character of Richard III.
Fate
Many people believed that the events in the world were set out by God and there was no escaping them.
External forces affected a person's fate and divine order, rather than their actual character.
Shakespeare depicted Richard as a more human villain but deformed.
The ghosts and curses would be seen as holy and divine intervention by God to restore order and the rightful king.
Elizabethans considered physical appearance a mirror to the personality, thus Richard's deformity explains his immorality and corruption.
Boar
Historically, the symbol of a boar was Richard III's battle symbol.
In Elizabethan times, the boar was reserved for hunting by the royal family.
Richard is also killed by another royal, Henry Tudor.
Stanley and Hastings often refers to Richard as the boar, when he is deceitful and trecherouos, attributes given to the boar.
Secularism
A cultural shift from God and royalty to a more free fascination in the world.
Richard represents the divide between medieval religious beliefs (deformity being az omen) and Renessaince humanism and free will in our actions (his pursuit for power).
Wordplay
Many characters lie, kill and manipulate in order to gain power and influence.
A large amount of what he says has double meaning, making him more sinister and clever.
He also uses rhetorical questions to persuade people about his innocence.
As Richard Gloucester is predominantly a deceiver, he uses clever language and wordplay when he lies to people.