page_title: Richard III (play)
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: Richard III (play) / Synopsis
context_page_description: Richard III is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written around 1593. It is labeled a history in the First Folio, and is usually considered one; but sometimes it is called a tragedy, as in the quarto edition. Richard III concludes Shakespeare's first tetralogy; and depicts the Machiavellian rise to power, and subsequent short reign, of King Richard III of England.
  It is the second longest play in the Shakespearean canon; and is the longest of the First Folio, whose version of Hamlet is shorter than its Quarto counterpart. The play is often abridged, and peripheral characters removed. In such cases, extra lines are often invented, or added from elsewhere, to establish the nature of characters' relationships. A further reason for abridgment is that Shakespeare assumed his audiences' familiarity with his Henry VI plays, frequently referring to the latter.
context_section_description: The play begins with Richard (Gloucester) standing in "a street", describing the re-accession to the throne of his brother, King Edward IV of England, eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York (implying the year is 1471):
  Now is the winter of our discontent
  
  Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
  
  And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
  
  In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
  Richard is an ugly hunchback, "rudely stamp'd", "deformed, unfinish'd"; cannot "strut before a wanton ambling nymph"; and says he is "determined to prove a villain / And hate the idle pleasures of these days." Through a prophecy, that "G of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be", he has plotted to have Clarence (his brother) conducted to the Tower of London: the king interpreted the prophecy as George of Clarence. Speaking to Clarence, en route, Richard blames the queen, and says he will try to help him. Richard continues plotting:
  I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.
  
  What, though I kill'd her husband and her father?
  Lady Anne attends the corpse of Henry VI, with Trestle and Berkeley, going from St Paul's Cathedral.  She bids them set down the "honourable load", then laments.  Richard appears, and Lady Anne says that "Henry's wounds [...] bleed afresh". He confesses the murder, and she spits at him; he offers himself to her sword, but she drops it; he offers to kill himself at her order, but she accepts his ring. Richard exults at having won her over so; and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served her purpose.
  The atmosphere at court is poisonous: The established nobles are at odds with the upwardly mobile relatives of Queen Elizabeth, a hostility fueled by Richard's machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns, though banished, and warns the squabbling nobles about Richard, cursing extensively. The nobles, all Yorkists, unite against this last Lancastrian, and ignore the warnings.
  Richard orders two murderers to kill Clarence in the tower. Clarence, meanwhile, relates a distressing dream to his keeper, before going to sleep. The murderers arrive with a warrant, and the keeper relinquishes his office. While the murderers are pondering what to do, Clarence wakes, recognises their purpose, and pleads with them; presuming that Edward has offered them payment, he tells them to go to Gloucester, who will reward them better for having kept him alive. One of the murderers explains that Gloucester hates him, and sent them. Pleading again, he is eventually interrupted, with "Look behind you, my lord", and stabbing.
  The compacted nobles pledge absent enmities before Edward, and Elizabeth asks Edward to receive Clarence into favour. Richard rebukes her, saying: "Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead?". Edward, who has confessed himself near death, is much upset by this news, and led off. Richard blames those attending Edward. Edward IV soon dies, leaving Richard as Protector. Lord Rivers, Lord Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan, have been imprisoned. The uncrowned Edward V and his brother are coaxed (by Richard) into an extended stay at the Tower of London.
  Assisted by his cousin Buckingham, Richard mounts a campaign to present himself as the true heir to the throne, pretending to be a modest, devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Lord Hastings, who objects to Richard's accession, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge of treason. Together, Richard and Buckingham spread the rumour that Edward's two sons are illegitimate, and therefore have no rightful claim to the throne; they are assisted by Catesby, Ratcliffe, and Lovell. The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as king, in spite of the continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).
  Richard asks Buckingham to secure the death of the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard then recruits Sir James Tyrrell, who kills both children. When Richard denies Buckingham a promised land grant, Buckingham turns against Richard and defects to the side of Henry, Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile. Richard has his eye on hi
caption: Richard III terrified by nightmarish visions. Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 9, painting by Nicolai Abildgaard. Nivaagaard Collection.[2]
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