Richard III

“Shakespeare’s Richard III brilliantly develops the personality features of the aspiring tyrant already sketched in the Henry VI trilogy: the limitless self regard, the lawbreaking, the pleasure in inflicting pain, the compulsive desire to dominate. He is pathologically narcissistic and supremely arrogant. He has a grotesque sense of entitlement, never doubting that he can do whatever he chooses. He loves to bark orders and watch underlings scurry to carry them out. He expects absolute loyalty, but he is incapable of gratitude. The feelings of others mean nothing to him. He has no natural grace, no sense of shared humanity, no decency.”

Stephen Greenblatt

Despite the undeniable truth of Stephen Greenblatt’s observations – and the clear echo of more recent tyrants – the fact remains that Richard has definite attractions for both contemporary and modern audiences. Perhaps one of the obvious differences between Richard and the tyrants we see in the world today is that he makes a conscious choice to adopt villainy:

“And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover

To entertain these fair well-spoken days,

I am determined to prove a villain

And hate the idle pleasure of these days.”

In spite of his disclaimer, Richard is soon successfully seducing Lady Ann over the coffin of her dead husband – a villain, but irresistible.

The part was originally played by Richard Burbage, the charismatic lead actor of Shakespeare’s company, who after this first leading role would go on to create huge success as Othello, Lear, Macbeth and Prospero. Richard III is the most performed of Shakespeare’s History plays, although in its earliest publication – the quarto published in 1597 it is designated as:

‘The Tragedy of King Richard the third. Containing his treachourous Plots against his brother Clarence: the pittiefull murther of his innocent nephews: his tyrannical usurpation : with the whole course of his detested life, and most deserved death’

It is not until the 1623 Folio – after a remarkable number of editions – that the play appears as the eighth and last of the History plays, although it is the only one titled as a ‘Tragedy’.

JOINING DETAILS:

• Eight week study led by Jane Wymark on Zoom
• Thursdays, 18 September – 6 November 2025, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK)
• £240 for eight two-hour meetings
• Recommended edition: Richard III, The Arden Shakespeare, ISBN-13: 978-1903436899