"I am determined to prove a villain . . . ."
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Questions
(1) How does Richard's appearance reflect his inner nature?
(2) Why does Richard act as he does? Does he have sufficient motivation for his
evil acts?
(3) In Act 1, Scene ii, how does Richard succeed in wooing Anne, against the
seemingly insurmountable odds of having murdered her husband previously?
(4) In what ways is Richard himself an "actor" in his relationships to others in the
play? What roles does he assume? Why--what advantage does he gain by appearing in
these roles?
(5) How does Richard characteristically trick people into giving him their
confidence?
(6) Richard compares himself to the "Vice" in the morality tradition. In what
way[s] does he resemble this figure from medieval drama?
(7) To what degree does Richard let the audience in on his diabolical schemes?
(8) Richard continually jokes throughout the play. What insight does this given us
into his character?
(9) There is a good deal of animal imagery in the play. Which characters does it
most often describe? How does it affect our perceptions of these characters?
(10) Note the number of dreams in the play. What is their function in underscoring
the idea of Providential retribution in the play?
(11) What prophecies occur in the play, and which ones come true? What does this
suggest about the intervention of divine providence?
(12) How do the ordinary citizens view recent historical events?
(13) In what way[s] does history repeat itself in this play?
(14) Compare the dream scenes in the tents at the end of the play. In what way are
they symbolic? How do they heighten the contrast between the characters of Richard
and Henry?
(15) To what degree do Richard's machinations bring about his own downfall in the
end? To what degree does a cosmic irony operate in the play as a whole?
(16) Does the play present Henry's victory at Bosworth Field as a providential act
of God?
(17) Does justice exist in this play? Who is responsible for bringing it about? By
what method[s] is it brought about? What generalizations can you make about the
way[s] in which justice operates in this play?
(18) Try to figure out the identities of those alluded to in Queen Margaret's and the
Duchess of York's laments in IV.iv.39-46 and in Margaret's catalog of deaths in
IV.iv.63-73. Is it true, as she says in IV.iv.105-06, that "Thus hath the course of
justice whirl'd about"?
(19) Review and study the genealogy of the English kings sufficiently to be able to
discuss the way Shakespeare treats the English civil wars as symbolizing a destructive
disorder that is obliterated only by Henry Tudor's accession to the throne (the
so-called "Tudor myth").
Resources
The following resources are readily available in the library:
Other resources:
Performances
Links
Papers
This play should prompt you to consider doing a Source Study! You can locate excerpts from original source materials in these resources in the library:
If you are developing Shakespeare lesson plans or other teaching resources for a class project, be sure to visit and bookmark the
Richard III Society: Learning Resources site.
If you are interested in delving deeper into Richard's character and motivations, you
will find the following article relevant and interesting:
If you are interested in reading more about Elizabethan interpretations of English
history, or about Shakespeare's use of currently available histories of Richard III in
his play, these would be useful articles:
Many additional resources are available from the
Richard III Society; particularly their list of "Primary Texts and Secondary Sources Online," which includes a number of scholarly resources in addition to the ones already listed in this section.
Richard's opening soliloquy is also a good candidate for a Passage Analysis paper that could touch on the psychology of Richard's character in the play.