King Richard III
1896
King Richard III
1896
He's not a monster. He's worse. He's a man who knows exactly what he is and tells you so anyway. King Richard III opens with one of theater's most notorious villains stepping directly into the light, bare-faced and unrepentant, to confess his intentions: to play the villain so well that history will have no choice but to remember him. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is deformed in body and aggrieved in spirit, passed over for the throne while his brother Edward wears the crown. So he does what any brilliant, bitter man might: he destroys everyone in his path. Brothers, friends, wives, innocent children, all become fuel for his ascent. Shakespeare transforms real historical carnage into propulsive, darkly entertaining theater, with Richard as both puppet master and narrator, pulling the audience into his conspiracies with disarming charm. The play seduces us into his confidence, then forces us to watch what that confidence costs. This is for readers who love a compelling antagonist, who appreciate villainy with self-awareness, who want their theater dangerous and morally uncomfortable. Richard III endures because it asks an uncomfortable question: what if the villain is the most honest person in the room?
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“Dispute not with her: she is lunatic.””
— William Shakespeare
“So wise so young, they say, do never live long.””
— William Shakespeare
“And thus I clothe my naked villainyWith odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ;And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.””
— William Shakespeare
“Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.””
— William Shakespeare
“And therefore,”
— William Shakespeare
“Now is the winter of our discontentMade glorious summer by this sun of York;And all the clouds that lour'd upon our houseIn the deep bosom of the ocean buried.””
— William Shakespeare
“What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am.Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason why:Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any goodThat I myself have done unto myself?O, no! Alas, I rather hate myselfFor hateful deeds committed by myself.I am a villain. Yet I lie. I am not.Fool, of thyself speak well. Fool, do not flatter:My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,And every tongue brings in a several tale,And every tale condemns me for a villain.Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree;All several sins, all used in each degree,Throng to the bar, crying all, “Guilty! guilty!”I shall despair. There is no creature loves me,And if I die no soul will pity me.And wherefore should they, since that I myselfFind in myself no pity to myself?””
— William Shakespeare
“I have set my life upon a cast,And I will stand the hazard of the die.””
— William Shakespeare
“Conscience is but a word that cowards use,Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe:Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell;If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.””
— William Shakespeare
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Shakespeare, William. King Richard III. Lex, lex-books.com/book/king-richard-iii-0a62b21f-d528-4d88-9c36-58f1bae309d9.Shakespeare, W. (1896). King Richard III. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/king-richard-iii-0a62b21f-d528-4d88-9c36-58f1bae309d9Shakespeare, William. King Richard III. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/king-richard-iii-0a62b21f-d528-4d88-9c36-58f1bae309d9.











































