Richard Iii

English Essay. Richard III by David Usher. Word Count: 887

The comment “Richard’s evil succeeds because he makes use of the evil and corruption of others” largely explains the success of Richards plans to ascend the throne. In this essay, I will endeavour to explain how the evil and corruption of others directly attributed to Richards succession of obtaining the throne and account for his fall from the shortcomings in his own character.

Richard III was a very complex character; he was born deformed and was considered “ugly” among other people including himself. Richard described himself as “deformed and unfinished, so unpleasant to look at, that dogs bark at him, sent before his time”. Because he didn’t think that he was worthy of love because of his looks and deformities he wished to inflict pain upon other people and act like a villain. He achieved this by deceiving others and manipulating them to do his will.

The first example of his manipulation is illustrated clearly within the first Act, Scene I of the play, where Richard reveals that he has planned to have Clarence killed. He shows his duplicity by pretending to feel saddened by the news of the King’s ill health. He tells the King a prophecy, which he invented, which suggests that Clarence will kill King Edward.

King Edward orders for his own brother to be executed just because he sees him as threat to the throne. Richard tells his brother Clarence of his love for him and that he will do anything in his power to have him released, but when alone, he reveals that he actually truly seeks Clarence’s death. He also tries to blame Queen Elizabeth for Clarence’s imprisonment, turning the blame away from himself. Richard achieved Clarence’s death by manipulating Edward’s paranoia and protectiveness of the throne.

In Act I, Scene II we see Richard cleverly manipulating Anne even though she is aware of his evil character traits. Richard killed Anne’s husband and father-in-law so that he could marry her. Richard persuaded her to give in to him and won her over, by saying that he only killed her husband and father-in-law as an act of love and if she didn’t love him to kill him straight away. He also said that he didn’t kill them but that she did, her beauty causing their deaths. She fell for his flattery and agreed to move to his house and wait for him there. Richard marvelled at how easy it was to win her over despite the clear evidence showing that he was indeed to blame for the deaths and the hatred that Anne had felt for him only a short time before. Richard predicts that he will soon abandon Anne. Anne deserved what happened because she let herself get charmed by someone who she considered to be like a devil and the amount of evidence of his crimes that she ignored.

Another example of Richard’s cleverness is in Act I, Scene III where Richard launches into a verbal attack by accusing the Woodvilles of slandering him to the King and plotting against the King. These are the very things that Richard could have justly been accused of. By launching into the attack, he threw the Woodvilles off balance and avoided being accused of those very same crimes.

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