Richard III

Richard III follows the ruthless Duke of Gloucester as he schemes and murders his way to the throne of England, and his downfall at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

Main characters

• Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III
• King Edward IV, his brother
• George, Duke of Clarence, another brother
• Queen Elizabeth, Edward's wife
• The Princes in the Tower, Edward's young sons
• Lady Anne, widow of the Lancastrian prince
• The Duke of Buckingham
• Queen Margaret, widow of Henry VI
• Henry, Earl of Richmond, later Henry VII

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

The Wars of the Roses are over and Richard's brother Edward IV is king. Richard, who describes himself as deformed and unfit for peace, announces to the audience that he means to be a villain. He has his brother Clarence imprisoned and murdered, and in an audacious scene woos Lady Anne over the coffin of the king he killed.

When Edward dies, Richard becomes protector of his young nephews, puts them in the Tower of London and, with Buckingham's help, manipulates the citizens into offering him the crown. As king he has the princes murdered and disposes of anyone in his way, including his wife and eventually Buckingham, who had hesitated. Queen Margaret, a ghostly survivor of the earlier plays, curses them all.

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, lands with an army. On the night before the Battle of Bosworth the ghosts of Richard's victims appear to both men, blessing Richmond and telling Richard to 'despair and die'. Unhorsed and fighting on foot, Richard is killed by Richmond, who becomes Henry VII and unites York and Lancaster by marrying Edward IV's daughter.

Themes

• Ambition and tyranny
• Charisma and manipulation
• Conscience and guilt
• Providence and Tudor order

Famous lines

Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York.

Richard, Act 1 Scene 1

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

Richard, Act 5 Scene 4

I am determined to prove a villain.

Richard, Act 1 Scene 1

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

Holinshed's Chronicles, Hall's chronicle and Sir Thomas More's History of King Richard III, all written under the Tudors, who had every reason to present Richard as a monster.

On stage and screen

The title role has been a showcase for leading actors from Richard Burbage to David Garrick, Laurence Olivier (whose 1955 film fixed the popular image) and Antony Sher. In 2012 Richard's remains were found under a car park in Leicester and in 2015 he was reburied in Leicester Cathedral, reigniting debate about how fair Shakespeare's portrait is.

See where Richard III sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.