Richard III (play)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frontispage of the First Quarto Richard The Third.
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in
approximately 1591. The play is an unflattering depiction of the short reign of Richard III
of England.[1]While generally classified as a history, as grouped in the First Folio, the
play is sometimes called a tragedy (as in the first quarto). It picks up the story from
Henry VI, Part 3 and concludes the historical series that stretches back to Richard II.
After Hamlet, it is Shakespeare's second longest play and is the longest of the First Folio,
whose version of Hamlet is shorter than the Quarto version. The length is generally seen
as a drawback, for which reason it is rarely performed unabridged. It is often shortened
by cutting peripheral characters.
Another reason for editing is that Shakespeare assumed that his audiences would be
familiar with the Henry VI plays, and frequently made indirect references to events in
them, such as Richard's murder of Henry VI or the defeat of Henry's queen Margaret.
Nowadays the previous plays are less well-known, so the character of Margaret is often
cut and extra lines are sometimes invented or added from the trilogy to explain the
characters' relationships.
Contents
1 Sources
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2 Date and text
3 Performance
4 Characters
5 Synopsis
6 Themes and motifs
o 6.1 Comedic elements
o 6.2 Free Will and Fatalism
7 Notable stage performances of Richard III
8 Adaptations and Cultural References
o 8.1 Film versions
o 8.2 Cultural references
9 Notes and references
10 Further reading
11 External links
Sources
Shakespeare's primary source for Richard III, like most of his histories, was Raphael
Holinshed's Chronicles; the publication date of the second edition, 1587, being the
terminus post quem for the play. Shakespeare likely consulted Edward Hall's The Union
of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York, and according to scholars, was
familiar with Samuel Daniel's poem on the civil wars.[specify]
Date and text
Richard III is believed to be one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, preceded only by the
three parts of Henry VI and perhaps his earliest comedies. It is believed to have been
written circa 1591. Although Richard III was entered into the Register of the Stationers
Company on October 20, 1597 by the bookseller Andrew Wise, who published the first
quarto (Q1) later that year (with printing done by Valentine Simmes), Marlowe's Edward
II, which cannot have been written much later than 1592 (Marlowe died in 1593) is
thought to have been influenced by it. A second quarto (Q2) followed in 1597, printed by
Thomas Creede for Andrew Wise, containing an attribution to Shakespeare on its title
page and may have been a memorial reconstruction.[2] Q3 appeared in 1602, Q4 in 1605,
Q5 in 1612, and Q6 in 1622; the frequency attesting to its popularity. The First Folio
version followed in 1623.
Performance
The earliest certain performance occurred on Saturday, November 17, 1633, when
Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria watched it on the Queen's birthday. Yet plainly it
had been performed many times before that. The Diary of Philip Henslowe records a
popular play he calls Buckingham, performed in Dec. 1593 and Jan. 1594, which might
have been Shakespeare's play.
Colley Cibber produced the most successful of the Restoration adaptations of Shakepeare
with his version of Richard III, at Drury Lane starting in 1700. Cibber himself played the
role till 1739, and his version was on stage for the next century and a half. It contained
the immortal line "Off with his head; so much for Buckingham" — possibly the most
famous Shakespearean line that Shakespeare didn't write. The original Shakespearean
version returned in a production at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1845.[3]
Characters
(Note: Links are to articles on the actual historical personages, who may not entirely
correspond to Shakespeare's portrayal of them — particularly with respect to the title
character, Richard III.)
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King Edward IV
Edward, Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward V, son to the king
Richard, Duke of York, son to the king
George, Duke of Clarence, brother to the king
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III, brother to the king
Edward, Earl of Warwick, young son of Clarence
Henry, Earl of Richmond, afterwards King Henry VII
Thomas Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury
Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York
John Morton, Bishop of Ely
Duke of Buckingham (Henry Stafford)
Duke of Norfolk (John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk)
Earl of Surrey, his son (Thomas Howard)
Earl Rivers (Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers), brother to Queen Elizabeth
Marquess of Dorset (Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset), son to Queen
Elizabeth
Lord Richard Grey, son to Queen Elizabeth
Earl of Oxford (John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford)
Lord Hastings (William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings)
Lord Stanley (Thomas Stanley), afterwards Earl of Derby
Lord Lovel (Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell)
Sir Thomas Vaughan
Sir Richard Ratcliffe
Sir William Catesby
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Sir James Tyrrel
Sir James Blunt (James Blount)
Sir Walter Herbert
Sir William Brandon
Sir Robert Brackenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower
Christopher Urswick, a priest
Another priest (Ralph Shaa)
Hastings, a pursivant
Tressel and Berkeley, gentlemen attending on the Lady Anne
Keeper in the Tower
Lord Mayor of London (Sir Edmund Shaa)
Sheriff of Wiltshire (Henry Long)
Elizabeth Woodville, Queen to Edward IV
Margaret of Anjou, widow of Henry VI
Duchess of York (Cecily Neville), mother to King Edward IV, Clarence, and
Gloucester
Lady Anne Neville, widow of Edward, Prince of Wales (son of Henry VI),
afterwards married to Gloucester
Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, young daughter of Clarence
ghosts, lords, gentlemen, citizens, etc.
Synopsis
The play begins with Richard describing the accession to the throne of his brother, King
Edward IV of England, eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York.
Now is the winter of our discontent
made glorious summer by this son (or sun) of York (may refer to the symbol of
Richard of York)
The speech reveals Richard's jealousy and ambition, as his brother, King Edward the
Fourth rules the country successfully. Richard is an ugly hunchback, describing himself
as "rudely stamp'd" and "deformed, unfinish'd", who cannot "strut before a wanton
ambling nymph." He responds to the anguish of his condition with an outcast's credo: "I
am determined to prove a villain / And hate the idle pleasures of these days." Richard
plots to have his brother Clarence, who stands before him in the line of succession,
conducted to the Tower of London over a prophecy that "G of Edward's heirs the
murderer shall be" - which the king interprets as referring to George of Clarence
(although the audience later realise that it was actually a reference to Richard of
Gloucester).
Richard next ingratiates himself with "the Lady Anne" -- Anne Neville, widow of the
Lancastrian Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Richard confides to the audience:
"I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.
What, though I kill'd her husband and his father?"
Despite her prejudice against him, Anne is won over by his pleas and agrees to marry
him. This episode illustrates Richard's supreme skill in the art of insincere flattery.
The atmosphere at court is poisonous: the established nobles are at odds with the
upwardly-mobile relatives of Queen Elizabeth, a hostility fueled by Richard's
machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns in defiance of her banishment
and warns the squabbling nobles about Richard. The nobles, all Yorkists, reflexively
unite against this last Lancastrian, and the warning falls on deaf ears.
Richard orders two murderers to kill his brother Clarence in the tower. Clarence,
meanwhile, relates a dream to his keeper. The dream includes extremely visual language
describing Clarence falling from an imaginary ship as a result of Gloucester, who had
fallen from the hatches, striking him. Under the water Clarence sees the skeletons of
thousands of men "that fishes gnawed upon." He also sees "wedges of gold, great
anchors, heaps of pearl, inestimable stones, unvalued jewels." All of these are "scatterd in
the bottom of the sea." Clarence adds that some of the jewels were in the skulls of the
dead. Clarence then imagines dying and being tormented by the ghosts of his father-inlaw (Warwick, Anne's father) and brother-in-law (Edward, Anne's former husband) in a
hellish afterlife.
After Clarence falls asleep, Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, enters and
observes that between the titles of princes and the low names of commoners there is
nothing different but the "outward fame," meaning that they both have "inward toil"
whether rich or poor. When the murderers arrive, he reads their warrant (which is falsely
portrayed as being from the king), and exits with the Keeper, who disobeys Clarence's
request to stand by him, and leaves the two murderers the keys.
Clarence wakes and pleads with the murderers, saying that men have no right to obey
other men's requests for murder, because all men are under the rule of God not to commit
murder. The murderers imply Clarence is a hypocrite because he "unripdst the bowels of
(his) sovereign's son (Edward) whom (he was) sworn to cherish and defend." Tactically
trying to win them over, he tells them to go to his brother Gloucester who will reward
them better for his life than "Edward will for tidings of (his) death." One murderer insists
Gloucester himself sent them to perform the bloody act, but Clarence does not believe
this. He recalls the unity of Richard Duke of York blessing his three sons with his
victorious arm, bidding his brother Gloucester to "think on this and he will weep."
Sardonically, a murderer says Gloucester weeps millstones.
Next, one of the murderers explains that his brother Gloucester hates him, and sent them
to the Tower to perform the foul act. Eventually, the murderer with a conscience does not
participate in the act, but the other killer stabs Clarence and drowns him in "the Malmsey
butt within". The first act closes with the perpetrator needing to find a hole to bury
Clarence.
Edward IV, weakened by a reign dominated by physical excess, soon dies, leaving as
Protector his brother Richard, who sets about removing the final obstacles to his
accession. He meets his nephew, the young Edward V, who is en route to London for his
coronation accompanied by relatives of Edward's widow. These Richard arrests and
(eventually) beheads, and the young prince and his brother are coaxed into an extended
stay at the Tower of London.
Assisted by his cousin Buckingham (Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham), Richard
mounts a campaign to present himself as a preferable candidate to the throne, appearing
as a modest, devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Lord Hastings, who objects to
Richard's ascension, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge. Together, Richard
and Buckingham, spread the rumor that Edward's two sons are illegitimate, and therefore
have no rightful claim to the throne. The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as
king, in spite of the continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).
Have mercy, Jesu! Soft! I did but dream. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
-- Shakespeare's Richard III Act V, Sc. 3. English actor David Garrick in 1745 as Richard
III just before the battle of Bosworth Field, his sleep having been haunted by the ghosts
of those has murdered, wakes to the realization that he is alone in the world and death is
imminent. Painting by English painter, William Hogarth.
His new status leaves Richard sufficiently confident to dispose of his nephews. Richard
asks Buckingham to secure the death of the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard
then recruits James Tyrell for this act, which Tyrell causes to be executed. In the
meantime, Richard turns against Buckingham for the latter's refusal to kill the princes,
and denies Buckingham the prior-promised land grant. At this, Buckingham turns against
Richard and defects to the side of the Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile.
Richard tries his old dissembling to get into princess Elizabeth's "nest of spicery", but her
mother is not taken in by his eloquence.
In due course, the increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had. He soon
faces rebellions led first by Buckingham and subsequently by the invading Earl of
Richmond (Henry VII of England). Buckingham is captured and executed. Both sides
arrive for a final battle at Bosworth Field. Prior to the battle, Richard is visited by the
ghosts of those whose deaths he has caused, all of whom tell him to Despair and die!. He
awakes screaming for 'Jesu' (Jesus) to help him, slowly realizing that he is all alone in the
world and that even he hates himself. Richard's language and undertones of self-remorse
seem to indicate that, in the final hour, he is repentant for his evil deeds; however, it is
too late.
At the battle of Bosworth Field, Lord Stanley (who is also Richmond's stepfather) and his
followers desert Richard's side, whereupon Richard calls for the execution of George
Stanley, Lord Stanley's son. This does not happen, as the battle is in full swing, and
Richard is left at a disadvantage. Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of
the battle, and utters the often-quoted line, A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
Richmond kills Richard in the final duel. Subsequently, Richmond succeeds to the throne
as Henry VII, and marries Elizabeth from the House of York, effectively ending the War
of the Roses.
In dramatic terms, perhaps the most important (and, arguably, the most entertaining)
feature of the play is the sudden alteration in Richard's character. For the first 'half' of the
play, we see him as something of an anti-hero, causing mayhem and enjoying himself
hugely in the process:
I do mistake my person all this while;
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass;
Almost immediately after he is crowned, however, his personality and actions take a
darker turn. He turns against loyal Buckingham ("I am not in the giving vein"), he falls
prey to self-doubt ("I am in so far in blood, that sin will pluck on sin;"); now he sees
shadows where none exist and visions of his doom to come ("Despair & die").
Themes and motifs
Comedic elements
The play resolutely avoids demonstrations of physical violence; only Clarence and
Richard III die on-stage, while the rest (the two princes, Hastings, Grey, Vaughan,
Rivers, Anne, Buckingham, and King Edward) all meet their ends off-stage. Despite the
villainous nature of the title character and the grim storyline, Shakespeare infuses the
action with comic material, as he does with most of his tragedies. Much of the humour
rises from the dichotomy between what we know Richard's character to be and how
Richard tries to appear. The prime example is perhaps the portion of Act III, Scene 1,
where Richard is forced to "play nice" with the young and mocking Duke of York. Other
examples appear in Richard's attempts at acting, first in the matter of justifying Hastings'
death and later in his coy response to being offered the crown.
Richard himself also provides some dry remarks in evaluating the situation, as when he
plans to marry the Queen Elizabeth's daughter: "Murder her brothers, then marry her;
Uncertain way of gain...." Other examples of humor in this play include Clarence's hamfisted and half-hearted murderers, and the Duke of Buckingham's report on his attempt to
persuade the Londoners to accept Richard ("...I bid them that did love their country's
good cry, God save Richard, England's royal king!" Richard: "And did they so?"
Buckingham: "No, so God help me, they spake not a word....") Puns, a Shakespearean
staple, are especially well-represented in the scene where Richard tries to persuade Queen
Elizabeth to woo her daughter on his behalf.
Free Will and Fatalism
One of the central themes of Richard III is the idea of fate, especially as it is seen through
the tension between free will and fatalism in the actions and speech of the villain-hero,
Richard, as well as the reactions to him by other characters. There is no doubt that
Shakespeare drew heavily from Sir Thomas More’s account of Richard III as a criminal
and tyrant as inspiration for his own rendering. This influence, especially as it relates to
the role of divine punishment in Richard’s rule of England, reaches its height in the voice
of Margaret. As Janis Lull, a noted Shakespeare scholar from the University of Alaska at
Fairbanks, suggests, “Margaret gives voice to the belief, encouraged by the growing
Calvinism of the Elizabethan era, that individual historical events are determined by God,
who often punishes evil with (apparent) evil”.[4]
Thus, it seems possible that Shakespeare, in conforming to the growing “Tudor Myth” of
the day, as well as taking into account new theologies of divine action and human will
becoming popular in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, sought to paint Richard as
the final curse of God on England in punishment for the deposition of Richard II in
1399.[4] The late Irving Ribner, former chair of the English department at the State
University of New York at Stony Brook, argued that “…the evil path of Richard is a
cleansing operation which roots evil out of society and restores the world at last to the
God-ordained goodness embodied in the new rule of Henry VII”.[5]
Victor Kiernan, a Marxist scholar and historian, writes that this interpretation is a perfect
fit with the English social perspective of Shakespeare’s day: “An extension is in progress
of a privileged class’s assurance of preferential treatment in the next world as in this, to a
favoured nation’s conviction of having God on its side, of Englishmen being…the new
Chosen People”. [6] As Elizabethan England was slowly colonizing the world, the
populace embraced the view of its own Divine Right and Appointment to do so, much as
Richard does in Shakespeare’s play.
However, historical fatalism is merely one side of the argument of fate against free will.
It is also possible that Shakespeare intended to portray Richard as “…a personification of
the Machiavellian view of history as power politics”.[4] In this view, Richard is acting
entirely out of his own free will in brutally taking hold of the English throne. Kiernan
also presents this side of the coin, noting that “He [Richard] boasts to us of his finesse in
dissembling and deception with bits of Scripture to cloak his ‘naked villainy’ (I.iii.3348)…Machiavelli, as Shakespeare may want us to realize, is not a safe guide to practical
politics…”[6]
Kiernan suggests that Richard is merely acting as if God is determining his every step in
a sort of Machiavellian manipulation of religion as an attempt to circumvent the moral
conscience of those around him. Therefore, historical determinism is merely an illusion
perpetrated by Richard’s assertion of his own free will. The Machiavellian reading of the
play finds its most convincing evidence in Richard’s interactions with the audience, as
when he mentions that he is “determinèd to prove a villain” (I.i.30). However, though it
seems Richard views himself as completely in control, Lull suggests that Shakespeare is
using Richard to state “the tragic conception of the play in a joke. His primary meaning is
that he controls his own destiny. His pun also has a second, contradictory meaning – that
his villainy is predestined – and the strong providentialism of the play ultimately
endorses this meaning”.[4]
Like many of William Shakespeare’s plays, language plays a large part in Richard III.
Literary critic, Paul Haeffner writes that Shakespeare had a great understanding of
language and the potential of every word he used.[7] One word that Shakespeare gave
potential to was "joy." This was employed in ACT I, SCENE III, where it was used to
show “deliberate emotional effect”.[7] Another word that Haeffner points out is "kind".
He makes the suggestion that the word "kind" is used with two different definitions.
The first definition is used to express a “gentle and loving” being, which Clarence uses to
describe his brother Richard to the murderers that were sent to kill him. This first
definition is, of course, not true in the case of Richard. He hides under that definition of
kind to achieve his desire to be king. The second definition concerns “the person’s true
nature ... Richard will indeed use Hastings kindly – that is, just as he is in the habit of
using people – brutally”.[7] In several cases, Richard does use people as a habit. His first
victim was Clarence and then it was Lady Anne. If Richard had married Elizabeth, he
would also make sure that he uses her properly as he would kindly do.
Haeffner also writes about how speech is written. He compares the speeches of
Richmond and Richard to their soldiers. He describes Richmond’s speech as “dignified”
and formal, while Richard’s speech is explained as “slangy and impetuous”.[7] Richard’s
casualness in speech is also noted by another writer. However, Lull does not make the
comparison between Richmond and Richard as Haeffner did, but between Richard and
the women of Richard III. However, it is important to note that the women share the
formal language that Richmond uses. She makes the argument that the difference in
speech “reinforces the thematic division between the women’s identification with the
social group and Richard’s individualism”.[8] Haeffner agrees that Richard is “an
individualist, hating dignity and formality”.[7]
Janis Lull also takes special notice of the mourning women. She suggests that they are
associated with “figures of repetition as anaphora – beginning each clause in a sequence
with the same word – and epistrophe – repeating the same word at the end of each
clause”.[8] One example of the epistrophe can be found in Margaret’s speech in ACT I,
SCENE III. Haeffner refers to these as few of many “devices and tricks of style” that
occur in the play, showcasing Shakespeare’s ability to bring out the potential of every
word.[7]
Notable stage performances of Richard III
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Ciarán Hinds
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F. Murray Abraham
John Barrymore
Simon Russell Beale
Junius Brutus Booth
John Wilkes Booth
Kenneth Branagh
Richard Burbage
Peter Dinklage
David Garrick
Ian Holm
Edmund Kean
Anton Lesser
Ian McKellen
Laurence Olivier
Al Pacino
Ian Richardson
Antony Sher
Barry Sullivan
Donald Wolfit
Adaptations and Cultural References
Film versions
The most famous player of the part in recent times was Laurence Olivier in his 1955 film
version. His inimitable rendition has been parodied by many comedians including Peter
Cook and Peter Sellers. Sellers, who had aspirations to do the role straight, appeared in a
1965 TV special on The Beatles' music by reciting "A Hard Day's Night" in the style of
Olivier's Richard III. The first series of the BBC television comedy Blackadder in part
parodies the Olivier film, visually (as in the crown motif), Peter Cook's performance as a
Richard who is a jolly, loving monarch but nevertheless oddly reminiscent of Olivier's
rendition, and by mangling Shakespearean text ("Now is the summer of our sweet content
made o'ercast winter by these Tudor clouds...")
More recently, Richard III has been brought to the screen by Sir Ian McKellen (1995) in
an abbreviated version, set in a fictional 1930s fascist England, and by Al Pacino in the
1996 documentary, Looking for Richard. In the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl, Richard
Dreyfuss' character, an actor, gives a memorable performance as a homosexual Richard
due to his director's unconventional interpretation of the play. In 2002 the story of
Richard III was re-told in a movie about gang culture called The Street King.
A 2006 film version of Richard III is part of the independent film-noir titled Purgatory, a
retelling of three classic Shakespeare tales, including Richard III. The 2008 version,
Richard III, stars Scott M. Anderson and David Carradine.
In 1996, a pristine print of Richard III (1912), starring Frederick Warde as Richard III
was discovered by a private collector and donated to the American Film Institute. The 55minute film is considered to be the earliest surviving American feature film.
Cultural references
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The line: "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" (1591/2) is the most wellknown quote from the play, and it appears in many (often humorous) variations,
with "horse" being replaced by another desired object.
In Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair (2001), Richard III has a similar cult status to
The Rocky Horror Show.
Ian Richardson claimed to have based his performance as Francis Urquhart in
House of Cards on the character of Richard III.[citation needed] In one scene, Urquhart
quotes a line of Richard's - "shine out, fair sun" (Act I, Scene ii, line 276) [1].
In Spike Jonze's film, Being John Malkovich, Malkovich, playing himself,
appears in one scene as Richard III in production for a small theatre company.
The film Freaked featured obnoxious pretty-boy actor Ricky Coogan, disfigured,
performing Richard's opening monologue with subtitles that reduce the text to
"I'm ugly. I never get laid".
In the 1977 Neil Simon film, The Goodbye Girl, Richard Dreyfuss plays an actor
who is directed to perform the role of Richard III very unconventionally off-offBroadway.
In the BBC series Blackadder, Richard III is played by Peter Cook, as having
survived the Wars of the Roses, and is killed accidentally by Blackadder, played
by Rowan Atkinson.
Antony Sher wrote a book, "The Year of the King", in diary form about his
preparation and performance of the role (which he played on crutches) at The
Royal Shakespeare Company Stratford in 1985.
Lines from the play have been quoted or misquoted in many contexts, including
casual conversations between individuals. While a complete list of everyone who
has ever quoted the play is not possible, some noteworthy places in which it is
quoted may include:
o In Bleach, by Kubo Tite
o In Christopher Durang's comedy The Actor's Nightmare
o In Digimon Tamers, episode "A Kingdom for a Horse"
o In the BBC show Red Dwarf, in the episode entitled "Marooned" from
Series 3
[citation needed]
o Red Green Show
o In the TV show Family Guy, episode The King Is Dead
o In the video game Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses
o The Simpsons ([2F17] Radioactive Man)
o In The Smiths' song "Cemetery Gates", from the 1986 album The Queen Is
Dead
o In Laurie R. King's novel, To Play The Fool
o In the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode Forever
o In the movie Raging Bull
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In the title of the novel, "The Winter of Our Discontent," by John
Steinbeck, 1961.
In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Space Mutiny".
In the movie V for Vendetta
In the movie Runaway Train (film), as a closing quote
In Mel Brooks' film, Robin Hood: Men In Tights
Notes and references
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8.
^ Baldwin (2000, pp 1-2)
^ British Library
^ Halliday, (1964, pp 102 & 414)
^ a b c d Lull (1999, pp 6–8)
^ Ribner (1999, p 62)
^ a b Kiernan (1993, pp 111–112)
^ a b c d e f Haeffner (1966, pp 56–60)
^ a b Lull (1999, pp 22–23)
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Baldwin, Pat and Baldwin, Tom. 2000 (eds.). Cambridge School Shakespeare:
King Richard III Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
British Library Publishing Drama in Early Modern Europe Retrieved: 10
December 2007.
Haeffner, Paul. 1966. Shakespeare: Richard III London: Macmillan.
Halliday, F.E. 1964. A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin.
Kiernan, Victor. 1993. Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen London: Verso.
Lull, Janis. 1999 (ed.). The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Richard III Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Ribner, Irving. 1999. "Richard III as an English History Play" Critical Essays on
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Further reading
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Paul Prescott - Richard III (Shakespeare Handbooks), 2006 (ISBN
9781403941442)
External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Tragedy of Richard the Third
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Richard III (play)
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Richard the Third on Project Gutenberg
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the third (London: Andrew
Wise, 1597) - HTML version of the first edition.
Full text of Shakespeare's play - annotated with excerpts from the standard
biography to provide comparison with the historical Richard III, from the Richard
III Society, American Branch.
Painting of 'David Garrick as Richard III' by William Hogarth at the Walker Art
Gallery, Liverpool.
Lesson plans for Richard III at Web English Teacher
Interactive video interview with Sir Ian McKellen on Shakespeare, Richard III
and Richard's opening speech Intended as an introduction to the play for
educational use.