The Tragedy of Richard the Third, often shortened to Richard III, is a play by William Shakespeare, which depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England.

It was probably written . It is labelled a history in the First Folio and is usually considered one. In the quarto edition and elsewhere it is listed as a tragedy given its meditations on conscience, decision making, and death. Richard III concludes Shakespeare's first tetralogy which also contains Henry VI, Part 1, Henry VI, Part 2, and Henry VI, Part 3.

It is the second longest play in the Shakespearean canon by word count and the fourth longest by number of lines, as well as the longest of the First Folio. Hamlet, otherwise the longest, is shorter than its quarto counterpart.Irace, Kathleen O., editor. The First Quarto of Hamlet. Cambridge University Press, 1998. The play is often abridged for brevity, and peripheral characters removed. In such cases, extra lines are often invented or added from elsewhere to establish the nature of the characters' relationships. Shakespeare also assumed his audiences' familiarity with his Henry VI plays, frequently referring to them."Thou slew'st my husband Henry in the Tower, And Edward, my poor son, at Tewkesbury" (Shakespeare 1.3.199–200)."I had an Edward, till a Richard killed him; I had a husband, till a Richard killed him" (Shakespeare 1.3.178–179).

Characters

House of York Edward IV – King of England Richard, Duke of Gloucester – the title character, Edward IV's brother; later King Richard III George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence – Edward IV's brother Duchess of York – Edward, Richard and George's mother Edward, Prince of Wales – Edward IV's eldest son; later King Edward V (never crowned) Richard, Duke of York – Edward IV's younger son Boy – George's son Girl – George's daughter

House of Lancaster Queen Margaret – widow of King Henry VI Ghost of King Henry VI Ghost of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales – Henry VI's son Lady Anne Neville – widow of Edward of Westminster; later wife of Tressel and Berkeley – Lady Anne's attendants (non-speaking roles)

Woodville family Queen Elizabeth – wife of King Edward IV Earl Rivers – Elizabeth's brother Marquis of Dorset – Elizabeth's son (from a previous marriage) Lord Richard Grey – Elizabeth's son (from a previous marriage) Sir Thomas Vaughan – ally of Rivers and Grey

Richard III's group Duke of Buckingham Sir William Catesby Duke of Norfolk Earl of Surrey – Norfolk's son Sir Richard Ratcliffe Sir James Tyrrell – assassin Lord Lovel Two Murderers Richard's page

Earl of Richmond's group Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond – Henry VI's nephew; later King Henry VII Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby – Richmond's stepfather Earl of Oxford Sir Walter Herbert Sir James Blunt Sir William Brandon – Richmond's standard-bearer (non-speaking role)

Clergy Archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop of York Bishop of Ely Sir Christopher – chaplain of Stanley's household John – priest

Other characters Lord Hastings – Lord Chamberlain under Edward IV Sir Robert Brackenbury – Lieutenant of the Tower Lord Mayor of London Scrivener Keeper of the Tower Three Citizens Hastings – pursuivant Sheriff of Wiltshire Ghosts of Clarence, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan, Edward (Prince of Wales), Richard (Duke of York), Hastings, Lady Anne and Buckingham Lords, Messengers, Soldiers etc.

Synopsis

The play begins with Richard of Gloucester, the youngest brother of King Edward IV, describing Edward's re-accession to the throne (implying the year is 1471, after the Battle of Tewkesbury):

Despite this new era of peace and joy, Richard is an ugly and unloved hunchback who is therefore "determined to prove a villain". Due to a prophecy that " of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be", Richard and Edward's brother Clarence (whose given name is George) is placed under arrest. (Edward interpreted the prophecy as referring to eorge, but it could just as easily refer to Richard of loucester.) Speaking to Clarence as he is escorted along to the Tower of London, Richard blames the queen, Elizabeth, and says that he will try to help Clarence.

Richard describes to the audience his plot to marry Lady Anne, despite being responsible for the death of her father and her husband. Anne attends the corpse of the late king, Henry VI, lamenting. When Richard appears, Anne berates him and says that "Henry's wounds[...] bleed afresh". He confesses to murdering the king, saying her beauty motivated it, and she spits at him. He proclaims his feelings for her and offers his sword for her to kill him, but she drops it. He then offers to kill himself, but she instead accepts his ring unhappily (and, it is implied, marriage) as he promises to repent for the murder. Richard exults at having won her over and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served his purpose.

The atmosphere at Edward's court is poisonous. The established nobles are at odds with the ambitious relatives of Elizabeth, a hostility fuelled by Richard's machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns, though banished, and she warns the squabbling nobles about Richard, cursing extensively. The nobles, all Yorkists, unite against this last Lancastrian and ignore her warnings.

Richard orders two murderers to assassinate Clarence. The murderers arrive at the Tower with a warrant and, while they ponder how to carry out the deed, Clarence wakes and pleads for his life, telling them to go to Richard, who will reward them better for having kept him alive. One of the murderers explains that Richard hates him and indeed sent them, before they stab Clarence and drown him in a butt of Malmsey wine (the year 1478).

The nobles pledge absent enmities before Edward, and Elizabeth asks him to pardon his brother Clarence. Richard reveals that Clarence is dead on the king's own orders. Edward, who is ill and near death, is much upset by this news, expecting the order of execution to have been stopped in time, and Richard openly blames those attending Edward. Edward soon dies, and Richard becomes Protector (1483). Several prominent officials in Edward's court have been imprisoned. His two young boys, including the uncrowned Edward V, are coaxed by Richard into an extended stay at the Tower of London.

Assisted by his cousin Buckingham, Richard mounts a campaign to present himself as the true heir to the throne, pretending to be a modest and devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Edward's Lord Chamberlain, who objects to Richard's accession, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge of treason. Richard and Buckingham spread the rumour that Edward's two sons are illegitimate and therefore have no rightful claims, assisted by certain allies. The other lords are thus cajoled into accepting Richard as king, despite the continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).

Richard asks Buckingham to assassinate the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard instead recruits an assassin who kills both children. When Richard denies Buckingham a promised land grant, Buckingham turns against Richard and defects to the side of Henry VI's nephew, the Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile. Richard has his eye on the young Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's next remaining heir, and kills Lady Anne by poison so he can be free to woo this younger Elizabeth. Richard's mother, the Duchess of York, and the older Elizabeth mourn the princes' deaths. As prophesied, Queen Elizabeth asks Queen Margaret for help in cursing Richard. Later, the Duchess applies this lesson and curses her only surviving son before fleeing. Richard asks Queen Elizabeth to help him win her daughter Elizabeth's hand in marriage. She is not taken in by his eloquence, and stalls by saying that she will let him know her daughter's answer in due course.

The increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had. He faces rebellions, led first by Buckingham and subsequently by Richmond's invading forces. Buckingham is captured and executed. Both sides arrive for a final battle at Bosworth Field, prior to which Richard, asleep, is visited by the ghosts of his victims, each telling him to "Despair and die". They likewise wish for Richmond's victory. Richard wakes, screaming for Jesus, then realises that he is all alone and cannot even pity himself.

At the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485), Richmond's stepfather Lord Stanley and his followers desert Richard, whereupon Richard calls for the execution of Stanley's son: a young hostage. This does not happen, however, as the battle is in full swing, and Richard is at a disadvantage. Richard is unhorsed on the field, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse". Richmond kills Richard and claims the throne, becoming Henry VII.

Date and text

Richard III is believed to be one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, preceded only by the three parts of Henry VI and perhaps Titus Andronicus and a handful of comedies. It is believed to have been written –1594. Although Richard III was entered into the Register of the Stationers' Company on 20 October 1597 by the bookseller Andrew Wise, who published the first Quarto (Q1) later that year (with printing done by Valentine Simmes), See title page of facsimile of the original 1st edition (1597) Christopher 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 1598, printed by Thomas Creede for Andrew Wise, containing an attribution to Shakespeare on its title page.British Library 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.

The Folio is longer than the Quarto and contains some fifty additional passages amounting to more than two hundred lines. However, the Quarto contains some twenty-seven passages amounting to about thirty-seven lines that are absent from the Folio. The two texts also contain hundreds of other differences, including the transposition of words within speeches, the movement of words from one speech to another, the replacement of words with near-synonyms, and many changes in grammar and spelling.

At one time, it was thought that the Quarto represented a separate revision of the play by Shakespeare. However, since the Quarto contains many changes that can only be regarded as mistakes, it is now widely believed that the Quarto was produced by memorial reconstruction. It is thought likely that the Quarto was collectively produced by a company of actors remembering their lines. It is unknown why the actors did this, but it may have been to replace a missing prompt book. The Folio is regarded as having much higher authority than the Quarto, but because the Folio edition was collated by the printers against a Quarto (probably Q3), some errors from the Quarto found their way into the Folio. Some parts of the Folio (the beginning of Act III and much of Act V) are clearly copied, with little change, direct from the Quarto. The Folio also has its own corruptions and omissions, and corrections have to be supplied, where possible, from the Quarto.

Themes

Comedic elements Unlike his previous tragedy Titus Andronicus, the play avoids graphic demonstrations of physical violence; only Richard and Clarence are shown being stabbed on-stage, while the rest (the two princes, Hastings, Brackenbury, 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 how Richard's character is known and how Richard tries to appear.