Richard III Villain Quotes

“I am determined to prove a villain / and hate the idle pleasures of these days. / Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, / by drunken prophecies, libels and dreams.” Richard III, the evil Duke of Gloucester, is fighting a bloody road to the crown in Shakespeare's dramatic play. Stopped by nothing and with brilliant intelligence, Richard fights his way to the king’s position, clothing his villany with “old odd ends stolen out of holy writ.” With no one to fully trust, Richard breaks many hearts by killing all people in his way, and becomes the unstoppable villain. He hides behind a shield of kindness and care, but when he is alone, his real soul comes alive. Sending murderers, or killing people himself, he has no mercy. Manipulating Lady Anne to marry him and promising Buckingham rewards for his deeds, he knows what he is doing, and won’t stop until the crown lies at his feet.
Richard starts of persuading Lady Anne to marry him. After killing her husband and dad, he still blames her for not accepting his love. With great confidence, he tells her to either kill him or marry him. “Arise,

dissembler: though I wish thy death, I will not be the executioner” (1.2.372-373). Richard takes his advantage in that and is able to persuade her to marry him. He marries her, but not for the love, just for the land she owns and her power. In the meantime, King Edward is dying, and Richard tells two murderers to kill Clarence behind everyone’s back. Getting rid of his brothers will make it easier to get closer to the crown. Queen Elizabeth and Margaret are blaming Richard for doing all this, but he does as if he is forgiving and kind. Clarence gets stabbed and drowned in a barrel of wine after trying to persuade the murderers to not kill him. When Queen Elizabeth, Margaret, and the Duchess of York her about this, they burst in tears. “Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!” (2.2.1345).
Richard has Queen Elizabeth’s son, and she keeps her other son with her. Richard is imprisoning the son to keep him from taking the crown, and waits for him in London. When Prince Edward arrives, Richard tells him about the death of his uncles. The young Prince Edward argues with him about staying in the tower, and Richard says almost whispering, “So wise so young, they say, do never live long,” (3.1.1648-1650) foreshadowing that he will kill him soon. Richard is also planning to capture Elizabeth’s other son, the Duke of York. The Duke of Buckingham is helping Richard a lot with all his dark plans, and Richard promises him an Earlship when he will become king. He tells the Duke of Buckingham that if Hastings shows any sign of being against them, they should chop of his head. Basically Richard is getting any obstacle to his goal out of the way, and does this in a very bloody way.
As time passes, Richard kills more Vaughan, Rivers, and Grey, but now a big obstacle lies in his way; getting the people to like him.

But Buckingham knows what to do. He tells Richard to take two priests with him, since the people are very religious and will follow the priest's’ actions. After doing as if he was denying the request for being the king, the crowd tried to persuade him. Because of doing as if he didn’t want the crown, the crowd thought they could trust him more, and begged him to be the king. Eventually he said yes, and finally became king of England. He orders Buckingham to kill prince Edward, but Buckingham refuses to. He asks for his Earlship, but Richard gets mad and dismisses him. He knows he also has to get rid of Buckingham now, since he is not loyal to him anymore. He hires a murderer called Tyrrel to kill the princes and finally he got rid of

everyone.
In the meantime, Richmond is gaining power and preparing an army to fight against Richard. Richard is in stress and is taking a lot of wrong decisions. Buckingham has gone over to Richmond’s side, and the two camps are now set up.