Richard of Glouster

1291 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Shakespeare as a historian reference to richard 2

Kings are generally thought to be beautiful, God-like humans from a certain genealogy. They are placed at the throne due to whom they were born to and/or who they marry. Richard of
Glouster is born of the royal family but, he does not possess the qualities of a King to be legitimate according to Shakespeare’s
Richard III.
Richard and his brothers are all entitled to the throne if their father dies. By killing his two brothers, Richard is the only person in his immediate family entitled to the throne. Why must he kill his brothers so that he may gain the crown?
Shakespeare depicts Edward and Clarence as far more worthy of the crown. They possess traits of a King which Richard does not possess. Richard states in his opening speech “Unless to spy my shadow in the sun/And descant on mine own deformity./ And therefore since I cannot prove a lover'; (1.1.26-28). In this speech Richard admits he cannot be a lover because he is ugly with deformity. This imperfectness does not fit the perfect qualities known to Kings. His brothers, on the other hand, do possess the ability to love and both were married or betrothed.
Edward even had two women to love! Some may say that Edward was illegitimate because of his other lover, but, is it better and more respectable to not be able to have love or to have several loves? A King should be able to love to rule a Kingdom otherwise he may be a ruthless killer as Shakespeare demonstrates in the play. Gaining the hand of a woman not only makes a King look worthy to love but also is used for political gains. Richard himself demonstrates this as he ruthlessly goes after Ann after killing her lover and her Father. Through manipulation but not by his heart he gains Ann’s hand. So, he does gain a woman for political strength but he still does not fulfill the trait of a
King as a loving individual.
Why does Richard believe he should be King? He seems to possess only one quality which his brothers have: to be born of
Royalty. One other quality exists in his favor, but is questionable. Richard is a good leader. Yet, he leads through fear. For example, in Act 5 Richard demands that Stanley bring him an army or he will decapitate his son. He also leads through manipulation. For example he m...

... middle of paper ...

...ch other. By betraying them he cut off that loyalty. Also, by physically killing his brothers Richard has cut himself off of close family. He sees this as a means toward his gain but in reality he needs their brotherhood to remain in power.
An indication of Richard’s possible admittance to the illegitimacy of the crown may be when he looses his horse in battle and says twice in the closing battle “A horse! A horse!
My kingdom for a Horse!'; (5.4.7) He realizes that the Kingdom as he had gained it wasn’t worth much than a horse. If he had gained the crown through more legitimate means, the Kingdom would be worth more.
Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard III’s rise and fall from the throne clearly show that Richard’s claim to the throne is more solid than his brothers. Yet, taking a closer look reveals that Richard’s claim is illegitimate also. His illegitimacy is not bound by bastardliness but by the qualities he possesses.

Works Cited

1) Shakespeare, William. Richard III. In The Norton Shakespeare.
Edited by Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Norton, 1997.

Show More
Related

  • Alais 'The Lion In Winter'

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    First power, amongst the royal family the mother, Eleanor is the Queen; the father is King Henry, the youngest son John, middle son Geoffrey, and oldest son Richard. In the play not one, but all of these characters have power in some kind of way. King Henry spent his life conquering many regions and wants to continue to conquer by passing king down to one of his three sons. A quote from the play that shows the greed that having power can create Henry asked, “Isn’t being chancellor power enough?” Geoffrey replies, “It’s not the power I feel deprived of. It’s the mention I miss.” Geoffrey does not think he will receive enough respect if he is just the chancellor and his younger brother John is king. When he comes to Richard, the oldest brother he thinks he should be king because of his army he has behind him, but this is where futility comes into play. It is not always about war and killing people to prove your powerful, but in Richards’s ways that is the only way. Richard says, “I am a constant soldier, a sometime poet, and I will be king.” This quote describes the type of person Richard wants to be, he wants to have all the power to rein over the castle and do it through war. Each of the family members is jealous of one another especially the children of the king and queen, it is pretty much a sibling rivalry between them. Having power can be a good thing or bad thing, in this situation the king and queens children have a different view on having power and what they would do if crowned

    Read More

  • Comparison of King Richard III and Looking for Richard

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shakespeare constructs King Richard III to perform his contextual agenda, or to perpetrate political propaganda in the light of a historical power struggle, mirroring the political concerns of his era through his adaptation and selection of source material. Shakespeare’s influences include Thomas More’s The History of King Richard the Third, both constructing a certain historical perspective of the play. The negative perspective of Richard III’s character is a perpetuation of established Tudor history, where Vergil constructed a history intermixed with Tudor history, and More’s connection to John Morton affected the villainous image of the tyrannous king. This negative image is accentuated through the antithesis of Richards treachery in juxtaposition of Richmond’s devotion, exemplified in the parallelism of ‘God and Saint George! Richmond and victory.’ The need to legitimize Elizabeth’s reign influenced Shakespeare’s portra...

    Read More

  • Richard III's Usurpation and His Downfall

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    Richard III's Usurpation and His Downfall Richards rule was always unstable due to his unlawful usurpation to the throne and his part as far as the public was concerned in the death of the two princes. As a result right from the start he didn't have the trust or support from his country. As soon as he became King people were already plotting against him. After he was crowned he travelled the country trying to raise support by refusing the generous gifts offered to him by various cities. However unknown to him a rebellion was been planned in the South.

    Read More

  • Providentialism In King Richard III

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    The undeniable pursuit for power is Richard’s flaw as a Vice character. This aspect is demonstrated in Shakespeare’s play King Richard III through the actions Richard portrays in an attempt to take the throne, allowing the audience to perceive this as an abhorrent transgression against the divine order. The deformity of Richards arm and back also symbolically imply a sense of villainy through Shakespeare’s context. In one of Richard’s soliloquies, he states how ‘thus like the formal Vice Iniquity/ I moralize two meanings in one word’. Through the use of immoral jargons, Shakespeare emphasises Richard’s tenacity to attain a sense of power. However, Richard’s personal struggle with power causes him to become paranoid and demanding, as demonstrated through the use of modality ‘I wish’ in ‘I wish the bastards dead’. This act thus becomes heavily discordant to the accepted great chain of being and conveys Richard’s consumption by power.

    Read More

  • John Henry Essay

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Henry, did he really exist or is he just a legend? The story of John Henry has been an inspiration for generations. It is not only an American folktale, but a ballad that many have sung over the years. He has been and still is a symbol of hope and freedom for many people. The protagonist John Henry competes against a steam drill in driving steel. He was determined to beat the machine even if it killed him.

    Read More

  • Robert Crandall

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    American Airlines was under Robert Crandall's leadership from 1980, when he was named president and later chairman, until he retired in 1998. He possesses characteristics like intelligence, character, ability, and desire, all of which is needed to get things accomplished through people. American Airlines was transformed from a small, domestic carrier to one of the world's leading airlines with the largest jet fleet worldwide. American led the airline industry in the 1990's in revenues and operating income, and its parent company, AMR Corporation, was one of the top Fortune 500 companies under Crandall’s reign.

    Read More

  • The Second Earl of Castlehaven

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Second Earl of Castlehaven A tale of sex and scandal, the story of the 2nd Earl of Castlehaven has been retold for almost four centuries. In an aristocratic society that placed order and honor as a top priority, rumors of rape and sodomy emerging from a noble household would not only be humiliating for the family, but also insulting to the entire aristocracy. Whether the Earl was guilty or innocent, such perverse accusations could only emerge from an environment of intolerable disorder. It was a disorder with the power to taint the nobility and to affront the power of the monarch. It was a disorder that disrupted the expected patriarchal relationship within noble households.

    Read More

  • Rodman Edward Serling

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rodman Edward Serling, in my opinion one of the most brilliant men of our time, was born in Syracuse, New York, on December 25, 1924, to a wholesale meat dealer, and grew up in Binghamton. By his own account, he had no early literary ambitions, though from an early age, he and his older brother, Robert, immersed themselves in movies and in shows like Astounding Stories and Weird Tales. Rod was best known from the intro where he was seen wearing a suit and most often dangling a cigarette, which was unfortunately the cause of his untimely demise.

    Read More

  • Richard the Third as a Hero or a Villain

    2535 Words  | 6 Pages

    This contributes to a very villainous role. Richard begins his journey to the throne. He manipulates Lady Anne. into marrying him, even though she knows that he murdered her first. husband.

    Read More

  • The Crowing of Richard the Third and the Turning Point

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    The crowning of Richard III marks the turning point from his rise into power to his demise. Up until he becomes king, Richard is the underdog – albeit, a ruthless and evil one. Thus far, the entire play has been focused on Richard’s attempts to assume power and seize the throne. However, once he becomes crowned King Richard, the focus of the play shifts to Richard’s attempts to maintain power and hold the throne. Essentially, the challenge for Richard is no longer gaining power, but keeping it. It is this new struggle that, ultimately, redefines his allies and, more importantly, changes both Richard’s personality and the audience’s sympathy for him.

    Read More

  • The Evil of Richard the Third

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    "therefore, since I can not prove a lover, To entertain these fair well spoken days, I am determined to be a villain".As a villain Richard must be heartless, he can not let his emotions interfere with his actions.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare on Machiavelli: The Prince in Richard III

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the outset of the play, it is obvious that Richard subscribes to the majority of the Machiavellian principles.  Certainly, he is not ashamed or afraid to plot heinous murder, and he does so with an ever-present false front.  "I do mistake my person all this while,"1 he muses, plotting Anne's death minutes after having won her hand.  He will not even entertain the ideas in public, demanding they "Dive...down to [his] soul."2 He knows that he must be cunning and soulless to succeed in his tasks.  Richard also knows it is essential to guard against the hatred of the populace, as Machiavelli warned.

    Read More

  • Wars Of The Roses

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edward V and his brother so that he could be next in line for the crown. But that is not true for Richard really didn’t do it.

    Read More

  • Richard II Essay: The Characters of Bolingbroke and Richard II

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nevertheless, as a man of action, Bolingbroke has achieved for himself the goal of retrieving his father Gaunt's estates and much more. He, in the end, is king, King Henry IV. And though Richard as king was full of pomp and ceremony, those things were no match for ambition carried to its fullest. His strong words belied incompetence as a ruler, and he could not hold his position. It seems that it was inevitable that Bolingbroke would be the victor at last. Richard should have taken more note of his usurper, before he was such, this man he called "[Gaunt's] bold son" (1.1.3).

    Read More

  • Characters In Shakespeare's Patterns Of Decay, By William Shakespeare

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    Buckingham is as ambitious and power-hungry as Richard himself—which may have even driven him to ingratiate himself with Richard. While Buckingham will fall out of favor later on, he spends most of the play as part of Richard’s mental landscape. Perhaps Spivack says it best: “Buckingham…..diversifies and multiplies….earns (thereby) his place in the story alongside all the other puppets.” (441) Buckingham, despite being ambitious, is still ultimately Richard’s puppet, and is a stark reminder that people are only important to Richard if he can use them to meet his ends—and Buckingham, like many others, falls out of favor once he is no longer

    Read More

More about Richard of Glouster

Open Document