Richard III 2

A detailed Summary of Richard III 2

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, reveals a great deal of himself in his opening soliloquy. It is there where the reader learns of Richard's narcissism and discovers his great attachment to the world. According to Richard's irrational logic his excuse for being so full of self-love and so attached to his own reality is because there is no other option: because he is deformed, he can't love or be loved; because he can't love or be loved, he must be a villain; because he must be a villain, he will strive for the throne. Richard' illogical thought is full of self-love. He has no vision for a better England, everything he is thinking is centered on himself, and he is only interested in furthering his comfort and importance. Richard's absolute attachment to the world comes from his greediness for power and his greediness for everything. I believe Richard's complete and utter attachment to the world and worldly things stems from his narcissistic nature. So because Richard is so narcissistic he is so attached to the world.

First off, Richard uses his deformity as an excuse to be a greedy monster; but he contradicts himself as he manages to woo and win the hand of Lady Anne under the worst circumstances

According to Richard because he cannot be loved he must be a villain. Richard starts off his villainous deeds by being the divising force in King Edward's request for atonement between himself (Richard), the Queen's brothers and Lord Chamberlain. Richard is troublesome and quarrels with the Queen and her brethren and with the old Queen Margaret and doesn't resolve the situation with them. Two murderers hired by Richard then kill Clarence. Which only proves how full of self-love Richard is. He is so wrapped up in himself and in his reality that he does not even care about his own brother. A brother that thinks Richard is a kind man and finds it hard to believe that Richard was the one who sent the murderers. How much lower can Richard go? He kills his own brother and then is not even man enough to do it himself. Later as the King attempts to get everyone to be friends and behave nicely towards each other, Richard again foils the moment as he asks, "Who knows not that the gentle Duke is dead?" (II, i, 80). The way in which Richard intervenes and kills the moment shows just how much Richard is the divising force because again, it is all about him. Richard then asks who is guilty among them, "And yet go current from suspicion" (II, i, 95). The ironic part is that he is talking about himself. That comment demonstrates Richard's ridiculous amount of self-love he has; he is flaunting his excessive interest and his extreme confidence in his abilities. Now Richard is totally attached to the reality of his world, he has done one of the worst things imaginable among men- killed his own brother. His hunger for the throne has chained him to his reality and once he reaches his final goal, he will have nowhere to go but down.

Simone Weil said that "The reality of the world is the result of our attachment. It is the reality of self which we transfer into things." Richard was narcissistic and antagonistic by nature. Because of his nature he had a strong grip on his reality. When he finally achieved his goal that was contrary to his nature he became totally detached from reality. Because being a King is protagonistic, Richard fell apart because he couldn't handle the strain on his personality. Even the greediest king cannot be one hundred percent narcissistic, they can come very close to being completely full of narcissism but there is that small bit that has to look out for the people or else a kingdom will not work. Richard did not have that small space he was exclusively filled with self-love. Because Richard w

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Approximate Word count = 1719
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People