Richard III

A detailed Summary of Richard III

The Cold, Fearful Soliloquy of a Condemned King

The night before battle at Bosworth field, Richard's sleep is disturbed by the ghosts of those he murdered in his scheme to acquire and retain the kingship. The ghosts haunt Richard with prophesies of the justice due him. Startled from sleep, Richard's shaken soliloquy is delivered fearfully and honestly, testifying his gradation of sins and foreshadowing his inevitable demise.

While dreaming, Richard is reminded of the evil deeds he has performed by the ghosts of his victims. As Richard sleeps his conscience is awake for the first time in the play. The king's waking soliloquy in Act V, Scene 3 is the strongest example of Richard's troubling guilt, failing confidence, and fear of moral retribution. The ambitious Richard's resolve is shaken by the realization that his evil deeds have assigned him a fate that wrests away control. The kings reactions to the ghosts are confused and contradicting; they are the desperate lamentations of a condemned man.

In Act IV, Scene 4 the first mention

of Richard's prophetic dreams is made by Lady Anne to Queen Elizabeth, "For never yet one hour in his bed / Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, / But with his timorous dreams was still awakened.aE? (ll. 82-84). Anne tells of Richard's ongoing nightmares. The dreams are a sign of a guilty conscience upon a decidedly, "subtle, false, and treacherousaE? villain (I.i.37). Awake, Richard's evil and ambition deny any intrusion of conscience. Asleep, Richard is at his least villainous. With evil in remission, moral consequences

Richard's past actions had set a course for fate beyond Richard's control. Once the process had begun, Richard could do little to stop what was seemingly to his favor anyway. During Richard's plotting of the young princes' murders, he defends the necessity of his actions, "But I am in / So far in blood that sin will pluck on sin.aE? (IV.ii.63-64). For Richard, there's no going back. Each sin has served to introduce a more dire sin necessary to Richard's cause. The murderous sins of Richard have been, "all used in each degreeaE? (V.iii.198). Richard's schemes have become more diabolical as they become less avoidable to insure Richard's security. In his exploits to become king, Richard unwittingly cast himself into a downward spiral of increasing sin, ending ultimately with Richard's own destruction at the center.

Asleep at night Richard is tortured with guilty conscience. By day, the sky lours upon him as he prepares for battle with Richmond. The sun's refusal to shine on this "Sun of YorkaE? (I.I.2) increases the darkness for Richard. Soon, there will be, "vengeance on the head of Richard.aE? (V.iii.206)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1574
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English