Richard III

A detailed Summary of Richard III


"Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,

That I may see my shadow as I pass..."

Richard loves shadows. He mentions them constantly. They are a reminder of who he is. Every time he sees his shadow, he reflects upon his nature. His philosophy goes: Since God sent him to earth "deformed, unfinished," he might as well play it up. He must "prove a villain." And he does. Oh yes, he really goes to town. During the course of this famous five act play by William Shakespeare, Richard cheats, lies, turns brother against brother, murders children, betrays friends, and courts enemies. His own mother condemns him to hell. And he spends more than half the play gloating and patting his back with his own deformed arm. The evil genius of Richard III is not limited to words. It's a fantastic adventure streaked with ghosts and prophesies. Villains are heroes and kings don't play by the rules, even if they make them.

Shakespeare is beyond famous, he is immortal. Everything he touched with his quill turned to gold. It's some sort of funky alchemy. I've always thought that he was over-rated. I figured he took a weird, disjointed story, threw in a couple thees and thous, then added it to t


orse" for "chance." All his planning, plotting - everything he committed to grasp the crown means nothing now. He would do anything for another chance to live. Even start all over.

Anne didn't stand a chance. She wasn't exactly a push-over, either. Some of the best dialogue takes place in their scene. Still, for every curse she flings, every action she takes, he has an equal an opposite reaction. He counters every damning word she hurls at him.

Richard: More wonderful, when angels are so angry.

Anne: O, wonderful when devils tell the truth!

A large part of this story has to do with prophesy and dreams. Dreams have a bad effect on people, it seems. Whenever a bad dream occurred in this play, the dreamer died within the next few hours. This is true for Benedict Clarence and Bloody Richard. Each dreamer is visited by the ghosts of men they have killed. These dreams serve as foreshadowing devices. The end is near. The only time we see Richard fear anything is when he awakes from his dream. He sees that all his hard work has been for not. He wakes screaming for "another horse," another chance. When he sees his death stalking him in battle he cries in anguish, "A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" This most memorable line has a double meaning. On one hand, he is on foot in enemy territory and will easily be hunted and killed.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Richard III, Lady Anne, Bloody Richard, Elizabeth Margaret, Buck Richard, Richard Richard, Shakespeare Richard, , richard iii, Buckingham Talk, beautiful play, bloody richard,

Approximate Word count = 921
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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