Richard III - Completely Evil?

A detailed Summary of Richard III - Completely Evil?

"The character of Richard III is the incarnation of evil, yet, if he were merely a characture of wickedness the play would lose dramatic impact. Richard must display at least some attractive or sympathetic qualities, or the audience would lose interest in him." Discuss.

The character of Shakespeare's Richard III is complex, and cannot be categorised as simply 'evil'. Richard is, for all respects, the play - and the depths and mysteries of his character is what makes the play attractive to an audience. In this capability, if he were simply the 'incarnation of evil', the audience would lose interest. The audience is drawn by the depths and twists of his personality, which means that he does not necessarily have to have redeeming or attractive qualities for us to enjoy the play and his role in it.

The first point to look at is the question of whether he is the incarnation of evil, and if he is indeed innately evil, or only a victim of his circumstance. From the very first line, he proves his deceitfulness, outlining his plots in the opening soliloquy. He blames his evilness on his deformities, saying "since I cannot prove a lover... I am determined to play a villain." There is the possibility of looking at Richards characte

r as one which was not originally evil, but has been 'forced' by the circumstances of his deformity and the lack of love he receives because of them to do the evil deeds that he does. Reading his character in this way allows the audience to sympathise with his position, realising that he is blinded by his bitterness, and may want to be King and hold the power of that position so he can prove his worth to himself. He often comments on himself, cursing his body and seeming to deem himself a failure to humanity. He acts in many roles, showing facets of humanity, but does not believe in the qualities he acts out, instead weaving a mired of illusions about his true self and his inner scheming. Loving brother or son, dutiful uncle, artful wooer, reluctant 'hero' of a seemingly lost country. These are all roles which he acts out with stunning convincability to those around him, yet does not feel, nor want to feel himself. There is also some suggestion of his being a 'devil's spawn', his physical deformities mirroring his inner personality, and given to him by god to mark him as such.

Richard's characteristics and talents in wit, cleverness, deviousness and manipulations could be admirable in a person, but because the audience knows his goal, and what he intends to do to reach that goal, we see him as evil. The audience sees him as evil because of the extremity of his actions. Human nature in general decrees that we all want, to some degree, power and glory, which we act on as best we can while listening to our c

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Approximate Word count = 1023
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English