Richard III

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses ableist language common during the Elizabethan era to describe Richard’s curvature of the spine.

“And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover

To entertain these fair well-spoken days,

I am determinèd to prove a villain

And hate the idle pleasures of these days.”

In the first scene of the play, Richard delivers a soliloquy, a speech made without any other character on stage that communicates the character’s thoughts directly to the audience. By using a soliloquy, William Shakespeare is able to reveal that Richard has already decided to become a villain. He frames his villainy as a choice made due to skill, suggesting that because he cannot succeed as a “lover” at court, he has to use other methods to gain power.

“More pity that the eagles should be mewed,

Whiles kites and buzzards prey at liberty.”

Hastings, one of the noblemen at court, describes the corrupt and unnatural situation in England through a metaphor. Using a comparison between classes of people and birds, Hastings indicates that strong birds, such as the eagle, are shut away, while weaker carrion birds like kites and buzzards are allowed to fly free. This statement suggests that he is unhappy with the imprisonment of George, Duke of Clarence, a high-status warrior whom Hastings believes has been locked away by Queen Elizabeth’s opportunistic male relatives.

“But yet I run before my horse to market.

Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns.

When they are gone, then must I count my gains.”

After Richard experiences his first success, manipulating his brother into believing that he will help him, he cautions himself not to rejoice until he has destroyed his brothers. He uses the