Opinion: Richard in Shakespeare’s, Richard III is one of the most tragic villains out there

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Villains are almost just as compelling as their hero counterparts. Darth Vader, Venom, Iago, and Joker; are just a few of the many captivating characters that span from a wide range of genres of entertainment. Where a hero has youthful hope and an internal struggle to battle through, a villain has a wound. A wound or traumatic experienced that makes them feel left out. They may feel powerless, even though they come across as the most powerful. Villains are born from an event that whittled them down. Often these events are personal and tragic. For example, Darth Vader turned to the dark side of the Force because he thought it would be the only way to save his dying wife after giving birth to his two children. His own fear and helplessness caused him to break the Jedi code and become a Sith lord. Although I could go on about Darth Vader, I want to bring your attention to a villain that I think is one of the most isolated, tragic, and deeply insecure. Shakespeare’s character, Richard from the play, Richard III. Richard is a character that feels so alone that the only way he can feel better about himself is to deceive, murder, and put on a façade of power because there is no one there to make him feel important or loved.

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Although Richard is successful in his self-fashioning for the most part, this success does not prove that the human self is and can only be performative. Richard, as deceiving as he is, uses his mastery of subterfuge to challenge the reality in which he lives. Throughout the play, Richard shows his prowess and tenacity when it comes to being a strategic deceiver. As dastardly as Richard may seem, his deception and relentlessness to kill/betray any who oppose him, is driven by an unconscious desire to gain a connection with others. This desire to achieve connection is shown through his relentless ambition to achieve his aspirations for power since that is the only way he feels anyone will respect him or have a sense of connection with another person. This can be seen through the insecurities of his physical image, his misogyny, and his deceptions. The play begins with Richard showing off his masculinity. by critiquing the other gender and immediately blaming his mother for his physical defect. Richard states:

I that am rudely stamped, and want love’s majesty

To strut before a wanton-ambling nymph,

I that am curtailed of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,

Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time

Into this breathing world scarce half made up,

And that so lamely and unfashionable

That dogs bark at me as I halt by them:

(1.1. 16-23).

I believe this clearly shows Richard is aware of his defect and believes it to be a personal crutch against him socially and intimately.  He states he lacks a sexy strut, that he is unfinished, and that nature has stolen his potential for looking fairer than his current state. Richard thinks he is unfashionable. He shows his insecurity by believing that dogs bark because of his unattractive appearance. On top of critiquing himself, he blames his deformity on his mother. He believes that his form was stamped out in his mother’s womb making his deformity seem bound to fate and not choice. This self-critique shows Richard’s discomfort with himself. He attacks his own image; however, blames his state of being on his mother. This reveals Richard’s insecurities. Because of his insecurity, Richard compensates by using deception and performances to gain a sense of power and recognition of his mischievous personality. Richard wants his personality to outweigh his physical appearance. Richard feels his only way to be taken seriously is by power of words and subterfuge, as opposed to his appearance. Richard thrives off his power of words of deception. This is shown after wooing Lady Anne, when he says:

Was ever a woman in this humour wooed?

Was ever a woman in this humour won?

I’ll have her, but I will not keep her long.

What, I that killed her husband and his father,

To take her in her heart’s extremest hate,

With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by,

Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me, And I nothing to back my suit at all

(1.2. 213-221).

Not only does Richard applaud his own performance, because he persuaded a woman whose husband he killed, he openly says he will not let Lady Anne stay in the picture for long. Richard believes that marrying Lady Anne will help progress in his mission to gain the throne. Deciding to dispose of Lady Anne shows how fixed Richard is on ensuring he reaches the throne. Later in the play, the fate of Lady Anne is assumed that Richard succeeded in his plan to get rid of her. Richard used Lady Anne to gain supremacy instead of marrying her to pursue intimacy. This is another example of how lost and alone Richard is and the only thing he believes will make him feel better is attention through power. Throughout his journey to the throne Richard lacks the desire for an intimate relationship. The lack of wanting an intimate connection with women, unveils his hate against them. Richard hates women for seeing him in his deformity. For example, a line in the play said by Lady Anne; “What black magician conjures up this fiend, / To stop devoted charitable deeds?” (1.2.32), Lady Anne sees Richard as a fiend created from black magic. This shows how Richard is justified in his frustration that people see him as a spawn of evil. Furthermore, this can be understood as the reason Richard begins to play the villain, since people already see him in that way, and the only way he will feel a connection with someone is if he overpowers them. His want to overpower in this scene is fueled by misogyny. Richard’s inner hate makes it easy for him to dismiss any potential connection with Lady Anne. Therefore; his joy of deceptions substitute the joy relationships.

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Later in the play, once Richard becomes king and has received all the power and connection he dreamed of his actions of murder and deceit come back to haunt him. When he becomes king the power gets to his head and he easily betrays his one and only friend Buckingham. He betrays Buckingham by not giving him the earldom he promised. Richard at this point has killed off all his opponents. However, many of them were not true enemies, they were only in his way to claim the throne. This is when Richard begins to make critical mistakes that lead to his downfall. Having confided his plots with his best pal Buckingham and promising earldom as reward for his service, Richard denies Buckingham of this earldom by casting him aside saying “I am not in the giving vein today” (4.2. 118). Richard destroy his friendship with his one and only friend. Afterwards Richards gets news that Buckingham has sided with an opposing army of Welshmen, because of the denied promise. As Richards actions come back to bit him in the ass Richard when he dreams about the ghosts of all the people he had killed. This is where his guilt come out and he realizes he holds remorse for the things he has done:

 

O coward conscience, how dost though afflict me!

The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.

Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.

What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.

Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.

(5.4. 156-161).

 

This monologue is Richard’s self-recognition of all his wrong doings. Unconsciously, Richard’s dream of seeing everyone he killed causes him to feel grief for his actions. As much as he desired to be wanted and have connections with others through power, he killed everyone he had potential to create connections with. Richard asks himself what he fears; He answers this question by asking if he fears himself. Richard begins to realize that in result of his success for power and connection, he has become a monster and does not love himself. When he proclaims that he loves himself it comes off as a false reassurance to help him cope with the fact he has destroyed all potential connections with family and friends. However, he attempts to redeem himself by being a proper king. This can be seen when he still decides to fight Richmond near the end of the play. He gives an inspiring speech to rally his men. Before his death he says: “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” (5.6. 7. 353). Richard willingly gives up his title as king, for a horse, so that he may prove his worth from a lowly rank to earn the title of king instead of deceiving his way to it.  

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Richard’s wound, his tragedy, lies deep within the fact that his own agenda to gain power and to achieve connection prevented him from opening his eyes. It prevented him from acting as a true leader, a loyal friend, and a loving family member Since his only feeling of fulfillment and connection came from his plots of deception, this made him blind to the potential of any true relationship. Sadly, he realized it too late. Through his guilt of betraying his friends and family, he gave up everything and died looking like a king to redeem himself; therefore, I believe Shakespeare creates sympathy for Richard by the last act. Richard willingly sacrifices his title as king and sets aside his personal grief before the battle. Richard channels his traumatic experience of recognizing the error of his ways to prove he is a worthy and capable leader. Enabling himself to set aside his demoralizing state, he uses the battle as an opportunity of redemption so that he may be a decent person and not a villain. I often compare this final act by Richard to Darth Vader in his last few moments. In Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Vader saves his son Luke from being killed by Emperor Palpatine. By doing so he becomes the father he had always wanted to be. Darth Vader didn’t want to be a powerful Sith, he wanted to be a husband and a father because he did not have one growing up. Darth Vader felt like such a failure because he could not save his wife or be a father to his kids that he filled that emptiness with anger and power. Richard on the other hand, only wanted power because he could not find friendship or love because he had been to hurt from feeling ostracized due to his appearance, and failing to find acceptance for himself. It is not until Richard realizes his impending doom, that he concludes that he did not need power, he just needed to be more confident in himself and trustworthy of others.

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