“Determined to Prove a Villain”: An Examination of Richard III’s Character in History and on the Stage
Abstract:
Since his death in 1485, Richard III has become an enigma. With the succession of Henry VII to the English throne the chroniclers of the day began to write down the histories of the houses of York and Lancaster. Many of these were not friendly to Richard and have portrayed him as a deformed and wicked monster that usurped his nephew and sought to marry his niece. But is this all that there was to Richard’s character? Shakespeare’s play worked off of these sources to create his famous vice character that audiences would love to hate for five hundred years. With the recent discovery of Richard’s remains in 2012 we know that the chroniclers and even Shakespeare were not too far off in their description of Richard’s body, but what does this leave for his character? In examining Shakespeare’s play along side his sources perhaps we can gain a greater knowledge of who Richard was and how he should be remembered both in performance and in history.