.
Nivaagaard Collection. The play begins with Richard of Gloucester, the youngest brother of King
Edward IV of England, describing Edward's re-accession to the throne (implying the year is 1471, after the
Battle of Tewkesbury): Despite this new era of peace and joy, Richard is an ugly and unloved
hunchback who is therefore "determined to prove a
villain". Due to a prophecy that " of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be", Richard and Edward's brother Clarence (whose given name is George) is placed under arrest. (Edward interpreted the prophecy as referring to eorge, but it could just as easily refer to Richard of loucester.) Speaking to Clarence as he is escorted along to the
Tower of London, Richard blames the queen,
Elizabeth, and says that he will try to help Clarence. Richard describes to the audience his plot to marry Lady Anne, despite being responsible for the death of
her father and
her husband. Anne attends the corpse of the late king,
Henry VI, lamenting. When Richard appears, Anne berates him and says that "Henry's wounds[...]
bleed afresh". He confesses to murdering the king, saying her beauty motivated it, and she spits at him. He proclaims his feelings for her and offers his sword for her to kill him, but she drops it. He then offers to kill himself, but she instead accepts his ring unhappily (and, it is implied, marriage) as he promises to repent for the murder. Richard exults at having won her over and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served his purpose. The atmosphere at Edward's court is poisonous. The established nobles are at odds with the ambitious relatives of Elizabeth, a hostility fuelled by Richard's machinations.
Queen Margaret, Henry VI's widow, returns, though banished, and she warns the squabbling nobles about Richard, cursing extensively. The nobles, all
Yorkists, unite against this last
Lancastrian and ignore her warnings. Richard orders two murderers to assassinate Clarence. The murderers arrive at the Tower with a warrant and, while they ponder how to carry out the deed, Clarence wakes and pleads for his life, telling them to go to Richard, who will reward them better for having kept him alive. One of the murderers explains that Richard hates him and indeed sent them, before they stab Clarence and drown him in a butt of
Malmsey wine (the year 1478). The nobles pledge absent enmities before Edward, and Elizabeth asks him to pardon his brother Clarence. Richard reveals that Clarence is dead on the king's own orders. Edward, who is ill and near death, is much upset by this news, expecting the order of execution to have been stopped in time, and Richard openly blames those attending Edward. Edward soon dies, and Richard becomes Protector (1483). Several prominent officials in Edward's court have been imprisoned. His two young boys, including the uncrowned
Edward V, are coaxed by Richard into an extended stay at the
Tower of London. Assisted by his cousin
Buckingham, Richard mounts a campaign to present himself as the true heir to the throne, pretending to be a modest and devout man with no pretensions to greatness.
Edward's Lord Chamberlain, who objects to Richard's accession, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge of treason. Richard and Buckingham
spread the rumour that Edward's two sons are illegitimate and therefore have no rightful claims, assisted by certain allies. The other lords are thus cajoled into accepting Richard as king, despite the continued survival of his nephews (the
Princes in the Tower). as Richard III just before the battle of
Bosworth Field. His sleep having been haunted by the ghosts of those he has murdered, he wakes to the realisation that he is alone in the world and death is imminent.
David Garrick as Richard III (1745),
William Hogarth Richard asks Buckingham to assassinate the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard instead recruits
an assassin who kills both children. When Richard denies Buckingham a promised land grant, Buckingham turns against Richard and defects to the side of Henry VI's nephew, the
Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile. Richard has his eye on the young
Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's next remaining heir, and kills Lady Anne by poison so he can be free to woo this younger Elizabeth. Richard's mother, the
Duchess of York, and the older Elizabeth mourn the princes' deaths. As prophesied, Queen Elizabeth asks Queen Margaret for help in cursing Richard. Later, the Duchess applies this lesson and curses her only surviving son before fleeing. Richard asks Queen Elizabeth to help him win her daughter Elizabeth's hand in marriage. She is not taken in by his eloquence, and stalls by saying that she will let him know her daughter's answer in due course. The increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had. He faces rebellions, led first by Buckingham and subsequently by Richmond's invading forces. Buckingham is captured and executed. Both sides arrive for a final battle at
Bosworth Field, prior to which Richard, asleep, is visited by the ghosts of his victims, each telling him to "Despair and die". They likewise wish for Richmond's victory. Richard wakes, screaming for Jesus, then realises that he is all alone and cannot even pity himself. At the
Battle of Bosworth Field (1485), Richmond's stepfather
Lord Stanley and his followers desert Richard, whereupon Richard calls for the execution of Stanley's son: a young hostage. This does not happen, however, as the battle is in full swing, and Richard is at a disadvantage. Richard is unhorsed on the field, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse". Richmond kills Richard and claims the throne, becoming
Henry VII. ==Date and text==