Richard III

            In Act I, Scene II, of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Richard III,” the play begins with a long speech from Richard. Richard begins this speech on sort of a high note. He states, “Now is the winter of our discontent.” He explains how their discontent or bad times are ending and made glorious by his brother, King Edward IV. Richard repeats this idea that the bad times are over and the good times are ahead in his speech and then his tone quickly changes after he discusses how after war his brother is no longer mounting horses but instead as stated in lines 13-14, “He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber to the lascivious pleasing of a lute.”  It is after these lines, I noticed a dramatic change in Richard’s tone. Richard begins to reveal some of his own insecurities about himself, compared to others. He expresses how he is “not made for sportive tricks.”  

He acknowledges the fact that he is unattractive because as he states, “am curtailed of this fair proportion, cheated of feature by dissembling nature, deformed, unfinished.” Richard doesn’t believe that a woman would love him or want to be with him because of the way he looks. He knows that he is not aesthetically pleasing which he blames on nature. He thinks of himself so unattractive that “dogs bark at him when he stops by them,” as he states in line 23.

Richard is unhappy with the way he looks and how others treat him because of his appearance. He feels like he has been cheated by nature because of his deformity. Instead of trying to fit in with everyone else, Richard chooses another fate for himself because he feels like he doesn’t fit into society. He states in lines 27-31, “since I cannot prove a lover to entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain and hate the idle pleasures of these days.” Richard chooses to become a bad guy because he doesn’t feels accepted because of physical attributes. He lays out evil plots to help him succeed in his goals of what he thinks will make him happy. Richard wants to be King.

He stated earlier in his speech how their winter is “made glorious summer by this son of York.” The son of York being Richard’s older brother, King Edward IV. Richard appears to be jealous of his brother, Edward especially his relationship with Queen Elizabeth. Richard talks about not being made for “sportive tricks” such as those of “lascivious pleasing in a lady’s chamber” which is something he believes his brother engages in. He later states in Act I, Scene I, in a conversation with his brother Clarence, who he has turned against Edward, that the King is ruled by women. Richard leads Clarence to believe that it is really the Queen Elizabeth, who has convinced her husband to send him to the tower. Richard seems not only to have ill feelings toward his brothers but also his brother wife, who he demeans by referring to her as Lady Grey, the name from her previous marriage.