INTRODUCTION

ARGUMENT OF THE PLAY

ICHARD THE THIRD,' a tragedy of desperate

villainy, marks the conclusion of a train of historical plays beginning with Richard the Second,' and also the end of the bloody Wars of the Roses.

In Act I the ambitions of Edward IV's brother, Richard of Gloster, are revealed. This cruel prince plots to succeed to the throne, though he is not in direct line. He compasses the death of his brother Clarence, and sues for the hand of Lady Anne, despite the fact that her father-in-law, Henry VI, and husband, Prince Edward, have been slain by him.

Upon the death of King Edward (Act II), Richard is made lord protector during the minority of the Prince of Wales. He imprisons and executes three noblemen favourable to the prince, and later (Act III) beheads a fourth-Hastings. He confines the prince and his younger brother in the Tower, and is hailed Richard III by his fellow-plotters.

His mainstay, Buckingham, hesitates to murder the two princes, according to the desire of Richard (Act IV), and, being further disaffected, seeks to join with Henry, Earl of Richmond, an enemy of Richard's. Buckingham is seized and slain. The two princes and Queen Anne are likewise put to death.

In Act V the forces of Richard and Richmond meet

on Bosworth Field. Richard is defeated and slain. The victor is crowned Henry VII, and by marriage with Elizabeth of York unites the rival houses and closes the Wars of the Roses.

SOURCES

The original frame-work for Shakespeare's play is found in Sir Thomas More's History of King Richard the Third.' More was lord chancellor to Henry VIII and wrote his account in 1513, before some of the characters had passed away. The account ends soon after the murder of the princes. Grafton was the next writer to follow More and continue the subject. Holinshed and Hall, in their Chronicles,' also hark back to More, and all agree in painting Richard in the dark colours used by Shakespeare. The dramatist follows the second edition of Holinshed, copying an error which is printed in that edition only. part played by Queen Margaret and the wooing of Anne are fictitious. Ghosts are brought in to haunt Richard before the battle, instead of the devils of Holinshed. Beyond these differences, Shakespeare adhered closely to his originals, paraphrasing historic fact into poetic tragedy.

The

The dramatist was indebted very slightly, if at all, to a preceding play on the same subject, with title: The True Tragedie of Richard the third: Wherein is showne the death of Edward the fourth, with the smothering of the two yoong Princes in the Tower: With a lamentable ende of Shore's wife, an example for all wicked women. And lastly, the conjunction. and joining of the two noble Houses, Lancaster and Yorke. 1594.'

This title shows that the early play was necessarily along the same lines pursued by Shakespeare, but in only two places are there direct parallels — the ghosts and Richard's cry, A horse, a horse!'

DURATION OF THE ACTION

The historic period lasts from May, 1471, the obsequies of Henry VI, to August 22, 1485, the battle of Bosworth Field.

The stage time covers eleven days, with intervals suggesting one month, as follows: Day 1, Act I, scenes i and ii. Interval. Day 2, Act I, scenes iii and iv, Act II, scenes i and ii. Day 3, Act II, scene iii. Interval. Day 4, Act II, scene iv. Day 5, Act III, scene i. Day 6, Act III, scenes ii-vii. Day i. Day 8, Act IV, scenes ii, iii, Day 9, Act V, scene i. Interval. Day 11, remainder

7, Act IV, scene
and iv. Interval.
Day 10, Act V, scenes ii and iii.

of play.

DATE OF COMPOSITION

Richard the Third' was conjecturally written about 1594. It falls between the incorporation of The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke' into the Third Part of Henry the Sixt' and 1597. In John Weever's Epigrams,' printed in 1599, but written in 1595, the twenty-second epigram, addressed Ad Gulielam Shakespeare,' makes mention of Romeo' and Richard,' and Richard III seems intended.

.

Internally the play is connected with Henry the Sixt,' but shows a more decided Marlowan influence than any other. Richard may profitably be compared with Tamburlaine or the Jew of Malta in his blood

thirstiness and position in the centre of the stage; the other characters seem mere backgrounds for the display of his villainy, of which he himself boasts. The play is in blank verse throughout, although others of the period contain occasional prose and rhyme. Other Marlowan traits mark it as a unique link between two distinct schools of writing.

EARLY EDITIONS

A Quarto edition of 1597 was the earliest appearance of the play. The title-page read:

Con

The Tragedy of King Richard the third. taining, His treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence: the pittiefull murther of his innocent nephewes: his tyrannicall usurpation: with the whole course of his detested life, and most deserved death. As it hath beene lately Acted by the Right honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his servants. At London, Printed by Valentine Sims, for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the Signe of the Angell. 1597.'

A Second Quarto appeared in 1598, with the same text and title, except By William Shakespeare. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise,'

etc.

A Third Quarto, of 1602, was Newly augmented by William Shakespeare.'

Five other Quartos appeared, in 1605, 1612, 1622, 1629, and 1634. The text of the entire eight is essentially the same.

Two Folio editions were printed, with the title : The Tragedy of Richard the Third: With the Landing of Earle Richmond, and the Battell at Bosworth Field.' The First Folio of 1623 gives the play in thirty-two pages, under histories, from page 173 to