The Changing Richard III

The play Richard III is a tragedy - so right from the beginning we know Richard will go through a dramatic change. What we don’t know however, is just how drastic that change will be. The play starts off with a monologue by Richard recounting the end of the War of Roses, and lamenting on his deformed body and the evil that comes attached to that deformity. On lines 28-31, he says, “And therefore, 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.” These lines give us a glimpse of things to come, a window into Richard’s conniving mind and his evil plans. So from the very first lines, we learn that Richard has evil in store for all around him.

Throughout the monologue, Richard uses the word “I” 8 times. This is not because of Shakespeare’s lack of creativity; it is, in fact, just the opposite. Shakespeare does this to convey an important character trait of Richard – his certainess of his plans. Richard has himself irrevocably convinced that “these fair well-spoken days” must come to an end, and that he is the one who must change it. He must become King.

Now compare these traits to one of Richard’s final speeches, starting on line 178 of Act V, Scene 3. Richard exclaims, “What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by./Richard love Richard; that is, I and I./ Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am./… Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good/That I myself have done unto myself./Oh no, alas, I rather hate myself.” I can keep going, but you get the idea. He is having an argument with himself, and the “myself” is overriding the “I”. Richard breaks when the ghosts of all the people he had a hand in murdering come to visit him. The use of the word “myself” gives us the idea that Richard is now two people, the cunning evil of the beginning of the play, and the needless evil of the end. Moral of the story? Don’t kill – easy enough.