About this title: Preceded by HENRY VI: Parts I, II, and III, RICHARD III concludes Shakespeare's four-part dramatic series chronicling the end of the Plantagenet family as rulers of England. Upon the defeat of Richard, the hunchbacked Duke of Gloucester, at the battle of Bosworth field in 1485, the Plantagenets are replaced by the Tudors, marking the end of a long period of civil war in England. RICHARD III is an early play in Shakespeare's oeuvre, probably written in 1591 when the century-old events it portrays were still part of the collective memory of the audiences at the Globe Theatre. The ruthless and ...
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780140714838ISBN:0140714839
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. FINE (+) CONDITION. DAILY SHIPPING! ! ! ! ! ! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 158 p. Pelican Shakespeare (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. Topics Classics; Classroom Adoption; Drama; Fiction; Great Britain; Great Britain-History-Richard III, 1483-1485; Literary Criticism; Richard; Richard III, King of England; Shakespeare read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780486287478ISBN:0486287475
Description: Fine. No DJ Issued. Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 112 p. Dover Thrift Editions. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very Good. No DJ Issued. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Never read but has sat on bookshop shelf. Slight Discoloration on pages and covers. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 190 p. Contains: Illustrations. Bantam Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780671726560ISBN:0671726560
Description: Very Good. No DJ Issued. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Never read but has sat on bookshop shelf. Slight Discoloration on pages. Inside covers discolored. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Good copy with some light general wear. small scuff at bottom of spine. previous owner name in pencil inside front cover. pages clean and unmarked. read more
"How enjoyable it is to return to a Shakespeare play and re-experience it after long absence. So many lines are familiar, yet always seem fresh. At the beginning of his historical plays, I always struggle a bit to figure out who the characters are and what their relationships are to each other, but once that becomes clear, it's clear sailing. In this case, one wonders why Richard is so malignant? It seems unlikely to be simply the result of his physical deformities and the rejection that he may have experienced because of them, but maybe that is an important part of the answer. Some people seem malignant by temperament, whatever that means; I guess I think of that as inherent and not the result of experience, but maybe that is unfair and inaccurate. Richard's motivations are clear from the beginning, his desire to be king clearly stated; his dissembling and unctuous hypocrisy permeate all his relationships and set the tone of the play. How does he differ from, say, Iago? The latter's vileness seems more motiveless, although he does seem to indicate jealousy as part of his reason for hating Othello; but he has no apparent goal other than Othello's destruction. Richard, at least, has a specific goal in mind that he sees as being to his benefit.
Given Richard's endless plots and duplicity, why do his allies, eg Buckingham, think that they themselves will not at last fall victim to his ambition and caprices? History suggests that such almost always happens, and such concerns would seem inevitably to arise. Is the lure of being close to power so seductive? Do men always think that they will be the exception to the rule? Or is there truly honor among thieves? Apparently not, for Buckingham eventually falls at Richard's hand. And, as one by one his supporters desert him, Richard is progressively isolated by both his policies and his own paranoia, finally coming to an ignominious end, defeated and slain by Richmond, who ascends the throne as Henry VI.
It is impossible not to be equally moved each time I read this magnificent play."
"This portrayal of the history's greatest villain (however historically inaccurate) remains my personal favorite Shakespeare play. Richard is the model upon which later villains, such as Darth Vader and the demonized media variety of Adolf Hitler are based. His reveling in evil is constantly entertaining and effective. The story lacks an interesting hero, which gives Richard all the more time to plot, rave, smooth, cog, and kill. He manipulates his way to the throne, and then is soon undone by the betrayal of his "friends" before he can betray them. Along the way, he orders the famous murder of his youthful nephews by suffocation, the crime for which he is most reviled (and of which he may or may not be innocent). But, more than this, he speaks many of Shakespeare's most brilliant lines, including the "Winter of our Discontent" speech, "A horse, a horse, my kinddom for a horse" and "Is there a murderer here?" The play is, of course, more enjoyable when seen performed, but reading it is, at least, a good substitute."
"I enjoyed reading this play, although I did lose track of what was happening somewhere around Act 3. Maybe reading through the five articles that were assigned for my class on Monday will help me! Richard III is by far one of the worst villians I have ever read about. I couldn't believe how many people he had killed by the end of the play. I was surprised that Richard III reign as king was relatively short. Finishing the play and reading about it have made me once to read the Henry VI plays. I have stayed away from Shakespeare's histories in fear that they would be boring. I think that I may be wrong and would like to read another history soon."
"Shakespeare does a great job of showing Richard's motivation, his plotting, and his descent.
Born misshapen and ugly, Richard vows revenge on ... well, everyone. At first he seems to find it all a huge joke, but toward the end you really see the tragedy of his loneliness and his all-consuming anger.
I remember when I first read this play, in college, I started out hating it--hating Richard, really. And then, as I continued reading, I did a slow change that turned into an deep, almost obsessive love for this play.
p.s. I would want RIII to be on my side in a debate. Because, man, that guy can talk."
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