Andrew Moulton

Southern New Hampshire Universitys Shakespeare 319 Professor Paul Rosenberg

Short Paper Three: The Tragedy of Richard III

April 19, 2015

Richards Last Word

The play begins with Richard speaking alone. Immediately apparent, he is gifted with

words and it can be reasoned that it is in compensating for his physical deformity that he has

acquired his eloquence. In his first monologue Richard is confiding, intelligent, and audaciously,

even deliciously, malicious in his plotting for the throne. But he is alone, apparently unloved and

incapable of loving. He hate[s] (l.32) and also says that he intends to destroy the peace his

brother has established. Even in saying so, there was a hint of insincerity in Richards words; an

insincerity that was again reflected in this first scene with his interactions with Clarence and

Hastings. Richard was the actor. His nonattachment suggested an unbalanced understanding of

consequences. I believe that in this play Richard is seeking the attention he never received as an

infant; having never received it, he is incapable of understanding love or compassion and is

therefore unable of recognizing the impact of his actions in the world. Therein lies the tragedy.

Richards mother, the Duchess of York, violently asserts in Act IV Scene IV that Richard

has been unwanted since birth,

Thou camest on earth to make the earth my hell. A grievous burthen was thy birth to

me; Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy school-days frightful, desperate, wild, and

furious, Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous, Thy age confirm'd, proud,

subdued, bloody, treacherous, (ll. 2965-2971).

Granted, the Duchess was channeling Queen Margarets overly vehement fury, but without a

doubt, there must be a thread of truth in her words since Richard is so shaken after receiving this

as well as the rest of her curse.

I believe that the Duchess, whether knowingly or unknowingly, neglected her infant son

Richard. She may not have beaten him, but she may have on some level overlooked him, and

being deformed he would have construed this neglect as disfavor. My bookshelves

surreptitiously yielded this fitting quote, babies who are neglected and punished suffer bonding

breaks and often grow up to be troubled if not antisocial or sociopathic individuals, (McClure

3). Although Richard makes light of his deformity and proves to use it well throughout the play,

I believe he has been scarred emotionally from it. The fact is; Richard was a middle child; in

addition to generally being forgotten due to his status in the family, he could also have reasoned

that his mother conceived Clarence in order to offset the disappointment she saw in his birth. For

whatever reason, the result is that as an adult Richard is unbalanced and malicious.

Richard finally recognizes the disjunction in his life when, after a series of enlightening

dreams, he wakes from slumber, terrified of who he has become- a stranger to himself. myself?

there's none else by: Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I. Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I

am, (ll. 3684-3686). It is as though until this point his quest for the throne had been a game and

that the players at his command were merely disappearing since he does not actually himself

draw blood.

The tragedy is that Richard, in his quest for recognition alienates himself from everyone

around him and from any hope of love. In his final battle, as he has lived his life through deceit,

he is deceived more than five times by Richmond, and exhausted when he finally confronts

Richmond, ingloriously dies as the bloody dog, (l. 3894). As he is at the beginning, he is in the

end, terrified and alone, forgotten, without even the courtesy of a final word.

Works Cited

McClure, Vimala. Infant Massage. A Handbook for Loving Parents. New York: Bantam, 2000.

Print.

Shakespeare, William. History of Richard III (1592). Open Source Shakespeare. George

Mason University 2003-2015. Web. 15 April 2015.