RichaRd iii - Stratford Festival

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slips away from him. In the words of Alexander
Leggatt, “Ironically, the role Richard has sought
so long is the one role he cannot effectively play.”
By the end of the play the central conflict is within
Richard himself. Unable to sleep, visited by dreams
and ghosts, his guilty conscience “hath a thousand
several tongues,” and every tongue condemns him
for a villain.
Richard is not the only one with a guilty
conscience. King Edward IV and the Duke of
Clarence are also haunted by past deeds – by
the thought that perhaps their ends did not justify
their means after all. The play is full of dreams
and prophecies, omens and ghosts, blessings
and curses. As Queen Margaret’s prophecies
come true, and the ghosts of the dead appear, it
seems that England’s unfolding history is part of a
providential plan. Richmond, who considers himself
God’s “captain,” will rid the world of the usurping
Richard. In doing so, he will return England to
political and moral health: the winter of Plantagenet
discontent will yield to the glorious summer of Tudor
rule. At least that’s the Tudor version of the story.
The play covers the historical events of 14 years,
starting with Edward IV’s restoration in 1471 and
ending with King Richard’s death in 1485. It is
perhaps not coincidental that in the middle of the
period presented, in 1476, the first printing press
arrived in England. In the century between the
historical events depicted and Shakespeare’s
writing, the story of the villainous Richard III had
spread through the Tudor chronicles, the first of
which, by Polydore Vergil, was commissioned by
Henry VII. Appearing in Richard III as Richmond,
Henry VII was known in Shakespeare’s time both
as the first Tudor monarch and as the grandfather
of Queen Elizabeth I, who was on the throne
when the play was written. Awkward questions
regarding whether Richard III’s right to the throne
was stronger than Richmond’s were put aside as
chroniclers retold history in a form that generated
patriotic pride.
This play about political manipulations – about
ends justifying means, as Machiavelli had written
– was based on politically manipulated historical
texts. Like the sources on which it is based,
Shakespeare’s Richard III draws our attention
to issues of representation and right rule at the
intersection of medieval and early modern world views.
Dr. Jane Freeman is a faculty member at the
University of Toronto and a member of the Stratford
Shakespeare Festival’s Senate.