Study Questions &
Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Is Richard
the hero of the play or its villain?
Richard is obviously a villain—he almost
single-handedly generates all of the evil and violence in the play.
But Richard III makes us reconsider our definition
of what a hero is because, as evil as he is, Richard is certainly
the play’s protagonist. The entire plot is built around his struggle
to become king and stay in power. We find out more about his mind
and thoughts than about the mind and thoughts of any other character.
In fact, Shakespeare intrigues us with the workings of Richard’s
mind and even asks us to sympathize with Richard’s jealousy and
pain, despite the fact that he is a murderer and a sadist. Richard
is one of the most unsavory characters in literature, but his psychological
depth invites us to try to understand his actions. The play thus
compels us to explore our values. Even though we recognize Richard’s
actions as heinous, it is tempting to hope that he succeeds, and
we are fascinated with the skill he demonstrates in manipulating
other characters.
2. How does
Richard’s personality change over the course of the play?
At the beginning of the play, Richard seems
very much in control of the situation around him. Bitter and alienated
from others, he nonetheless enters into a close relationship with
the audience, pausing frequently to let us know what is going on
in his mind. Richard therefore has a closer relationship with us
than he does with anyone else in the play, at least in the early
acts. However, as Richard’s plot unfolds and he rises in rank, his
speeches change. He ceases to offer monologues to us and is instead
surrounded by noblemen all the time. He also stops using his subtle
powers of manipulation and veers toward achieving his goals by force,
ordering executions overtly and no longer pretending to be a friend
to all. Moreover, almost at the moment of his coronation, he alienates
Buckingham—his only friend, whom he later has executed. Richard
does not seem to be able to return love; he solicits it only in
order to twist it to his own purposes, as when he seduces Anne,
and when he attempts to make friends with Elizabeth. Furthermore,
he exploits the selfless love of his family members to take advantage
of them. By the time Richard is finished, all his friends, lovers,
and family either are dead at his hands or hate him. This state
of affairs leads to Richard’s sudden revelation and nightmare in
Act V, scene v, that “[t]here is no creature loves me” (V.v.154).
3. What roles
do women play in Richard III?
Women play a number of different roles in
this play, but these roles are for the most part defined by their
relationships to men, and the capacity of the female characters
to act is mostly frustrated by men. Young Elizabeth and Anne are
wives or potential wives whom Richard tries to use as pawns to shore
up his power. Queen Elizabeth and the duchess of Windsor are mothers
who unsuccessfully try to use their influence to protect themselves
and their children. Once Richard kills his brothers and Queen Elizabeth’s
kinsmen, Queen Elizabeth and the duchess become like Margaret—irrelevant
and seemingly powerless. Interestingly, however, women seem to acquire
power in this play only when they lose their male relatives—and,
thus, their social influence and power in the court—and forge their
own power out of grief and pain. This pain lies behind Margaret’s
terrifying cursing, and Elizabeth and the duchess try to learn the
skill of cursing from her after the deaths of the Princes.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. What role does the supernatural
play in Richard III? Why might Shakespeare have
chosen to populate a play supposedly based on history with so many
ghosts, curses, and prophecies?
2. How does the talent for wordplay
affect the fortunes of the characters in the play? Is skill with
words a sure sign of intelligence and capability, or does it indicate
manipulative cunning and shrewdness? Why is the ability to express
oneself so important throughout the play? Think especially about
the characters of Richard, Margaret, and the princes.
3. Compare the characters of
Buckingham and Hastings. How do their conceptions of loyalty to
their respective masters differ? What traits lead them to their
eventual executions?
4. How do the so-called window
scenes, which show us the effect of the goings-on in the palace
among the common people, broaden the focus of the play? How does
the play portray the relationship between those in power and the masses
of commoners whom they rule?
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