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A handsome and magnetic young actor, Richard Stirling is usually cast in roles that emphasize his vocal power and physical size. The child of famous British actors, Richard appears poised for a brilliant future. He certainly believes this to be the case when he proclaims, as the year begins, that it will be a good one for them, an assertion that Oliver worries—rightly—might jinx everything. No one is surprised when Richard is cast as Caesar for the fall performance, but they seem genuinely alarmed at his abrupt turn to violence. The others are bruised and battered from rehearsing with him, and he bullies them verbally as well. Richard seems to take on traits from the characters he performs on the stage, such as an imperious will and domineering personality. His change is so rapid and alarming that his peers are willing to let him die in the lake before the end of the fall semester.
Because of his belligerence, Richard is the main antagonist in the novel, although he directs his most unwavering rage at James, not the protagonist Oliver. Richard insists that, when he attacks his former friends, he is defending “his girls”—Wren, his cousin, and Meredith, his former girlfriend—but he is not shy about abusing them as well. All six of the group agree that he should be left to die. Richard’s death does not remove him from the novel, however. In both Julius Caesar and Macbeth, Richard’s roles are ghostly, and he becomes a ghost, haunting the Castle and oppressing his guilty peers with his persistent presence.
