Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
The Supernatural
For a play supposedly based on actual history, Richard
III involves an extraordinary number of supernatural elements.
Some of these elements are Margaret’s prophetic curses, Clarence
and Stanley’s prophetic dreams, the allegations of witchcraft Richard
levels at Elizabeth and mistress Shore, the continual association
of Richard with devils and demons (for example, he is often called
a hellhound), Richard’s comparison of himself to the shape-shifting
Proteus, the Princes’ discussion of the ghosts of their dead uncles,
and—most significant—the parade of eleven ghosts that visits Richard and
Richmond the night before the battle. These supernatural elements
serve to create an atmosphere of intense dread and gloom that matches
the malice and evil of Richard’s inner self, and also serve to heighten
the sense that Richard’s reign is innately evil, transforming England
into a kind of Gothic netherworld.
Dreams
The motif of prophetic dreams is part of the play’s larger
preoccupation with the supernatural, but the idea of dreams emerges
as its own separate motif after Stanley’s dream about Hastings’s
death. Clarence and Stanley both have dreams that not only predict
the future, but that are also heavy with important symbolism. For example,
Clarence’s dream involves Richard causing his drowning at sea. Immediately
after it, he is drowned in a cask of wine by murderers hired by
Richard. In addition, Stanley’s dream involves Hastings being gored
by a boar—Richard’s heraldic symbol. Immediately after it, Richard
orders Hastings’s execution.
