Summary: Act IV, scene i
Outisde the Tower of London, Elizabeth, her son Dorset,
and the duchess of York meet Lady Anne (who is now Richard’s wife)
and Clarence’s young daughter. Lady Anne tells Elizabeth that they
have come to visit the princes who are imprisoned in the tower,
and Elizabeth says that her group is there for the same reason.
But the women learn from the guardian of the tower that Richard
has forbidden anyone to see the princes.
Stanley, earl of Derby, suddenly arrives with the news
that Richard is about to be crowned king, so Anne must go to the
coronation to be crowned as his queen. The horrified Anne fears
that Richard’s coronation will mean ruin for England, and says that
she should have resisted marrying Richard—after all, she herself
has cursed him (in Act I, scene ii) for killing her first husband.
Her curses have come true. As his wife, she has no peace, and Richard
is continually haunted by bad dreams. The duchess of York instructs
Dorset to flee to France and join the forces of the earl of Richmond,
a nobleman with a claim to the royal throne.
Read a translation of
Act IV, scene i →
Summary: Act IV, scene ii
Back in the palace, the gloating Richard—who has now been crowned
king of England—enters in triumph with Buckingham and Catesby. But
Richard says that he does not yet feel secure in his position of
power. He tells Buckingham that he wants the two young princes,
the rightful heirs to the throne, to be murdered in the tower. For
the first time, Buckingham does not obey Richard immediately, saying
that he needs more time to think about the request. Richard murmurs
to himself that Buckingham is too weak to continue to be his
right-hand man and summons a lowlife named Tyrrell who is willing
to accept the mission. In almost the same breath, Richard instructs Catesby
to spread a rumor that Queen Anne is sick and likely to die, and
gives orders to keep the queen confined. He then announces his intention
to marry the late King Edward’s daughter, Elizabeth of York. The
implication is that he plans to murder Queen Anne.
Buckingham, uneasy about his future, asks Richard to
give him what Richard promised him earlier: the earldom of Hereford.
But Richard angrily rejects Buckingham’s demands and walks out on him.
Buckingham, left alone, realizes that he has fallen out of Richard’s
favor and decides to flee to his family home in Wales before he meets
the fate of Richard’s other enemies.
Read a translation of
Act IV, scene ii →
Summary: Act IV, scene iii
Tyrrell returns to the palace and tells Richard that the
princes are dead. He says that he has been deeply shaken by the
deed and that the two men he commissioned to perform the murders
are also full of regrets after smothering the two children to death
in their sleep. But Richard is delighted to hear the news, and offers
Tyrrell a rich reward. After Tyrrell leaves, Richard explains the
development of his various plots to get rid of everyone who might
threaten his grasp on power. The two young princes are
now dead. Richard has married off Clarence’s daughter to an unimportant
man and has locked up Clarence’s son (who is not very smart and
does not present a threat). Moreover, Richard gloats that Queen
Anne is now dead—we can assume Richard has had her murdered—and he
announces once again that his next step will be to woo and marry
young Elizabeth, the daughter of the former King Edward and Queen
Elizabeth. He believes that this alliance with her family will cement
his hold on the throne.
Ratcliffe enters suddenly with the bad news that some
of Richard’s noblemen are fleeing to join Richmond in France, and
that Buckingham has returned to Wales and is now leading a large
army against Richard. Richard, startled out of his contemplation,
decides that it is time to gather his own army and head out to face
battle.
