Summary: Act V, scene i
The captured Buckingham is led to his execution by an
armed sheriff. Buckingham asks to speak to King Richard, but the
sheriff denies his request, leaving him time to ponder before his
head is cut off. Upon discovering that it is All-Souls Day, Buckingham’s
thoughts turn to repentance and judgment, and he recalls the promises
he made to King Edward IV that he would always stand by Edward’s children
and his wife’s family. He also recalls his own certainty that Richard,
whom he trusted, would never betray him and seems to be recalling
Margaret’s prophecy: “[R]emember this another day, / When he [Richard]
shall split thy very heart with sorrow” (I.iii.297–298).
Buckingham concludes that Margaret was right, and that, moreover,
he deserves to suffer for his own wrongdoing—for breaking his vows,
for being an accomplice to foul play and murder, and for his folly
in trusting Richard, who has indeed broken his heart. He tells the
officers to bring him to “the block of shame,” and he is led away
to die (V.i.28).
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Act V, scene i →
Summary: Act V, scene ii
At the camp of Richmond’s army, which is marching through England
to challenge Richard, Richmond tells his men that he has just received
a letter from his relative Stanley, informing him about Richard’s
camp and movements. Richard’s army, it seems, is only a day’s march
away. The men recall the crimes that Richard has perpetrated and
the darkness he has brought to the land. A nobleman points out that
none of Richard’s allies is with him because they believe in his
cause—they stay with him only out of fear and will flee when Richard
most needs them. Eager for the battle, Richmond and his men march
onward toward Richard’s camp.
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Act V, scene ii →
Analysis: Act V, scenes i–ii
The action accelerates in the scenes leading up to the
battle. Shakespeare paces the scene so that events happen and news
arrives in quick succession, leaving little time for contemplation
on the parts of the main characters. At the same time, these scenes
reflect back on important scenes earlier in the play, revealing
the consequences of past actions and the fulfillment of past prophecies.
Just as Elizabeth, Margaret, and the duchess’s reconsideration of
earlier times in Act IV, scene iv prepares the ground for their
extraordinary moral transformation in learning to curse, Buckingham’s
memory of Margaret’s curse here prepares him for an equally significant
transformation—his sudden desire to repent and accept his fate.
Margaret’s curse, written off as an eccentricity when it is first
delivered, is now revealed to be an accurate instrument of prophecy,
and thus assumes its full importance as an instrument of foreshadowing
in the play. The re-emergence of the prophetic curse naturally carries with
it an overtone of supernatural oversight, implying that God or fate
controls the action of the play. In this light, Buckingham’s declaration
that his execution is due to the justice of God, who, he feels, is
punishing him for having aligned himself with evil, brings the notion
of moral justice into full focus in the play. This focus on moral
justice anticipates the dissolution of Richard’s unjust reign by redirecting
the narrative toward the idea of just outcomes overseen by the will
of God. Buckingham underscores this point when he declares, “Thus
doth he force the swords of wicked men / To turn their own points
in their masters’ bosoms” (V.i.23–24). In
other words, the justice of God requires that evil men will be undone through
their own wickedness. Buckingham intends this point to refer solely
to himself, but Shakespeare frames it as a moral generalization
that points clearly toward Richard.
The sense of impending justice that Shakespeare introduces through
the execution of Buckingham is carried over into Act V, scene ii,
in which Richmond and his advisors’ complaints about Richard’s behavior
amount to a moral indictment, a list of all the reasons why Richard’s
removal from power is the outcome that justice demands. The sense
of justice, strength, courage, and optimism inherent in the frank
and determined conversation of the rebels stands in direct contrast
to the sense of corruption, death, and impending doom that clings
to Richard’s court. Richmond’s advisors employ language of defiance
and resolution that takes Richard’s crimes as the impetus for the
action that the rebels must take. For example, Oxford declares,
“Every man’s conscience is a thousand swords / To fight against
this guilty homicide” (V.ii.17–18). Like
Oxford’s, each of the short speeches made by the men here revolves
around the idea that Richard has been a murderous and oppressive
king who deserves to be overthrown and that, as a result, Richmond’s
army is morally unwavering in its quest to overthrow him. Whereas
the lust for power characterized Richard’s rise to the throne, the
principle of justice now directs Richmond and his army to challenge
Richard’s wrongful rule.
