Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
The Allure of Evil
When Richard claims that his deformity is the cause of
his wicked ways, he seems to be manipulating us for sympathy, just
as he manipulates the other characters throughout the play. As a
result, Richard III does not explore the cause
of evil in the human mind so much as it explores its operation,
depicting the workings of Richard’s mind and the methods he uses
to manipulate, control, and injure others for his own gain. Central
to this aspect of the play is the idea that Richard’s victims are
complicit in their own destruction. Just as Lady Anne allows herself
to be seduced by Richard, even knowing that he will kill her, other
characters allow themselves to be taken in by his charisma and overlook
his dishonesty and violent behavior. This tendency is echoed in
Richard’s relationship with the audience for much of the play. Even
though the audience is likely to be repulsed by Richard’s actions,
his gleeful, brilliant, revealing monologues cause most viewers
to like him and even hope that he will succeed despite his obvious
malice.
The Connection Between Ruler and State
The so-called window scenes in Richard III—the
conversation of the common people in Act II, scene iii; Buckingham’s
speech to the masses and Richard’s acceptance of the crown in Act
III; and the scene of the Scrivener in Act III, scene iv—provide
a glimpse of how the drama in the royal palace affects the lives
of the common people outside its walls. As a history play, Richard
III is at least somewhat concerned with the consequences
of the behavior of those in power, and with ideas of good rulership
and governance. It is significant that the common people come to
fear and distrust Richard long before most of the nobles in the
palace, and that the opposition of the common people to Richard
is one of the main forces that enables Richmond to overthrow him.
In these ways, Richard III explores a theme Shakespeare
later revisited in Hamlet and Macbeth—the
idea that the moral righteousness of a political ruler has a direct
bearing on the health of the state. A state with a good ruler will
tend to flourish (as Denmark does under King Hamlet), while a state
with a bad ruler will tend to suffer (as Scotland does under Macbeth).
The Power of Language
An interesting secondary theme of Richard III is
the power of language, or the importance of language in achieving
political power. Language may not always be a necessary instrument
of power, but for Richard, it is a crucial weapon. His extraordinary
skill with words enables him to manipulate, confuse, and control
those around him. Richard’s skill with language and argument is
what enables him to woo Lady Anne, have Clarence thrown in prison, keep
the Woodvilles off his track, blame the king for Clarence’s death,
and achieve Hastings’s execution, all at very little risk to himself.
Interestingly, language also seems to be the only defense against Richard,
as is shown when the princes match his skill at wordplay and thus
indicate their ability to see through his schemes. In such cases,
Richard simply uses violence as an expedient and has his enemies,
including the princes, put to death.
The Birth of the Tudor Dynasty
Richard III dramatizes a key turning
point in English history: the end of the Wars of the Roses and the
rise to power of the Tudor dynasty in the figure of Henry VII. The
Tudors continued to rule England in Shakespeare’s day—Queen Elizabeth
I, who sat on the throne when Richard III was written,
was a Tudor. As a playwright in sixteenth-century England, Shakespeare
had to court the favor of those in power, who literally could make
or break his career. As a result, Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard
III as a vile, hateful villain is in part designed to set up a glorious
ascension for Henry VII at the end of the play. Henry overthrew
Richard, after all, and the worse Richard seems, the better Henry
will seem for defeating him; moreover, the better Henry seems, the
more likely the Tudors are to approve of Shakespeare’s play. Had
Shakespeare portrayed Richard as a hero, then Henry might have seemed
villainous for usurping his throne, and Shakespeare might have fallen
from favor with Queen Elizabeth. Of course, these political considerations
are by no means the main focus of the play—Shakespeare’s exploration
of the psychology of evil stands on its own and transcends mere
propaganda. Still, it is important to realize that the
history Shakespeare recounts in his story was still very much alive
when he wrote it, and that the considerations of his own time strongly
affected his portrayal of the past.
