Shakespeare's trickery !

25th November 2013

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          I know William Shakespeare is a huge writer who is still in our cultural inheritence but when I read his historical playwright "The Tragedy of Richard the Third", I wonder: Did Shakespeare receive his world? Did he favor his own interest rather than the true story?

 

         Indeed, in the playwright, W.Shakespeare painted King Richard III as an ugly man who was deformed. Richard described himself as "deform'd, unfinish'd, spent before (his) time", and "lamely", his Lady Mother, Cecily Neville, added he was "long a-growing" and perhaps that was the main cause of his ugliness. But in 2012, the body of King Richard III has been discovered under a parking in Leicester and proved by DNA analyses of his bones. Proving that he wasn't hunchback but he suffered of scoliosis. One of his shoulder was higher than the other and that explain all of the prejudicies against him. His look is as deformed as the Shakespeare's playwright this way he tried to discredit the king, making the people scared and digusted by this terrible look.

          And this look is accorded to his character, he's ready to do everything for the power, as murdered his own family. At the beginning, he was extremely jealous of his brother King Edward IV but he tried to manipulate everyone to keep the power and the throne to himself. He eliminated all the heirs of the king, even his own brother Clarence also his nephews then he pushed aside the Rivers family. He married the widow Anne Neville and convinced her he didn't killed her first husband and his beloved father at Tewkesbury. Therewith increase his power, he decided to marry Elizabeth of York and he poisoned Lady Anne. His victims came to haunt him the eve before the battle and accused him of his crimes and cursed him when they say "despair, and die!". Richard was not only hated by his enemies but also by his trusty people.

          The next morning, during the Richard's last battle which took place in Bosworth, he was betrayed by his own soldiers. Shakespeare painted him as self-confident enough to wear the crown during the battle and to ride a white horse and by this way be more vulnerable. He was so confided by his victory that he didn't thought he will fall. Richard died face to Henri Tudor described by Shakespeare as a brave man and who deserved the victory and even the closest persons of Richard wished him to fall. His last words were "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" and despite his manipulation of the society of his time, Richard had an humiliated and ridiculous death.

Cardiff Castle Stained Glass

          Indeed, in "The Tragedy of Richard III" Richard III is painting as a tyrannical and bloodythirsty man but when we study the historical Richard, we understand that Shakespeare has exaggerated his bad sides and his deformities. He invented many crimes like his wife, Anne Neville. She died probably of tuberculosis. He emphasized his physical defects to increase the disgust towards Richard. However Richard wasn't so ugly, the recentdiscover of his skeleton has rehabilitated his look.


          In conclusion, I think this playwright haven't to be called historical playwright. First of all, the play has been written and published in 1592, and Richard is dead one hundred years ago! He has been influenced by Thomas More with his novel "The History of Richard the Third" in 1513 but published after his death during the Henri VIII's reign.

Richard III, Facial Reconstruction 

 On the BBC website: "The youthful result impressed Richard III Society member Philippa Langley, who described him as "handsome". "It does'nt look like the face of a tyrant," she said.

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