Richard III

Prophecies are a recurring motif in Richard III. Throughout the play, numerous characters experience prophetic dreams that foreshadow plot events. The use of prophecies suggests that the political future of England is all leading toward a divinely sanctioned event: the emergence of the Tudor dynasty.

Prophetic dreams appear several times throughout Richard III, mostly as warnings of impending mortality. At the beginning of the play, George tells his jailor that he dreamed that he and his brother Richard were on a ship together:

Methought that Gloucester stumbled, and in falling

Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard

Into the tumbling billows of the main (1.4.19-21).

George’s dream foreshadows information that he himself does not know yet—that his brother is seeking to harm him, despite appearing to be his ally. Similarly, Hastings is warned by Stanley about Richard’s danger when he describes a dream where a “boar had razèd off his helm” (3.2.11). These dreams hint at Richard’s coming betrayal, but neither George nor Hastings heed the warning, and they lose their lives. At the end of the play, Richard himself dreams of all of his victims predicting that he will die in the battle of Bosworth Field. These dreams imply that there is something providential or fated by God in the actions of the play.

Richard also recounts prophecies about the political future of England that relate to his relationship with Richmond. When he learns that Richmond is planning to attack, he suddenly recalls, “Henry the Sixth / Did prophesy that Richmond should be king / When Richmond was a little peevish boy” (4.2.98-100). By ascribing this prophecy to the previous Lancastrian king, Henry VI, William Shakespeare suggests that Richmond is a monarch sanctioned by the House of Lancaster, despite his distant relationship to their bloodline. Similarly, Richard recalls, “a bard of Ireland told me once / I should not live long after I saw Richmond” (4.2.109-110). This prophecy from a bard of Ireland evokes British mythology about figures like Merlin, who helped legendary monarchs like King Arthur to the throne. Through this prophecy, Shakespeare draws attention to Richmond’s seemingly divine right to take the throne of England.