Richard III

Richard III depicts the role that manipulation and deceit play in the breakdown of England’s courtly culture and political system. Throughout the narrative, Richard displays his skill with performance and lying. Rather than achieving power through strength, wealth, or worthiness, Richard’s tactics demonstrate how the Machiavellian intrigues of the Renaissance displace the chivalric culture of the Middle Ages.

Shakespeare employs dramatic irony frequently to suggest that deceit often arises when one speaks the truth but manipulates the listener’s expectations. For example, when Richard warns Prince Edward about the danger that George supposedly posed to his reign, his words also apply to himself:

Nor more can you distinguish of a man

Than of his outward show, which, God He knows,

Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart.

Those uncles which you want were dangerous.

Your Grace attended to their sugared words

But looked not on the poison of their hearts (3.1.9-14).

Richard speaks truly, but misdirects Prince Edward’s attention to his other uncle. Similarly, Hastings notices that Richard appears in a very good mood at court. Hastings interprets this as a good sign, signifying that he is safe because, “I think there’s never a man in Christendom / Can lesser hide his love or hate than he / For by his face straight shall you know his heart” (3.4.51-55). Richard often uses deceitful appearances to trick his enemies, but here Hastings is most fooled by the truth: Richard is indeed cheerful, but he is cheerful because he intends to have Hastings executed and the princes killed. By ensuring that the truth he conveys is misinterpreted, Richard deceives his enemies into forgetting about the threat that he poses to them.

Richard’s deceptions are not always subtle, but Shakespeare portrays him as a masterful rhetorician who can use language to deny what is clearly the truth. In his seduction of Lady Anne Neville, Richard lies repeatedly about his role in the death of her husband and father-in-law. Anne notices the way he denies reality so obviously in their stichomythic exchange, or dialogue in alternating lines:

RICHARD. Say that I slew them not.

ANNE. Then say they were not slain.

But dead they are, and, devilish slave, by thee.

RICHARD. I did not kill your husband.

ANNE. Why then, he is alive.

RICHARD. Nay, he is dead, and slain by Edward’s hands (1.2.93-98).

This dialogue indicates how absurd Richard’s lies are, but also how he refuses to ever relent when challenged by the truth. He perpetually changes his version of events, but never concedes or apologizes when he is caught in a lie. Eventually, this strategy works and Anne agrees to marry him, becoming confused about his motivations after so many lies. Through this interaction, Shakespeare suggests the impressive power that persuasive language can have, and therefore the danger posed by a liar with rhetorical skill.

Alongside lying, Richard is able to rise to the throne due to his ability to perform virtue and morality without actually embodying it. The gap between Richard’s outward behavior and his inward thoughts is made evident through Shakespeare’s frequent use of asides and soliloquys to the audience, wherein Richard reveals his true intentions and feelings. Several characters begin to see through Richard’s performance and, through their dialogue, Shakespeare draws attention to the particularly shameful nature of evil that hides behind a mask of goodness. The Duchess of York, Richard’s own mother, condemns his performative virtue:

Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shape,

And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice.

He is my son, ay, and therein my shame,

Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit (2.2.28-31).

The Duchess of York feels particularly embarrassed by the fact that Richard is from her noble bloodline, but he does not at all embody the nobility and pious behavior meant to be associated with the upper classes. She uses the image of a “visor” to represent Richard’s concealing persona, associating the armor typically worn by aristocratic knights with deceit.

Similarly, the common folk of London appear easily able to see through Richard’s deceptive appearances, but they remain powerless to stop him due to his rank. After Richard orders Hastings executed, a scrivener (i.e., a scribe) from the court complains that the order to write up his arrest warrant came before Hastings was ever accused of a crime, thus blatantly proving that Hastings was a political target. The scrivener criticizes the fact that all of the courtiers can clearly see that Richard is lying and manipulating them, but they choose to do nothing:

Who is so gross

That cannot see this palpable device?

Yet who so bold but says he sees it not?

Bad is the world, and all will come to naught

When such ill dealing must be seen in thought (3.6.10-14).

While Richard might be a skilled speaker and manipulative performer at court, the scrivener’s speech reveals that some of the blame for his rise to power must be with the nobles who enabled him and did not call out his corrupt behavior. While his own mother, the Duchess of York, knew that her son was concealing evil intentions, she did not take action to protect her grandchildren from him. Other lords like Buckingham are so eager to advance their own power that they help Richard in his lies. The lack of consequences for manipulation and deceit ultimately lead England into a state of tyranny, providing an implicit warning to the audience about the dangers of this type of courtly culture.