In the play, Richard the III, by William Shakespeare, the character Richard
(Duke of Gloucester) is a very manipulative and deceiving person. Richard acts
like this in order to fulfill his dream to become King. And since he is at the
bottom of a long, long list to be King, he has a lot of people to deceive. But
when he does manipulate people, such as his brothers, Lady Anne, and Buckingham,
he does without mercy and conscience. Richards brothers are one of the first
people to be manipulated and he does it by making them think that one is trying
to kill the other. From Richards opening soliloquy from the beginning of the
play he tells us: And if King Edward be as true and just As I am subtle, false
and treacherous, This day should Clarence closely be mew’d up, About a prophecy,
which says that ‘G’ Of Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be.(I,I, ) And this is
where King Edward the IV comes up with the assumption that their brother(George
Duke Of Clarence) is going to murder him.
So King Edward locks George up in the
tower after Richard tells him about his false dream. Then Richard works his
deceiving mind on George saying, And whatsoever you will employ me in,/Were
it to call King Edwards widow sister,/ I will perform it to enfranchise
you. (I,I, ) And what Richard is saying if you want I will kill the King for
you so that you can get revenge for this terrible act committed against you. And
just like that the two brothers already hate each other. Richard is a very smart
and deceptive man. But the real question should be whether he has the
intelligence to win the love an affection of a women who has lost her father and
husband to the hands of Richard.
The funny thing is that Richard does accomplish
this feat. Lady Anne, when we meet her in the beginning of Act I, Scene II, has
a bitter hatred towards Richard. She even puts several curses on him such as,
If ever he have child, abortive be it,/Prodigious, and untimely brought to
light,/Whose ugly and unnatural aspect/May fright the hopeful mother at the
view,(I,II, ). But her attitude soon changes as Richard weaves his web of
deceit. Richard makes her believe that the reason why he murdered her husband
and father was over her beauty.
That he was committing the acts for her sake,
Your beauty was the cause of that effect;/Your beauty: which did haunt me in
my sleep/To undertake the death of all the world,/So I might live one hour in
your sweet bosom., that it was her love that he was trying to win and all
opposition would perish if they were in his way. And as soon as Richard said
those words, Lady Anne starts to question her thoughts and mentality. And that
is when it all goes down hill for her and by the end of the scene Lady Anne is
wearing Richards ring. Yet there is still one character that is essential to
Richards plans and that is Buckingham. Buckingham seems like a strong and
intelligent man yet he can not comprehend the power behind Richard.
For
instance, Buckingham is thanking the Queen Margaret for not putting a curse on
him but then Richard asked what did she say and Buckingham replies, Nothing
that I respect, my gracious Lord, and in saying that he has just disrespected
Queen Margaret. Richard even goes so far in manipulating Buckingham, that
Buckingham himself breaks his own curse by going against the Queen Elizabeth in
which he said he would never do. He is also becoming Richards right hand man
even though Richard makes it look vice-versa.
And just by manipulating these few
people, he has turned bother against brother, turned a woman who hated him into
his wife, and turned a man who was loyal to everyone to Richards accomplice.
Richards power of deceit and manipulation is about a thousand times higher
than anybody in Richard the III, by William Shakespeare, which makes for a
wild and interesting ride.