Richard
Also called the duke of Gloucester,
and eventually crowned King Richard III. Deformed in body and twisted in mind,
Richard is both the central character and the villain of the play. He is evil,
corrupt, sadistic, and manipulative, and he will stop at nothing to become
king. His intelligence, political brilliance, and dazzling use of language keep
the audience fascinated—and his subjects and rivals under his thumb.
Buckingham
Richard’s right-hand man in
his schemes to gain power. The duke of Buckingham is almost as amoral and
ambitious as Richard himself.
The older brother of Richard
and Clarence, and the king of England at the start of the play. Edward was
deeply involved in the Yorkists’ brutal overthrow of the Lancaster regime, but as
king he is devoted to achieving a reconciliation among the various political
factions of his reign. He is unaware that Richard attempts to thwart him at
every turn.
The gentle, trusting brother born between
Edward and Richard in the York family. Richard has Clarence murdered in order
to get him out of the way. Clarence leaves two children, a son and a daughter.
The wife of King Edward IV
and the mother of the two young princes (the heirs to the throne) and their
older sister, young Elizabeth. After Edward’s death, Queen Elizabeth (also
called Lady Gray) is at Richard’s mercy. Richard rightly views her as an enemy
because she opposes his rise to power, and because she is intelligent and
fairly strong-willed. Elizabeth is part of the Woodeville family; her
kinsmen—Dorset, Rivers, and Gray—are her allies in the court.
The kinsmen and allies of Elizabeth, and
members of the Woodeville and Gray families. Rivers is Elizabeth’s brother,
while Gray and Dorset are her sons from her first marriage. Richard eventually
executes Rivers and Gray, but Dorset flees and survives.
The young widow of Prince
Edward, who was the son of the former king, Henry VI. Lady Anne hates Richard
for the death of her husband, but for reasons of politics—and for sadistic
pleasure—Richard persuades Anne to marry him.
Widowed mother of Richard,
Clarence, and King Edward IV. The duchess of York is Elizabeth’s mother-in-law,
and she is very protective of Elizabeth and her children, who are the duchess’s
grandchildren. She is angry with, and eventually curses, Richard for his
heinous actions.
Widow of the dead King Henry
VI, and mother of the slain Prince Edward. In medieval times, when kings were
deposed, their children were often killed to remove any threat from the royal
line of descent—but their wives were left alive because they were considered
harmless. Margaret was the wife of the king before Edward, the Lancastrian
Henry VI, who was subsequently deposed and murdered (along with their children)
by the family of King Edward IV and Richard. She is embittered and hates both
Richard and the people he is trying to get rid of, all of whom were complicit
in the destruction of the Lancasters.
The princes
The two young sons of King
Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth, their names are actually Prince Edward and
the young duke of York, but they are often referred to collectively. Agents of
Richard murder these boys—Richard’s nephews—in the Tower of London. Young
Prince Edward, the rightful heir to the throne, should not be confused with the
elder Edward, prince of Wales (the first husband of Lady Anne, and the son of
the former king, Henry VI.), who was killed before the play begins.
The former Queen Elizabeth’s daughter. Young
Elizabeth enjoys the fate of many Renaissance noblewomen. She becomes a pawn in
political power-brokering, and is promised in marriage at the end of the play
to Richmond, the Lancastrian rebel leader, in order to unite the warring houses
of York and Lancaster.
Two of Richard’s flunkies
among the nobility.
A murderer whom Richard hires to kill his
young cousins, the princes in the Tower of London.
A member of a branch of the
Lancaster royal family. Richmond gathers a force of rebels to challenge Richard
for the throne. He is meant to represent goodness, justice, and fairness—all
the things Richard does not. Richmond is portrayed in such a glowing light in
part because he founded the Tudor dynasty, which still ruled England in
Shakespeare’s day.
A lord who maintains his
integrity, remaining loyal to the family of King Edward IV. Hastings winds up
dead for making the mistake of trusting Richard.
The stepfather of Richmond.
Lord Stanley, earl of Derby, secretly helps Richmond, although he cannot escape
Richard’s watchful gaze.
A gullible and suggestible fellow
whom Richard and Buckingham use as a pawn in their ploy to make Richard king.
A friend of Elizabeth,
Dorset, Rivers, and Gray who is executed by Richard along with Rivers and Grey.
No comments:
Post a Comment