Research Paper On The Character Of Richard In Richard III

Richard is a highly twisted character, that he can murder people mercilessly to quench his thirst for power is something that he has no apologies for. William Shakespeare in the ply Richard III shows how he manipulates almost everyone in the play in such a way that he gets away with his actions even when sometimes it seems that his sins are catching up with him. It is one thing to wrong someone and another to be remorseful of your actions, but pretending to be remorseful is one very different thing all together. His ability to manipulate everyone for his own benefit is evident throughout the play even to such an extent of killing in order to satisfy his own ego. Of all the characters in the play, Lady Anne happens to be one that he ends up laying with even to an extent of showing his pretentious love to her, an act that Lady Anne falls prey to. He also pretends to be remorseful but it is clear that he is not. In fact, he takes up characteristics that best suit every occasion just for his own good at the expense of everyone else.
Richard plays the lover all too well and Lady Anne is the object that he very well uses to show this other side of him. Lady Anne gets to a point where she believes his act and even forgives him and allows him to put a ring into her finger even when she was still mourning for her husband Henry. At the beginning of scene two, Lady Anne is cursing Richard for having killed Henry her husband. It then surprises everyone else when she ends up with his ring in her finger at the end of this very scene. He succeeds in persuading her to be carried away by his advances and finally accepts him as a suitor. This depicts the mischief in him and shows how he can plot someone’s downfall and stands to benefit from the mischief. He plays upon her emotions in a way that she ends up loving him back when she learns that he was in love with her and that it is her beauty that made him commit the crimes. He is not a genuine lover but in the eyes of Lady Anne, she thinks that his love is genuine and that is why she ends up loving him back, he can therefore play the lover so well even though he is pretending.
Richard is a schemer as much as he is plotter and everything in Shakespeare’s play centers on him. He wants to become king at whatever cost and that is why he does everything imaginably possible even to a point of using lies and killing all those that happen to stand in his way. He haves some people jailed and even killed as he pursues his dream of being at the top. He wants to win other people’s hearts and sympathies through flattery because he knows that in a way, he has to create an impression so that they support him. He uses force too, and any tool that works for him at whatever time, he goes on with it and at the end of the day, he gets at the top. Besides becoming king, he wants also to woo Lady Anne because she is an object of his desires and therefore he had to plot scheme and act his par in order to win her heart. The love that he says he has for her is not really there but then, he has to act his part in order to win her over. This therefore shows him as a schemer and plotter who cannot be stopped by anything in his quest to fulfill his heart desires. One wonders whether he ever sat back to look at himself with all the pretense, lies and hatred in his heart.
How on earth man woes a grieving woman into loving him is very fanatical. Whatever made him lie to her at that very moment may have jolted him a little bit. This is a prove of the fact that he plays around the psychology of other people and this leads to the reader wondering whether he really meant to do what he did. He is psychologically tormented and he vents his anger on everyone else. He is bitter about his physical appearance and that is why he showed no remorse for the murders he caused. But at one point he exclaims “Have mercy Jesus.” This happens because just from nowhere he started feeling isolated with no one to talk to and take his side. His deformity may have led him to feel inadequate and therefore want to vent his anger and bitterness on everyone. He felt lost and sad inside because of the suffering his victims were going through and for this reason, he shared with them the pain and suffering. Literally everybody suffered in his hands but at this point in time, he gets to share the pain of everyone else even though this does not change his attitude and personality as much.
Richard is clearly the villain in the play; he even knows this all too well and says it himself from the very onset of the play. All his actions are well executed in such a way that he never gets anything wrong safe for maybe, his own death at the war front. Despite the fact that he is an epitome of evil, the devil himself, he manages to win the sympathies of the audience therefore creating a very powerful personality that even if he is hated by the other characters, he happens to connect with the audience. He has a very brilliant word player and uses very skillful argumentations that he uses to justify his selfish desires. In short, his manipulation leads to his success and downfall which as well helps endear him to other characters and the audience as well. This notwithstanding, they keep the play lively because of the skill with which he stages his every move. Everything he does happens as if it has been planned for and that is why he manages to get away with everything. He happens to be an embodiment of everything, evil or good until one gets to understand the motive of every of his actions. His prowess in all that he does spares no one, everyone ends up at his feet that it makes him think very highly of himself safe for the bitterness that constantly dogs him. He is indeed the pretentious lover, the sadistic plotter and a villain who hits without much of regret.