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Keeping things straight in Richard III:
Two great families, York and Lancaster, have been struggling for power for several generations.
(Names in bold are characters in Richard III)
At the time of Richard III (1471), civil war against the Lancastrian Henry VI has just ended in his and his son’s death. Henry VI and his son and heir Edward (who was married to Lady Anne) were killed by his Yorkist third cousins, sons of a Plantagenet heir. The oldest of these brothers became king, Edward IV, in 1471. At this time he has 2 sons who are next in line — Prince Edward, Richard D. York, the “boys in the tower” — and two brothers, George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duk1e of Gloucester.
Although all the characters (except for Queen Margaret, Henry VI’s widow, and Lady Anne, dead Edward’s widow) are technically supporting the Yorkists while Edward IV is alive. After his death (II.2) there are two distinct factions in Edward IV’s court: those who support Queen Elizabeth and the princes, her sons; and those who support Richard, the Lord Protector (meaning he runs the government until the boy heirs are old enough to reign).
Richard’s first treacherous act is to have his brother, Clarence, killed by forging an order from Edward IV. No one suspects him of this as yet.
When Edward dies, there is an immediate effort to keep the rightful heirs out of the spotlight — Buckingham, Stanley, etc. believe Richard’s argument that Elizabeth’s relatives will attempt to seize power by controlling the boy Prince and his brother (see II.2.150).
Richard manages, with Buckingham’s help, to convince the Mayor of London to proclaim him King, on the false charge that Edward IV was actually a bastard.
Richard then begins killing people right and left in an attempt to secure his claim to the throne — Elizabeth’s brothers and friends, her sons the Princes, and finally his own supporters, Hastings and Buckingham, who try to switch sides when they see how corrupt he is.
The Lancastrian Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, whose claim to the throne is distant, becomes the rallying point for Richard’s ever-growing number of enemies. When Richard finally goes too far and (probably) kills Anne and plans to marry his niece, Elizabeth (Edward and Elizabeth’s daughter), all but a few noblemen desert him and support Richmond and his claim to the throne (through marrying young Elizabeth). Richmond then becomes Henry VII, Queen Elizabeth I’s grandfather.
Literary Patterns to note:
Animal imagery applied to Richard
Curses of women against Richard
References to blood and disease
Parallelism in curses and in the scenes of Richard’s wooing — first of Lady Anne, then of Queen Elizabeth for her daughter
Loyalties among the nobles are as follows:
BEFORE DEATH OF HENRY VI:
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Supporters of the (dead) Lancastrian King Henry VI
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Supporters of the Yorkist rebels |
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his son, Edward Prince of Wales (dead)
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Edward IV, George D. of Clarence, and Richard D. of Gloucester |
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his wife, Margaret (curses Richard, I.3) and daughter-in-law, Anne (curses and then marries Richard, I.2) |
Rivers, Dorset, Grey and Hastings |
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Richard, Earl of Warwick (father-in-law to George D. of Clarence — appears as a ghost to Clarence before he dies) |
|
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Buckingham |
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then, BEFORE THE DEATH OF EDWARD IV:
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Supporters of Queen Elizabeth |
Against Queen Elizabeth (recruited by Richard)
|
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Her brother Rivers |
Hastings (Lord Chamberlain, or chief advisor to King Edward IV) |
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Grey and Dorset, her sons by an earlier marriage |
Clarence (falsely suspected by Edward IV of wanting to murder the young heirs) |
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Vaughan, another lord |
Buckingham (though he tries to placate both sides) |
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Archbishop of York |
Stanley, Earl of Derby |
|
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Ratcliffe |
then, BEFORE THE DEATH OF THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER:
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Supporters of Richard (and why) |
Supporters of Henry, E. of Richmond (Henry VII)
|
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Buckingham because he knows where the power is — and because Richard promises him the earldom of Hereford and all of Edward IV’s stuff (III.1.194) |
Dorset, Elizabeth’s son by a previous marriage, sent to stay with him after Richard claims the throne (IV.1.41) |
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Catesby, Ratcliffe, Lovell, because they’ve been Richard’s henchmen all along |
Stanley Earl of Derby, although he begins as Richard’s supporter, helps Dorset to escape and moves between the enemy camps |
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Tyrell agrees to kill the young princes for money |
Queen Elizabeth and her daughter, Elizabeth, for obvious reasons |
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D. of Norfolk, E. of Surrey |
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RICHARD’S VICTIMS:
a) Henry VI and his son, Edward, Prince of Wales (killed by Richard and Clarence before the play)
b) Clarence (killed in prison by Richard’s orders, I.4.272)
c) Rivers, Grey and Vaughan, put to death by Richard (III.3) for supposedly conspiring against the Prince
d) Hastings, who supported Richard against Queen Elizabeth’s brothers, but is killed by Richard because he won’t support his seizure of Prince Edward’s crown (III.4).
e) The Prince of Wales and the young Duke of York, murdered by Tyrell in the Tower at Richard’s orders.
f) Lady Anne dies under suspicious circumstances (IV.2)
g) Buckingham pays for his treachery with his head (V.1).
WOMEN WHO HATE RICHARD:
· Margaret, widow of Henry VI, because Richard killed him.
· Anne, widow of Henry’s son Edward, Prince of Wales, because Richard killed him (but she marries Richard anyway).
· Duchess of York, Richard’s mother, because he killed Clarence.
· Elizabeth, Edward’s Queen, because he killed her sons and wants to marry her daughter.
SWITCHERS:
· Buckingham — was on Henry VI’s side, then supported Edward’s Queen Elizabeth, then switched allegiance to Richard. When Richard asks him to kill the little Princes, he switches allegiance again, to Richmond, fearing Hasting’s fate (IV.2.123). He pays for his opportunism with his head (V.1).
· Stanley, Earl of Derby, is Richard’s supporter until he grabs the throne, and then he helps Elizabeth’s brother escape to Richmond.
