A painting by Hogarth of a famous actor of the 1700s, David Garrick, as Richard III
Richard III is a history play written by William Shakespeare. It is one of Shakespeare's most famous and popular plays. Shakespeare probably wrote Richard III around the year 1593. The play was first printed in a book in 1597.
Like other history plays written by Shakespeare, Richard III is about people and events from earlier in English history. The real Richard III was king of England from 1483 to 1485. Shakespeare used the history books of his own time to create his play, though many modern experts do not think those early histories, or Shakespeare's play, are accurate and free of bias.
Richard III is different from many plays, because its leading character is a villain, not a hero. In his play, Shakespeare shows the king as a cruel tyrant who does many evil acts, before he is defeated in battle and killed by Henry Tudor. Tudor then becomes Henry VII of England, the next English king and the first of the Tudor dynasty. The play contains black comedy, especially because Richard III keeps telling people he is a good man despite behaving like a villain.
Shakespeare lived and wrote before modern ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of the press had become accepted. The English government of Shakespeare's day practiced censorship of books and plays. Elizabeth I of England, who was queen from 1558 to 1603, was the granddaughter of Henry VII and the last Tudor ruler. Her government saw Richard III as a villain and the man who replaced him, Henry VII, as a hero, and censored any other point of view. If Shakespeare had wanted to write a play with Richard III as a hero, he would not have been allowed to do so.
A famous movie version of Richard III was made in 1955. Laurence Olivier directed the movie and played the leading role. Other movie and television versions, and many modern stage productions, have also been done.
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Plays |
Tragedies |
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Comedies |
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Histories |
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See also |
- Problem plays
- Late romances
- Characters
- Chronology
- Performances
- Settings
- Scenes
- Quarto publications
- First Folio
- Second Folio
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Poems |
- Shakespeare's sonnets
- A Lover's Complaint
- The Phoenix and the Turtle
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Venus and Adonis
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Apocrypha |
Plays |
- Arden of Faversham
- The Birth of Merlin
- Cardenio*Template:†
- Double Falsehood
- Edmund Ironside
- Fair Em
- Locrine
- The London Prodigal
- Love's Labour's WonTemplate:†
- The Merry Devil of Edmonton
- Mucedorus
- The Puritan
- The Second Maiden's Tragedy
- Sejanus His Fall
- Sir John Oldcastle
- Sir Thomas More*
- The Spanish Tragedy
- Thomas Lord Cromwell
- Thomas of Woodstock
- Vortigern and Rowena
- A Yorkshire Tragedy
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Poems |
- The Passionate Pilgrim
- To the Queen
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Life
and works |
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Legacy |
- Attribution studies
- Authorship question
- Bardolatry
- Festivals
- Gardens
- Influence
- Memorials
- Screen adaptations
- Titles of works taken from Shakespeare
Institutions |
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Royal Shakespeare Company
- Royal Shakespeare Theatre
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- Shakespeare's Globe (replica)
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Family |
- Anne Hathaway (wife)
- Susanna Hall (daughter)
- Hamnet Shakespeare (son)
- Judith Quiney (daughter)
- Elizabeth Barnard (granddaughter)
- John Shakespeare (father)
- Mary Arden (mother)
- Gilbert Shakespeare (brother)
- Joan Shakespeare (sister)
- Edmund Shakespeare (brother)
- Richard Shakespeare (grandfather)
- John Hall (son-in-law)
- Thomas Quiney (son-in-law)
- Thomas Nash (grandson-in-law)
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- * Shakespeare and other authors
- Template:† Lost
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Images for kids
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Title page of the First Quarto of The Tragedy of King Richard the third
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Richard III terrified by nightmarish visions. Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 9, painting by Nicolai Abildgaard. Nivaagaard Collection.
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The first page of Richard III, printed in the Second Folio of 1632
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Queen Margaret: "Thou elvish-mark'd, abortive, rooting hog!" Act 1, Scene III. The boar was Richard's personal symbol: Bronze boar mount thought to have been worn by a supporter of Richard III.
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Poster, c. 1884, advertising an American production of the play, showing many key scenes
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