How would you expect a ‘good

Richard III is a play about evil, violence and murder. It king’ to behave?
charts the rise of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a cold-
blooded and dastardly villain who slaughters his family
and even marries his victim’s widow to become king.

Plot Summary:
Who kills Henry VI?
Richard’s family, the Yorks, have just beaten the Lancasters.
Richard killed King Henry VI himself, but he remains just a
duke, whilst his older brother Edward has been made the
new king.

Richard lets the audience know that he intends to cause What does Richard do to his younger
trouble and delight in it. He blames his moodiness on his brother?
disabilities and his lack of attractiveness to the world. He
plots against his brother, King Edward IV, but manages to
get the blame placed on their brother Clarence. Clarence is
sent to prison for treason, whilst Richard, with a straight
face, promises to help him.
Who is Lady Anne?
Henry VI’s funeral procession comes past, led by Lady Anne
who is also grieving for her husband. Even though Richard
is responsible for the deaths of her father-in-law and her
husband, Richard decides that this is the right time to make
a pass at her. He does this in front of the late King’s coffin.

At first Lady Anne is enraged by Richard. She insults him What does Richard tell her that is a lie?
and curses him. She even spits at him. But Richard tells her
that he killed the king and her husband because he was
mad for love of her, so it was her fault. He tells her that her
beauty bewitched him and asks her to take pity on him. What does she agree to do?
When he offers her his sword to kill him, she can’t do it. By
the end of the scene, amazingly, she has agreed to be his
wife.

Meanwhile, King Edward IV is seriously ill. Richard

comments that his brother brought it on himself because of Why does Richard hate Edward’s wife,
his over-indulgent lifestyle. Richard hates Edward’s wife, Queen Elizabeth?
Elizabeth, in particular. He thinks she’s common and hates
the fact that all of her relatives have been given royal titles.

Whilst they are all squabbling, Queen Margaret interrupts

Who is Queen Margaret? Why is she so
them. She is their late enemy’s widow, the grieving wife of
angry?
Henry VI. It is amazing that she has been allowed to remain
at the palace. She is old, and possibly senile, but most of all
she is bitter to the core, because her entire family have
been slaughtered by the Yorks. She curses everybody
present, hoping that they will one day be as miserable as
her. Buckingham manages to calm her down, but then she
curses him too because he’s polite to Richard.

In prison, Clarence has a dream that Richard pushes him off

a ship and he drowns. Even so, he thinks that Richard loves
him right up until the moment that Richard’s hired
henchmen stab him and dump him in a vat of wine.

King Edward tries to bring everyone together. His good What happens to King Edward?
mood is spoilt with the news that his brother, Clarence has
been executed. Richard explains that there must have been
a bit of a mix-up. King Edward is devastated. He dies
shortly after.
The King’s son, also called Edward, is set to become king.
As he is so young, his uncle, Richard, is named as his
'Protector'. Richard makes an alliance with Buckingham,
and together they aim to take control of the situation to Who is
becomes
Queen King?
Margaret?
HowWhy
is Richard
is she so
III
limit Queen Elizabeth’s power. involved ?
angry?

Queen Elizabeth takes her other young son to a place of

safety, away from Richard.
Why doesn’t Elizabeth trust Richard?
Meanwhile, Richard gains the boys’ trust and even allows What do you think he may do to the two
the youngest one to be rude to him. He puts them up in young princes?
the Tower of London. Understandably, they’re a bit unsure
about this.