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Richard is often characterised as a consummate performer. Which functions do Richard’s

acting skills fulfil in Richard 3?

Beginning with a long soliloquy, Richard Gloucester details the state of the nation and his
cunning plans to secure the English crown in William Shakespeare drama The Tragedy of
Richard the Third signaling that the play revolves around one character’s destiny. Taking into
account other Shakespearian plays, only Hamlet…is comparably dominated by a single
character, and only Macbeth is comparably structured around an evil hero (Norton, p.511). The
action of this drama is focused primarily on his consummate performance as a Machiavellian
political figure, succeeding in dominating and manipulating through his acting skills the other
characters while his interactions with the audience are meant to dispel any suspicion to his true
intentions. At the same time, his theatrical gestures and speeches serve as entertainment not only
to himself but to his viewers as well.

The whole play can be regarded as Richard’s quest and lust for power while other
characters are just accessories to his machinations. He dominates the scenery through cunning
dialogue and well placed gestures that transform his disability into an advantage. His deformity,
even though in the first soliloquy is described as an impediment in his desires to ascend the
social ladder, is used as an act to deceive other characters. We see this shown in the wooing of
Lady Anne when he appears vulnerable and sincere. She strongly insists on his evil nature and
monstrous deeds, regarding him as a fiend (1.2.30) and fouler toad (1.2.145) with poisonous spit
but in the end she cannot resist Richard’s advances. The dialogue between them is centered
around physical appearance as sign of one person true intentions (Torrey, p. 125). Initially
Richard’s appearance is a certain proof for Lady Anne that he killed her husband but towards the
end of the dialogue, his deformity takes the form of vulnerability and innocence, resulting in a
complete transformation of perception. This change in perspective was made possible through
Richard’s gestures and powerful speech. We can assume that his crooked back made him smaller
in stature but the act of kneeling put a stronger emphasis on his apparent subordination to Lady
Anne judgement. It is revealing to his determination in manipulating her, when every insult that
she throws against him is met by Richard with compliments. It is such a persistent reoccurrence
that parts of this dialogue become a play on words like when Lady Anne says Out of my sight!
Thou dost infeet mine eyes, Richard replies Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine (1.2.145).
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Taking in consideration the fact that her characters doesn’t play an important role after this
engagement and we are only informed of her later demise, we can assume that this scene was an
opportunity for Richard to demonstrate his ability to dominate and manipulate through gesture,
appearance and cunning speech. At the end of this dialogue, Lady Anne is just a tool that not
only serves his practical purposes but she also offered him confirmation of his skills, bringing
him satisfaction and entertainment, as shown by him saying Was ever woman in his humour
wooed/Was ever woman in this humour won? (1.2.215).

Richard’s interactions with the audience on the other hand contain the same theatrical
essence but are meant to show the character evil nature. As Garber puts it, Richard III calls
attention to itself as a play because it raises questions of sincerity, authenticity, dangerous
rhetoric, and impersonation that were of deep concern both in the court and in the playhouse
(Garber, p. 141- 142). Even though other characters cannot enter Richard’s mind, the audience is
treated with soliloquies that expose his true Machiavellian nature. In these interactions, he does
not show regret or compassion for his victims but we see that Richard actually enjoys himself
and the viewers are left with an unambiguous evil that must be defeated by the greater good.
Richard’s sincerity in these moments leaves no room for much complex debate about his
intentions compared to what the play’s characters know. But even in this intimate environment
of confession, Richard remains unequivocally an actor that entertains the viewers and himself. In
his first soliloquy, Garber explains, words such as plot and induction carry theatrical meanings
because an induction is an acted prologue to a play, an old fashioned practice by Shakespeare’s
time (Garber, p. 141). Richard’s acting skills are also employed in his relationship with the
audience but this time his words and gestures carry a diabolical sincerity that can only be
masterfully expressed by a consummate performer.

Taking into account his manipulative dialogue with Lady Anne and his sincere playful
interactions with the audience, we can assess that Richard Gloucester is both a Machiavellian
figure and an entertainer engaged in the role of his life.
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Bibliography

Garber, Marjorie, Shakespeare After All, first ed., Pantheon Books, 2004.

The Norton Shakespeare: Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Richard the Third. The Norton
Anthology. 1st ed. Eds. Greenblatt, Stephen, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, and Katherine
Eisaman Maus. New York: W.W Norton, 1997. pp. 507-601. Print.

Torrey, Michael, "The plain devil and dissembling looks": Ambivalent Physiognomy and
Shakespeare's "Richard III", English Literary Renaissance, Vol. 30, No. 2, Re-contextualizing
Shakespeare (SPRING 2000), pp. 123-153.