Richard III Group

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readingbooks17
Student

Why is Richard III so profoundly evil?

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Posted by readingbooks17 on Friday January 26, 2007 at 2:23 PM and tagged with evil, richard iii.

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  1. lmillerm Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    It is my interpretation that Richard III is very complex, in that, he is very egotistical, yet his insecurities make for a malevolent attitude. Because of his birth defects, Richard III has felt rejected by the world. He seeks revenge against the world.
    Richard's love/hate relationship with himself creates a conflict so great that he cannot control it, thus creating such a profoundly evil character.

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    Posted by lmillerm on Wednesday January 31, 2007 at 9:39 PM


  2. brendawm Teacher
    High School - 9th Grade

    Richard is a case study of pshchological evil; he is clearly a villain and makes his wicked intentions clear in every speech.  However, at the same time, he is also the protagonist of the play and a charismatic and mesmerizing figure that can actually earn the audience's sympathy.  His evil nature is revealed expertly through his wickedness, yet brilliant wordplay, his skillful argumentation, and his relentless pursuit of his selfish desires.Richard’s plans and excited confessions of all his evil thoughts, through his amazing monologues, are central to the audience’s experience of Richard.  Richard claims that his malevalence is due to the fact that he is unloved because of his physical deformity. In turn, he masterfully causes the other characters to be viewed as villans rather than victims--still more evil, although it does become quickly apparent that Richard is simply using his deformity as a tool to gain the sympathy of others. It is my belief that Richard’s evil is a much more intrinsic part of his character than straightforward resentment about his ugly body. His real nature is that he is much more the monster that he is rather than the sympathy deserving character he would have us believe he is.
    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/richard/richard-character-analysis

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    Posted by brendawm on Friday August 31, 2007 at 4:51 PM

  3. revolution
    revolution Teacher
    Doctorate

    He is a very complicated character in the story and he is also the dominant force in the story as he is both the protagonist, which means the main character and the main villain himself. He is the source of intense exploration of the psychology of evil.

    He is the villain of the story, who would stop at nothing to achieve his dreams, even by means killing someone. He is the master of trickery and the exploitationof people's innocent minds. Richard use long interesting and fascinating monologues to give the power of "attraction" to other people and works his charm to deceive people, and manipulate their minds in his endless pursuit of selfish and selfish desire to upsurp the throne and control the whole empire. 

    For example, in order to gain the audience's sympathy, he claims his hatred to other people was that he felt unloved by other people because of his deformity in his body.

    This shows that he uses his physical deformity as the tool for acceptance. He uses his eloquence to make us trust him, so as to work to the throne.

    All these characteristics makes him a psychopath monster and tells us how profoundly evil he is to other people 

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    Posted by revolution on Wednesday July 15, 2009 at 6:44 AM