Dec 23, 2009

Richard III | Themes

The main theme of Richard III is the conflict between evil and good, with Richard embodying all that is foul, including the ability to mask evil with a fair face. Although times are still unsettled, it is Richard's psychopathology, his mad, self-destructive drive for power that moves the play forward. Neither Shakespeare nor Richard himself make any bones about the epicenter of the bloody, horrible events that take place. Richard's opening soliloquy in Act I, scene i, spells out the evil at hand in superbly disturbing words.

Now is the winter of our...