Act IV Summary
Scene 1
Before the Tower of London, with the widowed Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of
York speaking with Lady Anne (who has, in fact, become the villain Richard's
wife). The mother and grandmother of the two boy princes are told that Richard
will not permit them to visit the young royals. Lord Stanley enters with word
that Richard of Gloucester is now King Richard III. He assists the Queen and
the Duchess to make plans for escape. Lady Anne realizes that Richard is a
villain, but she must be crowned as his new queen.
Scene 2
At the royal palace, King Richard III speaks with Buckingham and tells him that
he wants the two princes dead. Buckingham, however, is not completely willing
to go along with their execution. Richard summons a discontented gentleman,
Tyrell, to murder the two young princes. He also orders that a rumor be started
that his wife, Lady Anne, is deathly ill: in fact, he plans to do away with her
as well and then marry the daughter of Queen Elizabeth, cementing the
legitimacy of his own reign. Buckingham appears and claims his reward of an
earldom. Richard refuses, telling his erstwhile ally that he is not in a giving
vein today.
Scene 3
Some time thereafter and still at the palace, Tyrell tells Richard III that
"the tyrannous and bloody act is done," the two princes have been smothered to
death. In a very complex part of his plot, Richard schemes on killing the Earl
of Richmond, who is a suitor to the daughter of Queen Elizabeth. News then
comes that Richmond is assembling a force to depose Richard and that he has
been joined by Buckingham in this cause.
Scene 4
Continuing at the palace, another set of complications arises as news of the
young princes' murder reaches their mother and grandmother. Richard III then
appears and is denounced by his own mother, the old Duchess of York. But he
presses on with his plans and proposes to the widowed Queen Elizabeth that he
wed her daughter, arguing that this will allow her future grandsons to become
kings after Richard's reign is over. She berates him, but she also plays along
with his proposal. Word comes that Richmond is on the seas with an invasion
force and that Buckingham is in the field with an army intent upon ridding
England of its murdering, tyrant king. Fearing that Lord Stanley will go over
to the other side, Richard orders Stanley's son to be taken into custody:
should Stanley betray him, Richard will order young George Stanley's execution.
More messages arrive from the front: Richmond's invasion force has been
scattered by a storm; Buckingham has been captured. Richard is elated by these
events and plans to lead his own army against the remaining rebels.
Scene 5
At the home of Lord Stanley, the nobleman speaks with one of Richmond's
representatives, asking that he tell Richmond that he will take the field on
Richard's side only because of the threat that Richard has made toward the life
of his young son.
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