King Richard III

Richard III is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays.

Richard (called "Gloucester" in the text) is describing the accession to the throne of his brother, King Edward IV of England, eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York.  Richard is an ugly hunchback who is rudely stamped, "deformed, unfinish'd", and cannot "strut before a wanton ambling nymph."  Richard plots to have his brother Clarence, who stands before him in the line of succession, conducted to the Tower of London over a prophecy he bribed a soothsayer to finagle the suspicious King with; that "G of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be", which the king interprets as referring to George of Clarence without realizing it actually refers to Gloucester.


Richard now schemes to woo Lady Anne, widow of the Lancastrian Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Despite initially hating him, Anne is won over by his pleas of love and repentance and agrees to marry him.