Finished: Richard III (Shakespeare) Another great one by Shakespeare! O momentary grace of mortal men, which we more hunt for than the grace of God! Love that line from the character Hastings as he is about to be put to death by the evil King Richard. I really enjoyed this entire story because my hubby and I have recently been watching a different viewpoint story of the famous War of the Roses (Lancaster versus York) by watching The White Queen on television. In The White Queen, Richard is more of a pretty boy, sniveling younger brother to King Edward who never really seems as if he cares to have any power at all until he starts listening to the treacherous women around him, in particular, his wife Anne Neville. In Shakespeare's version, Richard is born disfigured, and remains ugly inside and out his entire life. He craves power and will do anything to be king from quite an early age...including killing anyone who stands in his way in line to the thrown, i.e., his own brother, George of Clarence, and his nephews, the sons of his recently deceased brother, King Edward. When King Edward dies, he leaves his brother Richard as their "protector" until his oldest son, also Edward, who is only about 12, can take over the throne. In Shakespeare's story, Richard mercilessly orders the deaths of both of his young nephews, after killing his brother George. In The White Queen, it is never clear exactly WHO orders the deaths of the boys, but it is implied to be either Anne Neville or Margaret Beaufort. Richard is specifically NOT implicated in the killing of the boys. So, what is the actual truth? In actuality, no one knows what became of the "princes in the tower". Richard did have them locked in the Tower of London after having King Edward's children by Elizabeth Woodville declared illegitimate. He then had himself crowned king. However, there came a day when no one ever saw the boys again and the mystery remains. Was Richard really so ruthless from an early age? I'm not sure that is clear either. It is very clear, however, that Richard was not a good king and was soundly defeated in battle by Margaret Beaufort's son Henry Tudor, a Lancastrian...who would go on to become King Henry VII. And, King Henry VII also ended up marrying Elizabeth, the daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and the deceased King Edward, to finally unite their families and do away with the War of the Roses once and for all. Anyway, as far as Shakespeare's version, as usual for me, no one compares to his turn of the word. :-) I liked this passage where Queen Elizabeth comes out to tell everyone that King Edward has died:

To make an act of tragic violence:
Edward, my lord, thy son, our king, is dead!
Why grow the branches when the root is gone?
Why wither not the leaves that want their sap?
If you will live, lament: if die, be brief,
That our swift-winged souls may catch the king's;
Or, like obedient subjects, follow him
To his new kingdom of ne'er-changing night.

I love that! And, there are, as usual, some famous quotes to be had from Richard III. One I had never known the context of until I just read it last night:

King Richard: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

Basically, Richard had been fighting the battle against Henry atop his horse, but once his horse is slain, he is forced to fight on foot, with no opportunity to retreat. Being forced to fight man to man, he is killed in battle. In the midst of the fighting, he yells the above now famous line. In every day language, I think the quote symbolizes a person needing something they usually take for granted, and being willing to give up anything for it.

And, of course, the famous opening lines spoken by Richard when he is still Duke of Gloucester and his brother, King Edward, is still alive. In history, they have been successful in overthrowing the Lancastrian King Henry VI, and King Edward has grown more apt to indulge in wine, women, and food than in going out and doing more battle. Richard's true character and intent comes out in this soliloquy as he shows how he is envious of his brother's power, looks and abilities with women, compared to his deformed figure. He declares himself a villain and in the same breath plots the murder of his brother, George of Clarence:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings;
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, --- instead of mounting barbed steeds, 
to fright the souls of fearful adversaries,---
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
but I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, 
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to see my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days,
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
by drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says that G
Of Edward's heirs the murtherer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes. 

I could go on and on, but I'll stop there. I'm anxious to go now and read King Henry VI Part III. This one deals with the actual defeat of Henry VI by the Yorks and Edward becoming king and meeting and marrying Elizabeth Woodville. :-)