William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Richard III
...ting her to kill him out of spite. This completely confuses her and she asks him why he killed her husband. Soon it comes out that it “twas thy (Lady Anne’s) beauty that provoked me (Richard)”(I, ii). Still a bit leery of this Lady Anne asks Richard how she can know his heart. He replies with “’Tis figured in my Tongue”(I, ii). This is a flat out lie. Lady Anne Falls for this trick however, and it becomes her ultimate downfall as he quickly takes advantage of her confused state. Before she knows what has happened she’s wearing an engagement ring. Thus Richard has turned Lady Anne around 180 degrees. Another instance in which Richard makes use of his manipulative skills is when the king, his brother, calls a meeting of nobles to make peace with each other. This is a wonderful showing of his powers of manipulation because he must trick more than one person at a time. He starts by saying, “’Tis death to me to be at enmity; I hate it and desire all good men’s love”(II, i). This means that he hates hating people as much as death as well as wanting everyone to like and accept him. This is partly true, and partly false. He does want people to accept him, but as their king. He does hate hating people, so he kills them. Richard uses this line to lull the royal court into a false sense of security. Once the court is comfortable with Richard, he shifts the attention to Queen Elizabeth by placing the blame of George’s death, Richard, and the king’s brother, on her shoulders with this question, “who knows not that the gentle duke (George) is dead?”(II, i). By asking this question of Queen Elizabeth, Richard draws a reaction from her that is one of shock and amazement. He continues his ploy by saying that her shock and amazement were too rehearsed and she must have ordered George’s death. The royal court now is suspicious of Queen Elizabeth. After the king and queen take leave of the room, Richard says, “I hope the King made peace with all of us, and the compact is firm and true in me”(II, ii). By saying this he is further putting the court to sleep and turning their heads to his schemes. Richard took the opportunity of having all the nobles together in one place to manipulate them all at once while at the same time creating suspicion against Queen Elizabeth. Richard comes up against his hardest challenge of manipulation yet when he takes on the entire town. He manipulates the king’s court easily enough, but what makes this hardest is the fact that the town asks him to be king and he has to refuse at first. It is extremely hard for Richard to turn this down even once because it is his only goal in life. The reason for denying the throne once or twice comes clear when Buckingham says to Richard, “And be not easily won to our requests: Play the maid’s part, still answer nay, and take it”(III, vii). For Richard to have a loyal following he must appear humble and deny such an immense responsibility once or twice before accepting graciously. The other half of the manipulation comes from Buckingham through Richard’s design. Buckingham, in the company of the entire town and mayor, speaks for the town when he says, “we heartily solicit your gracious self to take on you the charge and kingly government of this your land”(III, vii). This isn’t what all the townspeople want, but since Buckingham is a lord they feel compelled to silence themselves. Therefore, Buckingham is able to speak for the entire town and ask Richard to become their king. Richard lays the manipulation out as thick as the earths crust when he says, “For God doth know, and you may partly see, how far I am from the desire of this (being king)”(III, vii). Not only does he tell a bold-...