A Vile Villain: Shakespeare's Richard III

A Vile Villain

In all of Shakespeare’s renowned and popular plays, we see a common technique in which the protagonist and the majority of other characters involved have certain specific traits and characteristics that seem to embody the entirety of both that character’s personality, and the role that they play. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, this enthralling technique is portrayed and emphasized accurately through the protagonist and wicked villain that is Richard. When first introduced, the audience has very little background information, as well as limited foresight on how the play will unfold and Richard’s intentions to seize the throne through whatever means necessary. However, despite this limited knowledge, we are almost immediately introduced to the borderline hideous deformities and general appearance of Richard himself. These crippling deformities give the audience an exceptionally important insight on the play itself, and also set a precedence for the Machiavellian disobediences as well as the tyrannical and downright immoral actions committed by Richard. In the play Richard III, Shakespeare creates an exceptionally despicable, disgusting and immoral protagonist who proceeds to plant a seed of mutual hatred and intrigue in the audience. Richard’s hellish persona and vulgarity is portrayed directly through his physical appearance and disabilities; it very quickly becomes obvious that the poison that has consumed his internal figure has equally distorted his exterior. Throughout this essay, this conclusion that I have drawn will be promoted and proven through numerous articles, as well as references to these articles, that justify and distinguish my thesis as nothing short of the absolute and complete truth.

In Richard Mariesntra’s article Of A Body Monstrous, Marienstra gives us several knowledgeable and useful concepts and references truly deducing the purpose of Richard’s deformities. There were a few truly interesting claims made by Marienstra, one of which specifically grabbed my attention: the parallel drawn by Marienstra between Richard and the Antichrist. “Richard had the physical traits which likened him to a monster and a fate evoking that of Antichrist” (Of A Body Monstrous). Marienstra has also concluded that the physical deformities embodied by Richard truly emphasize his monstrosity; however he has furthered my thesis by comparing Richard to an Antichrist figure. For Richard is truly the antichrist to the both the family and the kingdom he has been born into; his birth both promoted the downfall of his family’s kingdom, and deliberately destroyed the majority of his family and all other important political figures that stood in the way of his coronation. Marienstra then goes on to say that these deformities are in fact a necessary attribute in order to truly “boost” and emphasize the villain that is Richard. “Physical deformities, then, greatly