Advice for Reading Richard III and a Summary of the First Two Scenes

Richard III seems complicated because, as the last of a group of four plays, its characters share a bloody past that is unfamiliar to most readers.

But the play isn't as complicated as it seems. In the first half, Richard does everything he can to get the crown. In the second, he does everything he can to keep it. Stay focused on Richard and you won't get lost.

Here's a detailed summary of the first two scenes to help get you started.

In the first scene, Richard tells us that the Yorks have beaten the Lancasters and put his brother Edward on the throne, ending the Wars of the Roses. Peace doesn't agree with Richard, who is too deformed to practice the arts of love. He's determined to be a villain and has plotted against brother Clarence, letting the king hear a prophecy that implies Clarence will murder Edward's heirs. When Clarence appears, under guard, Richard greets him and says that the king's wife, Elizabeth, is behind his downfall, just as she was behind the recent imprisonment of Lord Hastings. Only the queen's relatives and those with influence on the king's mistress are safe in the new order.

Richard tells Clarence he will do what he can to help him, and, after Clarence is led off, meets newly released Hastings. They discuss the king's illness, which Richard attributes to Edward's decadent way of life. After Hastings leaves, Richard tells us that the king will die soon. Because Richard wants Clarence to die first, he will make sure the king executes Clarence before another day goes by. When both brothers are dead, Richard will marry Lady Anne, even though he killed her husband Prince Edward of Lancaster and her father-in-law Henry VI.

The second scene begins with Lady Anne following Henry VI's funeral procession. She asks men carrying the coffin to set it down, then laments the dead king and curses his killer, who also killed her husband. The men pick up the coffin, ready to continue the procession, but are interrupted by Richard, who makes them set the body down again.

Anne calls Richard a devil and uncovers Henry's body, saying its wounds bleed afresh because it's near its murderer. Richard tries to explain what he's done. When he claims that he didn't kill Anne's husband, Anne says that her mother-in-law Margaret of Anjou saw him with his sword covered in Edward's blood; Richard would have killed Margaret as well if his brothers hadn't stopped him. Anne asks Richard if he's also going to deny killing Henry VI. Richard admits killing Henry but says he was simply helping Henry get to heaven: the pious Henry was more fit for heaven that earth. Anne retorts that Richard is most fit for hell. Outrageously, Richard responds by saying he is more fit for Anne's bedroom. He goes on to argue that her beauty caused the death of her husband and father-in-law. Anne says that if she thought that she would rip the beauty from her cheeks.

When Richard says he killed her husband to give her a better one—himself—Anne spits at him and tells him to get out of her sight: he infects her eyes. Richard says that her eyes have drawn tears from his own and gives her his sword; if she wants revenge she should go ahead and kill him. She can't do it. She drops the sword, and Richard picks it up, saying that, if she can't kill him, she should command him to kill himself. When she says she already did that, he tells her that that was when she was enraged. He says that just as he killed others for her love, he will now kill himself for it. Anne says he's a liar but tells him to put away his sword. Richard offers her a ring, and she takes it, saying that it's meaningless. She agrees to go to his house, where he will meet her after he's finished mourning Henry.

Anne leaves, and Richard orders that Henry's body be taken to the Blackfriars' priory. He exults that he has successfully wooed Anne, despite having killed her husband and father-law, despite her hating and cursing him, and despite Henry's bleeding corpse being nearby. Anne has replaced her handsome husband with the deformed Richard, who has now discovered that he's handsome; he'll have to buy a mirror and get tailors to make him clothes. As soon as he gets Henry buried, he'll go to Anne.

Edwin Austin Abbey, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Anne (1896)

Yale University Art Gallery

Here are some other ShakespeareFlix posts on the opening of Richard III: Laurence Olivier performs the first soliloquy; Ian McKellen performs the first soliloquy; Laurence Olivier as Richard seduces Lady Anne (Clare Bloom).