Cultural depictions of Richard III of England

Late 16C portrait of Richard III (National Portrait Gallery, London), copied from an early 16C one in the Royal Collections. This version features in Josephine Tey's novel The Daughter of Time.

Richard III of England has been depicted in literature and popular culture many times. In the Tudor period he was invariably portrayed as a villain, most famously in Shakespeare's play Richard III, but also in other literature of the period. Richard's life was not much depicted again until the 20th century when the "Ricardian" movement sought to restore his reputation. Much of more recent creative literature has portrayed him in a positive light.[1] However his reputation as a hunchbacked villain has remained a familiar historical cliché within popular culture.

Literature

Tudor period

Cover of the 1594 quarto of The True Tragedy of Richard III, which was "printed by Thomas Creede and ... to be sold by William Barley, at his shop in Newgate Market".

The foremost work of literature featuring Richard III is William Shakespeare's Richard III, which is believed to have been written in 1591, a century after the King's death. It was the final part of a tetralogy of plays about the Wars of the Roses. Richard also appears in the two plays preceding it, Henry VI, Part 2 and Henry VI, Part 3. Shakespeare depicts Richard as a deformed and malevolent individual who takes out his bitterness over his own twisted body on the world, serving only his own ambition. His self-serving amorality is the culmination of the social and moral chaos caused by power struggles between the great magnates of the era. In Henry VI part 3 (Act III, Scene 2, lines 1645–50) Richard describes himself as follows:

Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb:
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits deformity to mock my body;
To shape my legs of an unequal size.

Two other plays of the Elizabethan era predated Shakespeare's work. The Latin-language drama Richardus Tertius (1579) by Thomas Legge is believed to be the first history play written in England.[2] The anonymous play The True Tragedy of Richard III (c.1590), performed in the same decade as Shakespeare's work, was probably an influence on Shakespeare.[2] Neither of the two plays places any emphasis on Richard's physical appearance, though the True Tragedy briefly mentions that he is "A man ill shaped, crooked backed, lame armed" adding that he is "valiantly minded, but tyrannous in authority." Both portray him as a man motivated by personal ambition, who uses everyone around him to get his way.

In 1602, in the last days of Tudor England, Ben Jonson wrote a play about Richard entitled Richard Crookback. His portrayal of the king is unknown, as it was never published.[3] However, it is unlikely to have departed from the negative portrayal of Richard, and probably followed the same pattern as Jonson's only other tragedies, written at the same period, Catiline His Conspiracy and Sejanus His Fall, both of which are about ruthless usurpers who finally receive just retribution.

Several ballads about the battle of Bosworth also survive from this period, some of which may date back to the immediate aftermath of the battle.

18th century

Garrick as Richard III (1745) by William Hogarth. The scene is Shakespeare's Richard III Act V, Sc. 3. David Garrick plays Richard III just before the Battle of Bosworth, his sleep having been haunted by the ghosts of those he has murdered. He wakes to the realization that he is alone in the world and death is imminent.

19th century

20th century

The villiainous image of Richard III. An 1860 portrayal of Richard (left) taking Richard, Duke of York from his mother's arms in church sanctuary

21st century

Other characters in the series are sometimes compared to Richard. Eddard Stark - an honest Northern nobleman who is closest to the King discovers the king's supposed children are illegitimate and winds up being executed for treason - is sometimes seen as a Ricardian version of what would have happened to Richard had he failed to depose his nephew. Tyrion Lannister an aristocratic dwarf made cynical by the belief that nobody will ever love him, and with a caustically witty tongue, who is falsely accused of murdering his nephew the King, eventually kills his father and sees himself as cursed - owes something to Shakespeare's version of Richard III. A play called "The Bloody Hand" is even shown in the books which shows basis from Richard III, showing Tyrion as a monstrous villain who plots the murder of his nephew and has dialogue that seems based on soliloquies from the theatrical Richard III. Another character who may be based on Richard is Theon Greyjoy. He is an Ironborn, but was fostered by Eddard Stark and is friendly with Eddard's oldest son Robb Stark, fighting alongside them. However he ends up betraying Robb by joining his father Balon Greyjoy when the Ironborn attack the North, and is believed to have murdered two children, his foster-brothers Princes Bran and Rickon Stark, meaning he is known as a Turncloak and Kinslayer. In reality Theon killed two other boys when Bran and Rickon escaped, and passes them off as the boys, similar to the stories that one or both of the Princes in the Tower might have survived. Later Theon is captured, tortured and mutilated by Ramsay Snow, leaving him a deformed cripple, which may be a reference to the way Tudor propaganda transformed Richard into a hideous figure. The character of Arnolf Karstark may be based on the theatrical Richard III. Arnolf is the old and hunchbacked uncle of Lord Rickard Karstark and is left as castellan of Karhold. However Rickard is executed and his son Harrion Karstark is captured by the Lannisters. Arnolf declares for Stannis, hoping this will prompt the Lannisters to execute his great-nephew and intends to force Rickard's daughter Alys Karstark to marry her "uncle", his son Cregan Karstark, enabling Arnolf's branch to take control of Karhold. Arnolf treacherously plots to betray Stannis to the Boltons as well. The Karstark sigil is a white starburst and their words are "The Sun in Winter", further connecting to the play. Rickard has some similarities to Richard, murdering two imprisoned boys, though this was vengeance for two of his sons being killed by the boys' cousin Jaime Lannister.

Screen adaptations

Perhaps the best-known film adaptation of Shakespeare's play Richard III is the 1955 version directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role.[4] Also notable are the 1995 film version starring Sir Ian McKellen, set in a fictional 1930s fascist England,[5] and Looking for Richard, a 1996 documentary film directed by Al Pacino, who plays the title character as well as himself.[6] In the 1960 BBC series based on Shakespeare's history plays, An Age of Kings, Paul Daneman played Richard.[7] Ron Cook played Richard III in the 1983 BBC Shakespeare production of the play.[8] Away from the Shakespearean tradition, Aneurin Barnard played Richard in the 2013 BBC-Starz joint production TV series The White Queen[9] based on Philippa Gregory’s novels, and in September 2014 BBC started filming a new TV version of the Shakespearean play for the second part of The Hollow Crown (TV series)[10] with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.

Richard's career is the subject of the 1939 film Tower of London, in which he is played by Basil Rathbone. The film was later remade by Roger Corman in 1962, starring Vincent Price as Richard (Price had played Clarence in the earlier version). Richard is a thorough-paced villain in both versions. Neither film owes much to the Shakespeare play, but the 1962 Corman version has similarities to Macbeth, complete with paradoxical prophesies, and visions of bloodied ghosts. Unusually, Richard's wife Anne is portrayed, like Lady Macbeth, as an ally, egging him on in his evil plans.[11]

In the 1960 BBC television series based on Shakespeare's history plays, An Age of Kings, Paul Daneman played Richard.[7] Ron Cook played Richard III in the 1983 BBC Shakespeare production of the play.[8] Away from the Shakespearean tradition, Aneurin Barnard played Richard in the 2013 BBC-Starz joint production TV series The White Queen[9] based on Philippa Gregory’s novels, and in September 2014 BBC started filming a new TV version of the Shakespearean play for the second part of The Hollow Crown (TV series)[10] with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role.

Despite his having died at the age of 32, Richard is often depicted as being considerably older: Laurence Olivier was 47 (in his 1955 film), Vincent Price was 51, Ian McKellen was 56 as was Pacino in his 1996 film (although Pacino was 39 when he played him on Broadway in 1979, and Olivier was 37 when he played him on stage in 1944).[12] Ron Cook was 35 when he played Richard III in the 1983 BBC Shakespeare production of the play.[13] Aneurin Barnard was 26 at the time of filming, and Cumberbatch 38.

Films

Richard has been portrayed by the following actors on film, mostly in versions of the Shakespeare play:

Television

Richard has been portrayed on television by:

Other

References

  1. ↑ According to R. Gordon Kelly "Popular culture remains overwhelmingly pro-Ricardian". R. Gordon Kelly, "Josephine Tey and Others: The Case of Richard III", in Ray B. Browne, Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr, et al (eds) The Detective As Historian: History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction, Volume 1, Popular Press, 2000, p.134.
  2. 1 2 Churchill, George B., Richard the third up to Shakespeare, Alan Sutton, Rowman & Littlefield, 1976
  3. ↑ McEvoy, Sean, Ben Jonson, Renaissance Dramatist, Edinburgh University Press, 2008, p.4.
  4. ↑ http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/467017/index.html
  5. ↑ http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/richard/notes.htm
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  7. 1 2 Quoted in Smith, Emma (2007). "Shakespeare Serialized: An Age of Kings". In Shaughnessy, Robert. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780521605809
  8. 1 2 http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleID=561
  9. 1 2 http://www.starz.com/originals/thewhitequeen last accessed 25 November 2014
  10. 1 2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11133588/First-look-Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Richard-III.html last accessed 25 November 2014
  11. ↑ Saskia Kossak (2005) "Frame my face to all occasions": Shakespeare's Richard III on screen, Braumüller, pp. 157–8, ISBN 3700314922.
  12. ↑ http://www.laurenceolivier.com/about/films2.html
  13. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086193/ last accessed 25 November 2014
  14. ↑ "CBBC". BBC. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
  15. ↑ E. Commins, Lessons from Mother Goose (Lack Worth, Fl: Humanics, 1988), ISBN 0-89334-110-X, p. 23.
  16. ↑ Opie & Opie (1997), pp. 213–5.
  17. ↑ J. T. Shipley, The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots (JHU Press, 2001), ISBN 0-8018-6784-3, p. 127.
  18. ↑ http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Theatre/TanzDerVampire?from=Main.TanzderVampire

Further reading

Sue Parrill and William B. Robison, The Tudors on Film and Television (McFarland, 2013). ISBN 978-0786458912.

External links

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