Richard III is about the evil that comes from the pursuit of power. Some say the women in the play are insignificant compared to Richard’s evil. However, they bring a different dimension of the female role in society. In William Shakespeare’s Richard III the reason and morality of the female characters serves to highlight, by contrast, Richard’s, evil nature. Each woman throughout the play has an important role in the opposition to the evil that is delivered by Richard. Queen Margaret is a representation…
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Shakespeare made liberal use of prediction in all his history plays, but never as much as in Richard III. This play is a web of stated intentions, curses, prophecies, and dreams, and practically all expectations are punctually fulfilled. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, informs us that he is 'determined to prove a villain', and, he goes on, 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;…
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I. Essays The Beginning of the Tudor Dynasty, 1485- 1509 Who was Richard III, and why was he vulnerable to a challenge to his right to rule? Who was Henry of Richmond, and on what basis could he claim the throne? Given the difference between these two men’s claims, why did Henry of Richmond manage to win so much support? Richard III (1452-1485) was the third son of Richard, Duke of York, (1441-1460) and Cecily Neville (1415-1495), and the younger brother to Edward IV (1442-1483), King of England…
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Despite the apparent potential nature of King Richard III being strictly political as an apology for the Tudor reign, Shakespeare takes it beyond mere propaganda with a powerful depiction of what being human means in a fiercely moral universe. Richard’s initial assertions that he is “determined to prove a villain” and that he is “unfinished”, “half made up”, suggest that he sees himself less than humane, in correlation to the Elizabethan sentiment that a deformed man is already cursed by nature.…
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Perkin Warbeck was a cloth trader, who for eight years was a pretender vying for the English throne. Over the course of this time he claimed to be Richard Duke of York, one of Edward IV’s children of whom mysteriously disappeared from the Tower of London at a young age. Irrespective that he didn’t have a remotely legitimate claim to the throne, Warbeck was a persistent, and arguably exceptional, threat to Henry VII between 1486 and 1497. However, to establish how exceptional a threat Warbeck was…
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the Connection with the Hundred Year War Bibliography Abbott, Jacob, History of Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI of England. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishing, 1871. Gormley, Larry. “Wars of the Roses.” (2005) <http://www.warsoftheroses.com/> (22 December 2005). Griffiths, Ralph A. The Reign of King Henry VI. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1998. Mauer, Helen." Margaret of Anjou ” Richard III Society, American Branch (2001) <http://www.r3.org/fiction/roses/anjou.html> (22…
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His only duties were to keep the peace in England and to summon Parliament when necessary. Henry V’s half-uncle, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (and later Cardinal), also had a place on the council. Starting in 1428, Henry VI’s tutor was Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Henry had two half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper Tudor through his widowed mother’s relationship with Owen Tudor. These two were later given earldoms, and Edmund Tudor would eventually become the father of Henry Tudor…
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challenges faced by Henry VII. Having usurped the Yorkist King Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth, Henry was faced with the threat of Yorkist supporters eager to replace him with a Yorkist monarch. An example of this is Lambert Simnel, a pretender who appeared in Ireland in 1486 claiming to be the Earl of Warwick (who was in the Tower of London at the time). Simnel gained support from the Yorkist Earl of Kildare, the Earl of Lincoln and Margaret of Burgundy, amassing an army of around 8,000 men before…
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an infamous prison. This is also where the skeletons of the two little princes, Edward V and Richard were found. Beauchamp Tower was built by King Edward I between 1272 and 1281. It was used to lodge prisoners of rank and also many of the most interesting mural inscriptions are to be found in its chambers. The Brick Tower was built by Henry III between 1238 and 1272. Broad Arrow Tower was built by Henry III as well. The purpose of this tower was to house part of the garrison. The name of the tower…
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The Tower of London was created in 1066 by William The Conqueror on The old Roman Walls, and continued a few years later in 1078 by King William II. William was originally promised the throne by King Edward, but instead it was given to Harold Godwinson. William was really mad about this after waiting for the throne so he set out to become King and he conquered England with his army: becoming King later in the year. The Tower was used as a place to see possible enemies coming to London on the Thames…
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