Richard III Act IV Study Guide

Character Analysis: (personalities, actions, and relationships)

Buckingham

• Personalities: mischievous, determined, smart
• Actions: he refuses to help Richard kill the princes and then he flees when Richard refuses to give him his Earlship anymore and turns against him because he won’t kill the boys
• Relationships: he is Richard’s right hand man and confidant, he help Richard rise to power but is thrown aside for not agreeing to murder the princes himself

Duchess of York

• Personalities: strong, independant, bold
• Actions: she fights with Richard and tries to protect Elizabeth and her children (who are her grandchildren); she curses Richard and his evil actions
• Relationships: widowed mother of Richard, Clarence, and King Edward IV; Elizabeth’s mother-in-law

Lady Anne

• Personalities: sad, trusting, gullible
• Actions: she marries Richard but quickly realizes that he will kill her and that the curse she put of the woman who would marry Richard is now upon her
• Relationships: the young widow of Prince Edward (the son of the former king, Henry VI); she is Richard’s new wife

Tyrrel  

• Personalities: ruthless, guiltless
• Actions: he is hired by Richard to kill the young princes in the Tower of London, and he does
• Relationships: the hitman Richard hires

Study Questions:

1. Explain Lord Stanley’s predicament. Why must he support Richard while he desires to help Richmond? How does Richard manipulate him?

• Lord Stanley’s predicament is that he desires to help Richmond, his stepson, but must support Richard because Richard has taken his son as hostage and threatens to kill him if Stanley does not support him as the rightful king.

2. How does Richard’s behavior change after he becomes king? Is he still having fun?

• After he becomes king Richard;s behavior changes because he is now feeling the weight of his position and Margaret’s curse is taking it’s toll.
• He is no longer having fun because he is consumed by his paranoia, he no longer trusts anyone, believing they are all out to get him, and can no longer distinguish friend from foe.

3. Give examples of Richard’s interactions with underlings.

• Examples of Richard’s interactions with underlings are when he asks Buckingham to kill the princes in the tower, Buckingham refuses, and then he turns to Tyrell and orders him to complete the task. Later he confronts Queen Elizabeth about having her daughter marry him.

Quotes: For each of the following quotes, indicate WHO said the quote, TO WHOM it was said, and the SIGNIFICANCE.

1. “Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again, Within so small a time, my woman’s heart, Grossly grew captive to his honey words.”

• Said by: Anne - Said to: Queen Elizabeth
• Significance: This describes how quickly after she met and cursed Richard for killing her husband and his father, she had fallen for him and his sweet and deceiving words and has been hoodwinked into marrying him.

2. “Oh thou well skilled in curses, stay awhile, And teach me how to curse mine enemies!”

• Said by: Queen Elizabeth - Said to: Queen Margaret  
• Significance: Queen Elizabeth is asking Queen Margaret to teach her to curse people because she wants to curse Richard, like Margaret did, for killing her sons.

3. “Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end”

• Said by: Duchess of York - Said to: Richard
• Significance: This is foreshadowing that Richard will die violently because all of the violent ways he has killed people.  

4. “Richmond! When last I was at Exeter, The mayor in courtesy showed me the castle And called it Rougemont, at which name I started, Because a bard of Ireland told me once I should not live long after I saw Richmond.”

• Said by: Richard - Said to: Buckingham
• Significance: Richard recalls a prophesy that he would die not long after he saw Richmond, this foreshadows his death at the hands of Richmond.

5. “Though troublest me; I am not in the vein.”

• Said by: Richard - Said to: Buckingham
• Significance: This shows Richard’s patience growing thin with Buckingham now that he has done his job of getting Richard the throne, it foreshadows Richards refusal to give Buckingham his earlship because Buckingham won't kill the princes, and Buckingham’s eventual execution for this decision.

6. “O ill-dispersing wind of misery! O my accursed womb, the bed of death! A cockatrice hast thou hatched to the world, Whose unavoided eye is murderous.”

• Said by: Dutchess of York - Said to: Stanley, Lady Anne, and Queen Elizabeth
• Significance: She is commenting about how Richard, who she birthed, has been nothing but evil since he was born and has caused nothing but misery.