Richard III Is Evil Essay

Was Richard III Evil?
Richard III was a power hungry king in the play of William Shakespeare. During the beginning of the play Richard III represents himself as a self-made criminal; he makes his malicious intention known in every speech to the audience. Richard works his way up to the throne by murdering his rivals. Was Richard III evil? Certainly, he was evil. Richard hides behind his deformity to gain sympathy and the mislead people around him. His ambition drives him to kill; he uses his charm with woman, manipulates and schemes in order to gain the English Crown.
Richard’s deformity characterizes him as a monster. Richard was ugly and he uses his deformity as the reason why life has been unfair to him. Richard admitted during his first speech being “Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time” (Shakespeare 1.1) He claims to be evil as a result of being rejected and unloved.
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain there fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain” (Shakespeare 1.1)
During the first act, it becomes clear that Richard is wicked. He seduces a widow, Lady Anne over the corpse of King Henry VI, father of her husband Prince Edward. Richard confessed to Lady Anne that he killed her husband and

He instigates against any potential threat, and seems to be very persuasive. He minimizes his persona by hiding behind his deformity, pretends to cause no harm. Richard lies to the Mayor of London with the help of Buckingham and pretends to be a holy man who spends most of his days in prayer not worth of becoming a king. This was all a planned in order to gain his kingship. He misleads the regime and uses religion to achieve his goals as noted by Heilbrun article: “The pretense of his holiness as a mask for lust, ambition and power, is also provocative portrayed in Richard III” (Heilbrun