SYNOPSIS By J. ELLIS BURDICK ACT I Richard, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother to the reigning king, Edward IV, plots to get possession of the crown of England. By his contrivance his brother Clarence is concerned in a quarrel with Edward IV and imprisoned in the Tower. Gloucester next obtains a promise of marriage from Lady Anne, widow of Edward, Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VI, although both of these men had been slain by him. Clarence is murdered in his prison. ACT II Edward IV, feeling that he is dying, strives to set his "friends at peace on earth." Following his death, his son, Edward, Prince of Wales, is taken to London for his coronation. Before his arrival there, Gloucester succeeds in imprisoning three lords who would support the young prince. ACT III Gloucester meets Edward as he enters London and inveigles him to go to the Tower. Once there the prince is held prisoner. The three nobles and another, Lord Hastings, are all put to death. The Duke of Buckingham renders very efficient aid to Gloucester in obtaining the crown. ACT IV Gloucester is crowned at Westminster as Richard III. His first act is to arrange for the death of the princes in the Tower. Then he refuses to give Buckingham an earldom which he had previously promised him; this angers Buckingham and he withdraws his support from Richard, giving it to Henry, Earl of Richmond, who is in arms against the new king. Queen Anne is secretly murdered, thus leaving Richard free to attempt to ally himself by marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. Buckingham is taken prisoner by the king's men and not long afterward executed. ACT V The Earl of Richmond invades England and meets Richard's army at Bosworth Field. The king is much disturbed on the night before the battle by visitations from the ghosts of his murdered victims. After a most terrible battle, Richard's forces are defeated and he himself is slain by Richmond. The latter is acknowledged as king of England under the name of Henry VII and by his marriage with Elizabeth of York, the two houses of York and Lancaster are united and the Wars of the Roses ended. THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD III ACT FIRST SCENE I London. A street. Enter Richard, Duke of Gloucester, solus. Glou. Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds 10 2. "Sun of York"; probably an allusion to the device of a sun, the cognizance of Edward IV. Qq., “sonne”; Ff., "Son"; Rowe, “sun.” -I. G. 8. "Measures," dances.-H. N. H. 10. "Barbed," that is, steeds caparisoned or clothed in the trappings of war. The word is properly barded, from equus bardatus.— H. N. H. He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, 20 To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; 13. "Is the warlike sound of drum and trump turned to the soft noise of lyre and lute? the neighing of barbed steeds, whose loudness filled the air with terror, and whose breaths dimmed the sun with smoke, converted to delicate tunes and amorous glances?" (Lyly's Alexander and Campaspe, 1584).-H. N. H. 15. "to court an amorous looking-glass"; Vaughan thought the line might be improved by a slight emendation:-"an amorous looking lass" (!)-I. G. 19. "Feature" is here used rather in the sense of proportion. So in More's description of Richard: "Little of stature, ill-featured of limmes, crooke-backed." "Dissembling," the commentators say, is not used here in the sense of deceiving, but of putting together things unlike, or assembling things that are not semblable, as a brave mind in a misshapen body. It may be so; but we rather think the meaning to be that nature has cheated him out of beauty in much the same way as cheating is commonly done.-H. N. H. 22. "unfashionable"; the adverbial sense is carried on from “lamely."-C. H. H. 26. "spy"; so Qq.; Ff., "see.”—I. G. 30 And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. 40 ence comes. Enter Clarence, guarded, and Brakenbury. Brother, good day: what means this armed guard That waits upon your grace? Clar. His majesty, Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed This conduct to convey me to the Tower. Glou. Upon what cause? Clar. Because my name is George. That you shall be new-christen'd in the Tower. 32. "Inductions" are beginnings, preparations; things that draw on ǝr induce events.-H. N. H. |