Richard III

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.7

Word count: 169K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Richard III by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 1, 2000

Editor's review

Richard III is one of Shakespeare's early history plays and one of the most compelling villains in English literature, set against the final phase of the Wars of the Roses. The play moves at a tight pace as intrigue and political cunning unfold layer by layer, and its soliloquies are especially masterful, letting the audience see Richard's calculations and self-revelations directly. The language combines the grandeur of court rhetoric with the coarseness of street slang, and the dialogue crackles with tension. This edition is a public-domain English ebook from Project Gutenberg, complete and easy to search, making it a good starting text for reading the original. Reading it alongside the history of the fifteenth-century English succession will deepen your sense of the play's inquiry into legitimate power and moral decay.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-literature readers interested in Shakespeare's history plays
Drama students studying villain construction and soliloquy technique
Performance enthusiasts looking for scenes and roles to stage
Advanced students seeking to sharpen literary appreciation through original texts

Not a good fit for

Beginners who need a Chinese translation to read the play
Casual readers wanting light historical entertainment rather than long dialogue

Reading tips

Read through once for plot, then return to Richard's major soliloquies to trace their psychological layers.
Briefly review the Wars of the Roses and the houses of York and Lancaster beforehand; it greatly lowers the barrier to understanding.
Use a Chinese translation or a staged recording alongside the text to catch the irony and black humor.
Keep a record comparing Richard's words with his actions to see how the play stages the split between eloquence and morality.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is a public-domain English ebook from Project Gutenberg; the text is Shakespeare's original English with no Chinese translation, so readers need some English reading ability.

Can I read this without having read other Shakespeare plays?

Yes. The plot stands largely on its own and does not depend on earlier plays. It does involve the English succession, though, so a quick look at the historical background will make reading smoother.

Why is Richard III so often discussed?

Richard opens by confessing his plots in soliloquy, combining eloquence, resourcefulness, and cruelty. Audiences are drawn to his words yet repelled by his deeds, and this complex response has made him a frequently analyzed villain in drama history.

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About the author

William Shakespeare Author · English · 1564–1616

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was the greatest playwright, poet and actor of the English Renaissance. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he is known as the "Bard of Avon." He wrote roughly thirty-seven to thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and narrative poems. His representative works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. His works span tragedy, comedy and history play, distinguished by rich, poetic language and profound characterization. His explorations of human nature, power, love and fate have had a lasting influence, and his works have been translated into many languages and circulated widely around the world.