King Richard III

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.7

Word count: 180K words
Chapters: 19

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.King Richard III by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 1, 1997

Editor's review

King Richard III is the most stage-worthy of Shakespeare's history plays. Richard, deformed in body but nimble of tongue, schemes his way to the throne step by step. The play offers both sinister soliloquies and court intrigue, and its characterization has far more tension than the average history play. Its value lies in turning political ambition into a performance verging on black comedy: Richard's soliloquies to the audience break the fourth wall, making readers both spectators and accomplices. Lines such as "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" have become classic passages of English literature. This work is a good entry point for understanding Shakespeare's history-play cycle, and can also be used to study the relationship between the discourse of power and stage performance. The Gutenberg edition is the public-domain English original, suitable for close reading alongside an annotated edition, or as a text base for staging and recitation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in English history plays and the politics of kingship
Students of English literature who need to study Shakespearean soliloquy technique
Theater enthusiasts or performers seeking material for staging or recitation
Readers who want to approach Shakespeare through the history plays

Not a good fit for

Readers weary of court intrigue and violent plots
Beginners who need a modern Chinese translation and are not yet comfortable with the English original
Readers expecting light comedy or romantic love stories

Reading tips

First learn the basic historical background of the Wars of the Roses and Richard III; the factions will then be much clearer when you read the play.
Focus on Richard's soliloquies, and try reading them aloud to feel how their rhetoric manipulates the audience's sympathies.
Read alongside Henry VI, Part 3 to understand how the figure of Richard continues and changes.

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

Do I need to read other history plays before King Richard III?

Not strictly, but Richard already appears in Henry VI, Part 3, and reading that play first will give you a better sense of where his ambition comes from. If time is short, a brief introduction to the Wars of the Roses will also suffice to get into this play.

Is the Richard of the play the same as the real historical figure?

Shakespeare's Richard carries the exaggerations of Tudor propaganda and differs from his real historical image. The play is a literary and dramatic work; as you read, distinguish artistic shaping from historical record, and do not treat it directly as a historical source.

Is the Gutenberg edition suitable for staging?

It can serve as a base text for staging: the original is complete and freely available. However, Gutenberg editions usually lack modern editorial stage directions and annotations; for formal production, consult an edition with performance notes as well, to handle archaic language and scene blocking.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.