Tower of London, witness to Richard's terror

by Gwen Herat

The War of Roses preceded the reign of Richard III who was born in 1452 and died at Bosworth Field in 1485 which makes his reign one of the shortest in British history and exploded into one of the most famous as well as infamous era of a king.

The War of Roses laid the foundation to what was to come even before he ascended the throne with many gruesome killings and assassinations of some who stood in the way dividing the Houses of York and Lancashire. King Richard III achieved his mission even sacrificing the lives of the two young and innocent princes along with his wife, Anne who was poisoned.

The two young princes killed at the Tower of London by Richard. The painting is by Millais

There are two plays about his reign in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. He did well but died a tormented royal. The plays display the wars against Northern rebels and the way his son, Prince Hal turns to be an addict but later gives up all his habits demonstrating he was fit to be a king. Shakespeare's greatest comedy character who appears in many of his plays, Sir John Falstaff is one of his drinking partners. Later, the descendants of Edward III who fought for the throne resulted in dividing the Houses of York and Lancashire paving the way to all conflicts and tension.

Marriage

When Henry married Princess Margaret of Anjou she is seen as a bitter old woman in Richard III. Too occupied with his religion, Henry had grown up to be a pious man. However, his wife Margaret makes up for him, leading his troops into battle. But Henry is captured and deposed giving Edward the opportunity to crown himself.

Henry's son is killed at the battle of Tewkesbury though the Lancastrians fight back but are finished off. Henry who is held as a prisoner at the Tower of London is still a threat to the Yorkists. So, Margaret is banished and together, Edward and Richard kill Henry.

This is the scenario that Shakespeare prepared before he embarked on writing Richard III. The stage is set but not yet. Because this tragedy had to be absolutely and historically correct. So, he derives his facts from chroniclers of his own time who are Raphael Holinshed and Edward Hall.

Earlier, Hall too depended on the accuracy of Richard's life based on by Sir Thomas More's personal contacts. As a boy, More had lived in the household of John Morton who was the Bishop of Ely in Richard III but as a friend and adviser to Henry, he has had inside information. Yet, he was on the side of Tudors.

Propaganda

The Earl of Richmond was the king's father and Elizabeth, Henry VIII's daughter and queen in Shakespeare's time. This led to Tudor historians to assume that Richmond was right when he seized the throne. There was also another school of thought where critics dismissed this theory and accused Shakespeare of propaganda for the Tudors.But one must remember that Shakespeare was more concerned in a highly tensed drama over propaganda.

He wrote the play making it much shorter time when and where events occurred. One example in the play that stands out is the scene where he sees his brother being led to the Tower while Richard goes straight to Henry's funeral and courts Lady Anne.

Lady Anne, the widow of Edward, the son of King Henry VI who is wooed by Richard over his coffin.

Here, there is a lapse in history. It was seven years before Clarence was imprisoned that Richard married Anne. Critics assumed that Shakespeare opted to write in this manner regardless of history, to bring into focus Richard's ruthlessness.For me this does not fit anywhere because if I recall faintly the two events I wrote at an examination on British history, there is a flaw somewhere. Probably the time gap between Henry's death and Richard's marriage to Anne.

Villain

Shakespeare was determined to portray Richard as a villain much more than he was, taking a cue from Nicolo Machiavelli's book The Prince, where he advocates that a ruler must be cunning and ruthless to acquire anything he needs. Shakespeare emphasises his ruthlessness, drawing attention to his deformed body and a hunched back but I am sure history has it that he had a very handsome face which he used for his conquests and succeeded even luring Anne into marriage. For those who may have read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, there is a similarity between the two but the difference lay in the pathetic face that the Hunchbach has as against the incredibly attractive face of Richard.

The most foul deed was the killing of the two innocent princes, young Edward and his brother. But Shakespeare is also very vague about their assassinator who could have been someone else who would have wished to please Edward. There is yet another view that the boy prince may have outlived Edward and put away by Henry VII. Whoever did it, he placed their bodies under the staircase of the Tower and during the time of King Charles II's reign, they were reburied in the Westminster Abey.

Religious leanings

Those who support the view that Richard is innocent do so because of his religious leanings they prove with a well-thumbed prayer book which he used regularly and presently preserved in the archives.Others argue as to why Richard remained silent when people started suspecting him when they found the princes missing in the Tower gardens.

This led many including his strong supporters to join Richmond's forces, along with the public outrage that lost him the Battle of Bosworth.

With a heavy trail of mass murder committed against those whom he hated, Richard fights bravely as the war rages. He wishes to kill Richmond in a single combat and when the two meet at Bosworth, Edward is slain by Richmond. One of the most colourful tragedies of Shakespeare where scores of royals that dot British history, are seen walking in and out it as and when it pleases the Bard to make this colossal tragedy more spectacular to please his audience.

Not being a historian, Shakespeare had the audacity to overcome this problem by pinching into other resources that were historically correct. But with time, his readers, scholars and audiences came to understand his frailties and overlooked the errors giving him a platform to do whatever pleased him.