A Villain we Love to Hate

For my personal play, I have read Richard III.  The main character, Richard, is a villain who kills his friends and kin, similar to Macbeth.  However, unlike Macbeth, Richard never repents of his crimes.  He remains evil to the end, and thus becomes a character we love to hate.  The historical King Richard was probably not as villainous as Shakespeare made him out to be, but the victor is the one who writes the history, and the Lancasters would have wanted to look as noble as possible in order to help solidify their claim to the throne.

The plot for the play is as follows:  Richard and his two brothers have taken over the crown of England.  Richard, knowing his brother Edward is ill, works to  have his other brother executed before Edward dies.  After his two brothers are gone, Richard goes to get his nephew and the heir to the throne, Edward V.  Eventually, he convinces people that Edward V and his brother, Richard the Duke of York, are bastards, and thus unable to inherit the crown.  This leaves him as the only legitimate heir.  After he is crowned, he has his nephews killed in order to secure his claim to the crown.  Eventually, he kills off enough people that the nobility begin to support the Lancaster heir, Henry VII.  In a final battle, Richard dies, and Henry marries the young Elizabeth of York, in order to end the feud between the two houses and strengthen his kingship.

Lancaster and York
the two families, Lancaster and York, both spent many years fighting over the throne of England.  The series of civil wars led by the two houses were collectively known as The War of the Roses, as the two houses used the red or white rose as their symbol.  They were actually two branches of the same family, the Plantagenets.  This period of upheaval was difficult for everybody in England.

Queen Margaret and Queen Elizabeth
Queen Margaret was the wife of King Henry VI, who was killed by Richard and his brothers.  Her son, Edward, was also killed by the Yorks.  As a final blow, Richard married her daughter-in-law, Anne.  At the beginning of the play, she curses Queen Elizabeth, that she might end up in the same position as herself.  Towards the end of the play, Queen Elizabeth has also seen her husband die, her two sons murdered at the hand of Richard, and Richard has proposed to marry her daughter, also named Elizabeth.  The old Queen's curse has come true, and both women have followed the same path.

What Really Happened to the boys Edward and Richard?
Nobody really knows for sure what happened to Edward V and his brother Richard.  While it is possible that their uncle, Richard III, killed them, there are also many other people who had opportunity and motive to have the boys murdered.  For example, Henry VII could have killed them, as he would also have been threatened by their claim to the throne.  Although two bodies were found under the stairs in the Tower of London, there is still no hard evidence that they belong to the princes.
  I definitely want to look into this a little bit more.

Richard III
So back to Richard, why do we love to hate him?  He is a disfigured man who felt that the only way to prove himself was through fighting.  His mother felt that he was bad from a young age, and this probably colored the way she treated him.  He seems to be a product of both nature and nurture.  His surroundings led him to become the man he was.  His villainy makes a strange sort of sense, which probably adds to his appeal.  He is not only evil, but he is good at being evil.  Shakespeare sets up Henry VII as the hero of the play, but he only appears in one or two scenes.  While I knew that Richard dying was a good thing, I was also sad to see him go.