Richard III: Major Quotes

One of Shakespeare’s most famous quotes comes from “Richard III”, but its origin is often ignored.  “A horse!  A horse!  My kingdom for a horse!” was said by Richard in the scene immediately preceding his death.  It is interesting that Richard has worked so hard throughout the whole play to become King of England, killed so many people for the crown, and in his last words he would give that all away.  While this may seem a bit out of character, the quote is actually quite true to form if looked at from a historical perspective.  Richard grew up during the War of the Roses, so he quickly gained experience in the field of battle, excelling in the art of war.  Since this is what Richard’s whole life revolved around until the very beginning of the play, it is easy to understand why Richard would so easily revert to what he knows best.  After all, with a horse, he can win back his crown, but without one, as the fifth scene shows, he is dead and everything he fought for is lost.
     Another important quote appears in Act II, Scene I.  King Edward IV tries to bring peace between his wife’s family and the established nobility.  Buckingham tells the Queen that: “Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate upon your Grace, but with all duteous love doth cherish you and yours, God punish me with hate in those where I expect most love!  When I have most need to employ a friend, and most assurèd that he is a friend, deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile be he unto me!  This do I beg of God, when I am cold in zeal to you or yours.”  Buckingham’s statement is full of situational irony, since he never believes that any of that will come true.  But, Buckingham does turn his hate upon the queen: he infers that her children were born to Edward’s mistress, he aids in the plot to kill her brother, and he helps Richard ascend the throne, displacing her from the royal seat.  However, when Richard asks Buckingham what he thinks of killing Elizabeth’s children, Buckingham does not reply, causing Richard to cast him aside.  Although Buckingham tries to make amends to Elizabeth by helping Richmond, he is captured by Richard’s forces and murdered by the man who he thought was his deepest friend, thus fulfilling his own prophecy.  This is one of several quotes throughout the play that are full of situational irony.
     Richmond calls Richard, “The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar,” in Act V, Scene II.  Richard is often referred to as a swine by his enemies, since his emblem was a boar.  However, the fact that Richmond calls Richard “usurping” is most interesting.  Richard had a better claim to the English throne then Richmond had, and even though Richard helped to speed along his coronation, he was the next in line for the crown.  Richmond, who had a negligible association to the throne at best, was the leading contender for the throne from the Lancastrian family.  However, this only happened after his second cousin, Buckingham, was killed by Richard.  Another reason why Richmond was the Lancastrian candidate was because many Lancastrians were killed off when the House of York took power after the War of the Roses.  It would not be too difficult to be the leader of a family that is mostly dead.  Richmond came to England at the beginning of Richard’s reign, but was easily overthrown.  However, when he came back, which is portrayed in Shakespeare’s play, he had received monetary and military aid from the French, who wanted to see the English destroy themselves, since they were still bitter about the Hundred Years’ War that they had finished only thirty two years earlier.  While none of this is shown in Shakespeare’s play, the reason can easily be found in the fact that Queen Elizabeth I was Shakespeare’s patron at the time, and she was Richmond’s granddaughter.  Richmond is more a usurper than Richard ever was.