Introduction – Part 1

Shakespeare: Richard III

In this twenty-seven part course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Shakespeare’s Richard III. In the first two lectures, we provide a broad introduction to the historical, political, intellectual, cultural and artistic context of late 16th-century England. In the twenty-five lectures after that, we go through the play scene-by-scene, providing close reading and detailed analysis, with commentary on character, plot, themes and motifs, language, symbolism, and more.

Note: We use the Arden edition of the play (Third Series, ed. James R. Siemon) with the following adjustments: ‘Deceit’ instead of ‘deceit’ (2.2.27), ‘Vice’ instead of ‘vice’ (2.2.28), ‘parlous’ instead of ‘perilous’ (3.1.154). Students using a different version of the play may encounter slight differences in both the text and line numbers.

Introduction – Part 1

In this lecture, we begin our introduction to Richard III, focusing in particular on: (i) Shakespeare’s dramatic career up to his writing of Richard III (1592 or 1594); (ii) the extent to which the defeat of Richard III by Henry, Earl of Richmond (who then became Henry VII) was recent history; (iii) the extent to which Shakespeare presents a fictionalised account of historical events in this play; (iv) the extent to which Shakespeare’s contemporaries were anxious about political stability in the 1590s; and (v) the smoothness of the succession of James I of England that followed Elizabeth I’s death in 1603.