 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
Table of Contents Edward Edward is the son of Richard, Duke ofYork and was attainted as a Yorkist in 1459. He defeated Henry VI's forces at Northampton and proclaimed King Edward IV in 1461. He was defeated and fled to Holland but returned and captured Henry who had been reinstalled as king. He slew Warwick at Barnet and captured Margaret at Tewkesbury, killing her son immediately after the battle. Edward is unscrupulous and ambitious and shows this early on in the play when he persuades his father to go back on his agreement with Henry. This shows his lack of respect of moral values and principles. When he hears of his father's death, he is deeply affected although minutes later, he asserts his superiority when he tells Richard that their father has left him the dukedom and his valor and name with Richard. Edward's indiscreet nature is shown by his marriage to Lady Grey rather than to the French princess. He is a philanderer and ruled more by his libido than by his head. This makes for another distracted ruler even though he is more ambitious and arrogant than King Henry. Yet he alienates his brothers by his obsession with the new queen and her family and ends up snubbing them. This will have its repercussions in the final installment of the tetralogy, Richard III. Richard Eleventh son of Richard, Duke of York, and given the title, Duke of Gloucester. He accompanied his brother into exile but commanded the vanguard at Barnet and Tewkesbury. He is a notorious murderer and soldier. He murdered Henry VI and contrived to have himself proclaimed king in 1483. His nickname 'Crouchback' is derived from a minor deformity he has that basically provides him the justification to act as immorally as he does since a medieval view of the soul espoused that one's physical countenance was a reflection of one's internal self. Richard is hard and unfeeling. He reacts to his father's death in a vengeful manner. In his long soliloquy, he expresses his cynical self-centered, character, ambition and plans. His ambition to conquer the throne of England is expressed clearly, and he says that he shall not miss the golden opportunity which he has been looking for. He says that if he has no kingdom then what pleasure can this earth afford him. Because of his physical deformity, he knows that no woman will love him. He gains everything through force and yet can be very verbally adroit and full of guile. His view of the world is that the end justifies the means; therefore, he will do anything to gain control of the crown as he thinks he is its rightful heir. He is one of the most interesting characters in this series of plays as his internal machinations are complex and prone to psychological interpretations. In Richard III, he takes center stage in his quest for power. Earl Of Warwick Richard Neville known as the 'Kingmaker' is the son of the Earl of Salisbury and succeeded in 1449 to the title and estates of Richard de Beauchamp whose daughter he had married. He supported York and distinguished himself in the battle of St. Albans, winning the battle of Northampton in 1460 and taking Henry prisoner. Warwick helped to proclaim Edward King and defeat the Lancastrians at Towton in 1461. Yet he alternately renounced Edward's decision to marry Lady Grey while he was negotiating a marriage for him with Bona of France. He withdrew from the court but returned to be reconciled with Margaret whose young son Edward was betrothed to his daughter. In 1470, Henry VI was proclaimed King again, and Warwick was made the protector of Clarence. In 1471 the 'King Maker' was defeated and killed at Barnet. Warwick has shifting alliances between the two families and can be seen as an ambitious man who wants to be on the winning side. He will do anything to secure a position of power in the royal family and his affiliations are only to himself than to either the Lancastrians or Yorkists. As he is dying, he proclaims that his life has been worth nothing in the end and that war and power are futile ambitions when in the end everything returns to dust. Table of Contents | |
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