Shakespeare's Villains

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how although Richard in "Richard III" and Macbeth in "Macbeth" become villains in very different ways, both characters are villains because they are greedy for power and ambition and will resort to murder to get what they want.

From the Paper:

"Shakespeare uses the lust for power to arouse villainous feelings within Richard III and Macbeth. Richard is a villain from the very beginning and Shakespeare does not waste any time revealing this to us. In the opening act, we see Richard's true colors. He admits that he has laid plots against the king and Richard justifies his deformity as a reason for his bad behavior. We know this early in the play when he says that he is "deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time" (Shakespeare Richard III I.i.20) and he is "determined to prove a villain" (III I.i.30). Later in the play, he compares himself to the "formal vice, Iniquity,/I moralize two meanings in one word" (Shakespeare Richard III III.i.82-3). Stephen Greenblatt notes that the vice is "wickedness personified" (Greenblatt 34)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead Books. 1998.
• Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. New York: Fawcett Premier Books. 1991.
• Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. 2004.
• Shakespeare, William. I Henry III. The The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. I. New York: Nelson Doubleday, Inc. 1853.
• ---. Macbeth. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. II. New York: Nelson Doubleday, Inc. 1853.

More papers on Shakespeare's Villains:

• Analytical Essay # 64140 : "Richard III in Shakespeare and History"
• Comparison Essay # 103028 : "Shakespeare's Villains"
• Comparison Essay # 49870 : "William Shakespeare's "Othello" and "King Richard III"

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