King Richard III
Dramatis personae
Act I


Act I
London. A street.


London. A street.
    Enter Gloucester.

GLOUCESTER. Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings;
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled
                                    front;
And now, - instead of mounting barbed steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, -
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

But I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's
                                majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to see my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says, that G
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence
                                comes.

    Enter Clarence, guarded, and Brakenbury.

Brother, good day: what means this armed guard
That waits upon your Grace?



Dramatis personae
KING EDWARD IV
EDWARD, Prince of Wales, son of the King,
    afterwards King Edward V
RICHARD, Duke of York, son of the King
GEORGE, Duke of Clarence, brother to the King
RICHARD, Duke of Gloucester, brother
    to the King, afterwards King Richard III
A young son of Clarence
HENRY, Earl of Richmond, afterwards
    King Henry VII
CARDINAL BOURCHIER, Archbishop of Canterbury
THOMAS ROTHERHAM, Archbishop of York
JOHN MORTON, Bishop of Ely
DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
DUKE OF NORFOLK
EARL OF SURREY, his son
EARL RIVERS, brother to King Edward's Queen
MARQUESS OF DORSET, her son
LORD GREY, her son
EARL OF OXFORD
LORD HASTINGS
LORD STANLEY, called also EARL OF DERBY
LORD LOVEL
SIR THOMAS VAUGHAN
SIR RICHARD RATCLIFF
SIR WILLIAM CATESBY
SIR JAMES TYRRELL
SIR JAMES BLOUNT
SIR WALTER HERBERT
SIR ROBERT BRAKENBURY, lieutenant
    of the Tower
SIR WILLIAM BRANDON
CHRISTOPHER URSWICK, a priest
Another priest
Lord Mayor of London
Sheriff of Wiltshire
TRESSEL and BERKELEY, gentlemen
    attending on Lady Anne
ELIZABETH, Queen of King Edward IV
MARGARET, widow of King Henry VI
DUCHESS OF YORK, mother to King Edward IV,
    Clarence, and Gloucester
LADY ANNE, widow of Edward, Prince of Wales,
    son to King Henry VI, afterwards married
    to the Duke of Gloucester
LADY MARGARET PLANTAGENET, a young daughter
    of Clarence
Lords, and other attendants
Two gentlemen
A pursuivant, scrivener, citizens, murderers,
messengers, ghosts of those murdered by
Richard III, soldiers, etc.