Richard III Fate and Free Will Quotes Page 3
(Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Norton edition.
| Quote #7 GLOUCESTER |
In the previous passage we saw that Margaret views Richard as an instrument of divine justice. She thinks God is using Richard to punish the Yorks for their crimes against the Lancasters. Here, however, Richard argues that God is punishing the Lancasters for the crimes they have committed against his family. (In Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3, Richard's dad cursed Margaret for her involvement in his son Rutland's murder. Margaret had taunted Richard's dad by putting a paper crown on his head and waving a bloody handkerchief ("clout") in his face. The handkerchief was dipped in his son Rutland's blood.)
In other words, the Lancasters and the Yorks have been going at it for a very long time, and if it's true that God is using Richard's reign as a form of punishment, then everybody is getting what they deserve.
| Quote #8 Thy Edward he is dead, that stabb'd my Edward: |
Margaret is telling the Duchess of York how everyone has been punished for their past crimes. She suggests that when people get murdered in the play, it's because they were basically asking for it.
| Quote #9 Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer, |
Margaret refers to Richard as hell's black intelligencer, suggesting that his tyranny is God's way of punishing the Lancasters and Yorks for their past sins.
