Richard III Justice Quotes

Richard pretends to comfort his brother George of Clarence, who's been imprisoned because of the "G" prophecy. This gives us an insight into Richard's notions of justice. Richard suggests that one should not be held responsible or punished for circumstances beyond one's control. In this particular situation, Richard is correct that Clarence's name is just a coincidence; a trick of fate. Moreover, we can read this line from Richard as kind of an absolution for himself: if Richard believes it's unjust for a person to be punished for circumstances beyond his or her control, and he believes his own evil to be a predetermined and natural part of himself, then it makes sense that he would excuse himself, or not dwell on the moral consequences of his actions. If he's fated to be evil, then he doesn't deserve punishment for it.

Hastings' notion of justice is predicated upon revenge – the "thanks" he'll give his jailers is a threat to return the favor to them.

Here Richard is saying that he shouldn't get ahead of himself, or put the cart before the horse. But this line is ironic when you consider that Richard will later die in battle because he can't find a horse. The whole play could be seen as him "getting ahead of himself," with his lack of planning catching up with him in the end. He's literally and figuratively without a horse.

It's fairly poignant that, in the midst of all this self-interest and treachery, the final thing that breaks Edward's heart is his understanding of his complicity in his brother's death. He fears God's wrath, but he also seems truly hurt and disappointed in himself about what he's done to upset the Christian notion of justice.

Gray understands that Margaret's curse was not just the random anger of an old lady – she expects vengeance against these men because they stood by while her son was murdered. It seems Gray accepts the justice of his plight.

Justice is served as Hastings gets a taste of his own medicine. He came out of prison seeking revenge against his accusers and then gloated over their deaths, only to discover while they were being killed that he was being condemned. Hastings's dying thoughts are vengeful. He condemns Richard, and rather than lamenting Richard's evil or being sorry for his own gloating over the murders at Pomfret, Hastings takes some comfort in knowing that after his murder more murders will follow. This contrasts with Buckingham's penitent approach, though of course Buckingham had many worse crimes to account for than Hastings, and it seems like Hastings's murder is generally a more senseless one.

First of all, this is gross. Vile Richard is offering to impregnate a young lady to make up for murdering her brothers – and he's talking about it to her mom. (Sorry, we just had to get that out of the way.) Anyway, Richard again seems to view justice as eye-for-an-eye.  He figures he can make up for everything he's done by giving what he considers "equal payback." He took the kingdom from Elizabeth's sons, so he'll give it back to Elizabeth's daughter. He took Elizabeth's sons from her, but he'll have children with her daughter to keep the bloodline going. Because he lacks real moral faculties, Richard sees things as fairly tit-for-tat. He has an aberrant sense of justice.

Margaret also has a tit-for-tat sense of justice. Maybe she's already lamented her losses enough, because it seems like all she lives for is revenge. She matches up the dead on either side like they're chess pieces instead of treating them like children and men. What irritates her the most, though, is that all the deaths aren't avenged fully until Richard is dead. Only once pretty much all the children of the women in the room are dead does Margaret think everyone will be even. (More important, Margaret's cool cruelty here gives us a look at a kind of villainy that's different from the passionate villainy we've seen in Richard.)

This has the seed of the important line from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" (Hamlet 2.2). This might be totally inadvertent, but it seems the entire ethos of Richard III is summed up here: moral relativism is at the heart of the play. Choosing moral stances depends on one's perspective, and having been led along by Richard as our protagonist, we can hardly tell the good from the bad anymore. This is why we can feel almost delighted with Richard, and why it's hard to relate to his victims (at least in the beginning). This moral relativism will plague Hamlet in that later, more refined play, but to Richard, the idea of moral relativism is a mere riddle to be puzzled out, not a paralyzing metaphysical quandary.

Buckingham is distinct from many of the others who have met their fate at Richard's desertion. Rather than curse Richard at his death, Buckingham owns up to the fact that he's been an awful guy, and that actually he pretty much deserves this fate. Buckingham sees that justice has been served, and while he's still angry at Richard, he accepts his own complicity in his fate.

Richmond sees himself and his men as agents of God's justice, almost like God's army. He's careful to keep saying that the praise for any victory will belong to God, but there's something paradoxical in the anointing of oneself as God's messenger. Two things on this: it fits the paradigm of Richard in contrast to Richmond; if Richard is clearly an agent of the devil, then Richmond should be an agent of God. The second is the historical context of the play – in Shakespeare's time, God was seen as conferring legitimacy on royalty (though the Divine Right of Kings had yet to be codified). Since Shakespeare's patron, Elizabeth I, was a direct descendant of Richmond, it might be important for him to portray her line as rightfully carrying out God's work.

This is more than an absolutely beautiful and rousing speech from Richmond – it speaks to justice as something greater than an abstract concept. If Richmond's side should prevail, it's not just the royal line and God's will that will be honored. The men here are fighting for personal justice too – for their wives and children and their own honor as citizens. It kind of puts in perspective the fact that the men aren't just pawns of royal relations that have nothing to do with them – they're intimately invested in the outcome of putting down this tyrant.

Buckingham's speech echoes the speech of the other ghosts, condemning Richard and cheering on Richmond. Buckingham admits his own complicity in all of the crimes, even when he's dead – just as he owned up to all of his evils before death. Buckingham hopes for Richard to not just despair and die, but that he will face and know the consequences of his guiltiness. We might think this kind of curse would have no impact on Richard, who seems to think nothing of consequences. But it's the last speech Richard hears before he awakens and gives the only speech in the play that indicates his self-doubt. Potent stuff from the dead Buckingham.