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Act 1 Scene 1:
Richard begins the first few lines of the play in a monologue addressed to the audience and himself. King Edward IV holds the throne to England and peace has finally come to England. Everyone is celebrating the peace after the civil war, also known as the War of the Roses, but Richard. Richard does not want to join in with the celebration. Through the lines Richard, we see how he explains how he was born deformed and ugly. He states that he is even undesirable to the dogs. He whines on about how he was given bad luck in his life, and uses it against everyone else. He makes it clear that he is miserable and promises to make everyone around him miserable as well. Richard is determined to be the unlimited villain. Richard wants all the power and wants to gain control over the entire court. Richard will do whatever it takes to become King, and that means anything.
“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York; / And all the clouds that loured upon our homes / In the deep bosom of the ocean buried” (I.i.1–4). Within the very first lines, Richard is making a refernce to his brother King Edward IV, and how he saved the nation of England, and the war ended with a “glorious summer”. The “house” is the House of York, to which Richard and his brothers Edward and Clarence belong, and which now rules the kingdom. This civil war is known as the Wars of the Roses, because of the white and red roses that symbolized the houses of York and of Lancaster, respectively. Richard’s side, the House of York, eventually wins, and Richard’s oldest brother, Edward, is now King Edward IV.
In the opening speech we also see the elements of Richard’s character. He is unhappy and says he does not believe it could ever be happy for the simple reasoning of his deformity. He feels this way in the sense of sexually because he feels he cannot be sexually successful with a woman. As the speech goes on we learn that Richard has...