Seeing Tyranny in More’s History of King Richard III

Abstract

As they embark upon a dialectical examination of justice in Plato’s Republic, Socrates admonishes his interlocutors that the pursuit of justice is for those who “see clearly”. Indeed, the dialogue itself is meant to bring about such clear-sightedness as the interlocutors dialectically winnow the various accounts of justice proposed. In like manner, Thomas More’s History of King Richard III helps his readers to see clearly the tyrant and tyranny. In the History, More presents a portrait of a tyrant and the conditions that make his tyranny possible. Crucial to this portrait is what the various characters see as well as when they see within the dramatic context. Why are so many blind to Richard’s machinations? Is their blindness willful? What internal and external factors contribute to their blindness? Who does see and how, if at all, do they respond? In answering these questions, we as readers come to see the nature of the tyrant and tyranny. Along the way, four characters are considered in detail: King Edward, Lord Hastings, Queen Elizabeth, and the people of London.