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object of their hatred. In fact, Anne and Richard meet much sooner than the play would have you know. The two were raised together at Middleham Castle, one of her father's properties. Anne is pledged to marry Edward, Prince of Wales at the ripe old age of fourteen. Historically, it is unclear if these two were ever actually married or simply engaged. In either case, they were not long linked before the death of Edward in the Battle of Tewkesbury. Richard would have encountered an unsettled young lady, widowed at 15 whom he knew from his childhood, not an angry, embittered widow, bent on his destruction at their first meeting. After marrying, the couple made Middleham their domestic base. This would seem to signify a felicitous return to early memories, not the marital anguish and unrest chronicled in the play. Richard married Anne in 1472, over ten years before he ascended the throne and many years before this outcome was ever imagined.

Shakespeare took other liberties with history, but we will let Richard express his own feelings on his life's rendering, as he was want to do in Act 1, Scene 3. "Cannot a plain man live and think no harm/ But thus his simple truth must be abus'd/ With silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?"

No matter the historical accuracy, Shakespeare has crafted a rich, fascinating, three dimensional character in his portrayal of Richard the III. And in an odd way, the vilification of this character granted it a degree of immortality. Did Mister Shakespeare do King Richard wrong? The spirit still makes his case, time and again on the stages of modern day theaters. Like a ghost, cursed to live his transgressions over and over, we hear the remnant of this ancient monarch intone, "Now is the winter of our discontent.."

Sources: William Shakespeare, The Complete Works 1952, Random House
http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Wars_of_the_Roses
http://ww w.r3.org/struttxt.html
http://w ww.quotationspage.com/quote/29 595.html

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