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"The villainis shown from the beginning as being a malcontent, a person with a general grudge against life and society. In most cases this is comprehensible because the villain has, in fact, been wronged by Nature or Society" (247). Richard's physical deformity causes him to feel that he has no place in a peaceful world, since he believes that he cannot partake in the pleasures offered by peace, namely amorous behavior. His soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 1 (lines 14-27) goes on to expose this bitterness to the audience, saying:

But I, - that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them; -
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant upon mine own deformity:

Because Richard holds this grudge against nature for his deformity and an inability to enjoy peace as the other men do, he resolves to destroy peace for everyone else. He resents everyone, especially his strapping, fortunate, and well-liked older brother Edward, for their ability to engage in the pleasures afforded by peace, when he feels that he cannot do so. He tells the audience in the very opening of the play that he finds no identity for himself in peace, but only in opposition, strife, and battle. Therefore, he creates these conflicts for himself out of the resentment he holds for those who have the ability to find pleasure in peace, particularly his brother. The audience hears the hatching of Richard's twisted plot, designed to topple the social and natural order, manipulate the social hierarchy by destroying everyone standing between himself and the crown, and destroy the peace that he cannot enjoy, in the last section of his opening monologue (lines 28-40).

And therefore, - since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,-
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And, if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day

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