Richard III - Plot Summary 2

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers.
   ally      Anne      Bosworth      Buckingham      Clarence      dies      doom      Edward IV      Edward's widow      France      George      ghosts      Grey      Henry VI      illegitimate      insubordination      King Henry VII      London      mother      niece      regent      reluctant      Richmond      Rivers      Tower of London      Tudor      tyrant      unhorsed      War of the Roses      Yorkist      young princes   
Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, has not stopped plotting since the defeat of . He conspires to play his brothers, Edward (now King ) and George, Duke of , against each other in an attempt to gain the crown for himself. By insinuating charges of treason against , Richard has him arrested. He also brazenly woos , widow of the murdered Prince of Wales, in the midst of her husband's funeral procession. In the course of events, Edward IV, who is deathly ill at the beginning of the play, ; Richard has already arranged for George to be murdered while imprisoned, and so it stands that Richard will serve as while Edward's son (also named Edward) can come of age.

In order to "protect" the Prince of Wales and his younger brother, Richard has them stay in the . He then moves against Edward's loyalist lords; Vaughan, , Hastings, and are first imprisoned, then executed. Then, with the aid of , Richard declares that Edward IV's offspring are technically . In an arranged public display, Buckingham offers the throne of England to Richard, who is presumably to accept. By this time, Richard has alienated even his own , who curses him as a bloody .

By now, Richard needs to bolster his claims to the crown; the locked away in the Tower of London must be disposed of. Buckingham, until now Richard's staunchest , balks at this deed. Richard gets a murderer to do the deed, but turns on Buckingham for his . Now Richard—conveniently a widower after the suspicious demise of —makes a ploy to marry the late King Edward's daughter, his . Elizabeth, , makes Richard believe that she agrees to the match; however, Elizabeth has arranged for a match with the Earl of .

Richmond, at this point in the action, is bringing over an army from to war against Richard. , finding himself out of favor with the king, gives his allegiance to Richmond. However, Buckingham is captured when his army is thrown into disarray by floods, and Richard has him executed immediately. Richmond, who has undergone his own troubles crossing the English Channel, finally lands his army and marches for . The armies of Richard and Richmond encamp near Field; the night before the battle, Richard is visited by the sundry of the people he has slain, all of whom foretell his .

At Bosworth, Richard is in the combat. Richmond finds him, and the two of them clash with swords. Richmond prevails and slays Richard, to be crowned as there on the field of battle. This is the founding of the line of kings and the end of the .