Henchard? - Tumblr Posts
Every time Richard and the Duke of Buckingham should’ve kissed in Shakespeares Richard III
Not a kiss, but in Act 1 Scene 3 where Margaret warns Buckingham to ‘Take heed of yonder dog,’ and Richard asks Bucking what she said, Buckingham replies that it is, ‘Nothing [he] respects,’ referring to Richard as his ‘gracious lord.’ Here, as he rejects Margaret’s warning which will come to fruition, he goes over to Richard and Richard places a jealous arm around his shoulders. Besties that kill together stay together… until one kills the other.
Side note: Margaret even warns that Richard will ‘split [Buckinghams] very heart with sorrow.’ Sound like a breakup? That’s cause it is.
…over a disagreement on whether to kill some kids, but nevertheless.
Act 2 Scene 2, after Buckingham convinces the assembled to let him and Richard and only a few others fetch young Edward to London (unknowingly to his death), Richard and Buckingham are left alone on the stage and share a moment. Richard calls Buckingham his ‘other self… [his] oracle, [his] prophet,’ between which he kisses him in his excited villainly.
Act 3 Scene 1, Buckingham mocks the concept of ‘Sanctuary children in order to remove the young York from the arms of his mother, definitely turning Richard on with his skilled argument.
May the end of this same scene, Richard and Buckingham are once again left alone. They now work as a firm team, and Richard offers Buckingham the earldom of Hereford once he is king. Buckingham replacing that he will ‘claim that promise at your graces hand,’ kissing said hand before kissing the man himself. Indeed, after they ‘sup,’ (take supper) together to plot some more - their favourite shared hobby.
Act 3 Scene 4, Buckingham convinced Hastings that he knows Richard much better, arguing that they ‘know each others faces… [not their] hearts.’ This is an ironic lie even when read as platonic from Buckinghams perspective. He believes it a lie - it will be revealed as the truth towards the end of the play.
Act 3 Scene 5, as they brag about their acting skills they are close and teasing, though never kiss, aware the Mayor and Catesby are just around the corner.
For a while now, they speak but are too concerned with plotting and gaining the crown for Richard to truly be intimate.
However, an interpretation of Richard as queer makes his bastardisation of ‘holy writ,’ to ‘clothe [his] naked villainly,’ all the more telling. Just like with his ‘deformity,’ he cannot live as he wishes to without prejudice, and perhaps in the case of his queerness, his skilful acting becomes all the more important.
As Buckingham convinces the citizens, he implores to Richards, ‘tender… heart and gentle, kind, effeminate remorse.’ Ironic in the face of Richards cold hearted villainly, but also hinting towards their relationship.
Crucially, and symbolically, it is not Anne, his wife’s, hand which Richard holds as he ascends to the those but canonically Buckinghams - metaphorically Buckingham was the one to help him to the throne, but equally, it shows a deeper relationship. (Here I consider Phillippe (‘Monsieur’) Duke d’Orlean and The Chevalier from Versailles - he has a wife who is aware of his proclivities, but is privileged enough that no one comments on the open secret of his relationship)
Furthermore, high on their victory, Bucking calls Richard his ‘loving Lord.’
This all changes however - Richard ‘wish[es] the bastards [The old King Edwards’ children] dead.’ And Buckingham is ‘all ice.’
His pause for ‘some little breath.’ Consigns him to his fate. Richard is fickle, and has lost interest in Buckingham just as he has with the crown. His only wish now is to continue his ‘villainly.’
The next time Buckingham tries to speak to Richard he is ignored and spoken over- dismissed like just another servant when trying to claim the previously promised earldom. He knows he will die by Richards hand at this point and runs.
When Richard sadistically petitions Elizabeth (mother of the princes in the tower he killed) for her to marry her daughter (his niece) to him, he does not speak of triumph against his adversary for the crown, Richmond, but Buckingham.
Buckingham is now a ‘petty rebel,’ and ‘dull-brained.’ Indeed, Elizabeth’s daughter will be replacing him in ‘a conquerors bed.’ He is almost petty in his revenge against Buckingham after he is told ‘no’ for the first time - attempting to make him jealous though his replacement.
Buckingham begs to speak to Richard one last time before his execution, calling him the ‘whom I most trusted.’ As Margaret predicted, Buckingham recalls, his heart is ‘split with sorrow.’
Finally, Buckinghams appears to Richard as a ghost in Richards dream, calling on Richards ‘guiltiness.’ Richard regrets his actions, despite his calls of ‘coward conscience.’ He knows that from beyond the grave, Buckingham fights on Richmond’s side, as Richard ‘falls in the hight of all his pride.’
Thank you for coming to my TED talk on why Tumblr should diversify its Shakespeare interests from just Julius Caesar one day a year <3