How does richard iii die in the play

Richard of Gloucester, the brother of King Edward IV, is determined to gain the crown of England for himself, no matter what. His plot begins as he romantically pursues Lady Anne, a widow.

He woos her as she accompanies the funeral procession of her father-in-law, King Henry VI whom Richard murdered. Anne is unable to resist Richard's advances and becomes Duchess of Gloucester. Richard engineers the imprisonment of his elder brother, Clarence, in the Tower of London. Clarence tells his jailer a dream he had of drowning. Shortly afterwards, Richard's hired assassins kill him and place the body in a cask of wine. Margaret curses Richard and the kingdom. To counter any claims to the crown, Richard confines his nephews, the young Prince of Wales and his brother, in the Tower of London.

So he puts the moves on Anne during her father-in-law's funeral procession and convinces her to marry him, even though she knows that Richard is responsible for the deaths of her husband and his father. Richard was obviously fibbing to us when he claimed to have no game with the ladies.

Also, he seems to have made his "deformity" disappear while wooing Lady Ann. Note to self: This guy's a terrific actor. Don't trust a word he says. With Lady Anne under his thumb, Richard quickly moves on to the task of having Clarence executed so he can get that much closer to the throne. Richard sends a couple of murderers to do the deed. They go to the Tower of London , stab the Duke of Clarence, and ditch his body in a vat of wine. When the sickly king finds out his brother is dead, he blames himself and becomes even sicklier.

All part of Richard's evil-genius scheme. Since the kid is so young, Richard becomes England's "Lord Protector," which means he's basically in charge until the little guy's old enough to rule competently. But Richard's still not happy. He wants the crown for himself, and there are too many people out there who are loyal to Prince Edward and his little brother.

Richard has the two princes locked up in the Tower of London for their "protection" and then kills a bunch of their followers and some relatives on their mom's side of the family. Next, with his wingman Buckingham's help, Richard campaigns hard for the throne, while pretending he's not interested in it. He successfully snags the crown and acts like he's doing England a really big favor.

He orders Buckingham to snuff out the little princes. We can't have them going around claiming rights to the throne, can we? Buckingham gets nervous and waffles, so Richard quickly runs out and hires a hit man Tyrrell , who has no problem killing kids. Tyrell outsources the job to a couple thugs who smother the little boys in their sleep.

Since Buckingham turned out to be such a wimp, Richard puts Buckingham on his list of enemies, which means the guy is as good as dead. Meanwhile, the Earl of Richmond a. Richmond is gathering troops and allies in France so he can storm England and take Richard down. This long and bloody civil conflict is known as the War of the Roses.

Richard lost his father, an uncle and one of his brothers in December battling for the crown. He was also granted the title "Duke of Gloucester. In , the War of the Roses resumed with Richard's brother losing power in King Henry VI resumed his reign only briefly, however. Edward IV was back on the throne the following year. His loyalty to his brother Edward during this time brought Richard great rewards, including lands that once belonged to those who rose up against the king.

He also was able to marry Anne Neville, the daughter of the earl of Warwick, and gain a share of her substantial wealth. Richard and Anne only had one child together, a son named Edward, around In the early s, Richard III distinguished himself in battle.

He helped his brother invade Scotland and received an area of Cumberland and the right to other lands for his efforts. When King Edward IV died in , his oldest son took power as Edward V — the new king was only 12 years old at the time. He had himself appointed the king's lord protector, which allowed him to run the government.

Richard also set into motion other plans to ensure that he could usurp the crown. The two boys were imprisoned in the Tower of London where they spent the remainder of their days. Despite his hard-fought efforts, Richard III only enjoyed a brief stint as monarch. He did make some attempts to ease tensions with the Lancastrians, allowing the relocation of Henry VI's remains to St. George's Chapel.