Is Richard III a good Shakespeare play to read?

Question

I have read Julius Ceasar, MacBeth, Othello, Hamlet, and Romeo & Juliet.

I am looking for a good Shakespeare play to read...

What about Henry V?

I have taken European and US history before...

Answer 1

i think richard iii is one of shakespeare's greatest plays, but i don't think it is a particularly good one to read.

there are two main problems with it.

firstly richard iii is the final play of the great tetralogy that goes henry vi 1, 2, 3, richard iii. to properly understand richard iii you really need to see the development of all its main characters in those earlier plays.

this is particularly true of queen margaret. so much so that when laurence olivier made his famous film of richard iii he found it so difficult to include queen margaret without the audience background knowledge of her from the earlier plays that he wrote her out of the filmscript entirely.

olivier's 'richard iii' is one of the greatest of all shakespearian films - but it isn't really the play that shakespeare wrote.

....

henry v is really the endplay of the second great tetralogy (richard ii, henry iv 1, 2, henry v) - but works much better as a solo play than richard iii does.

(of course if you were really ambitious you could aim to read all eight of the double tetralogy plays consecutively).

....

really though, you've not read any shakespeare comedies yet - and of course it was the comedies that made shakespeare famous. in the 1590s christopher marlowe was nearly as good a tragedy writer as shakespeare was (edward ii is one of the most terrifying plays i ever saw) but marlowe couldn't really do comedy.

shakespeare's comedies are hilariously funny, but wonderfully dark at the same time.

in your position i would seriously consider midsummer night's dream, twelfth night, or perhaps even much ado about nothing.

Answer 2

With Henry V, and Richard III you would be reading a different type of play, the history. They are very good, of course, except that I would read the two Henry IV plays before Henry V. What about King Lear? I can see you have read three of the "great" tragedies (Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello). I am sure you would enjoy this incredible tragedy.

Answer 3

it's certainly a classic with a fascinating villain and fun to read. One problem with it is that there's a fairly complex historical background, and if you don't learn the history, you won't be able to understand much of the play.

I would suggest you try a few comedies. Twelfth Night, As You Like it, and Midsummer Night's Dream are good starting points for reading the comedies.

Answer 4

Richard III is excellent.

Answer 5

I dk i hate Macbeth though. I HATE IT!!!!!! We finished it in class today.