Home > Drama

Preceded by HENRY VI: Parts I, II, and III, RICHARD III concludes Shakespeare's four-part dramatic series chronicling the end of the Plantagenet family as rulers of England. Upon the defeat of Richard, the hunchbacked Duke of Gloucester, at the battle of Bosworth field in 1485, the Plantagenets are replaced by the Tudors, marking the end of a long period of civil war in England. RICHARD III is an early play in Shakespeare's oeuvre, probably written in 1591 when the century-old events it portrays were still part of the collective memory of the audiences at the Globe Theatre. The ruthless and self-destructive Richard, who rises to power solely by means of a succession of horrific murders, is portrayed as a particularly evil and bloodthirsty villain, Shakespeare's worst--a characterization that subsequent scholarship has seen as possibly unfair. In the play, written in a period when a physical deformity was often considered an emblem of a moral defect, Richard's vileness is seen as arising from his hunchback, his revenge against Nature for making him too ugly to be loved. Shakespeare took some liberties with history and geography--Richard, for example, takes part in a battle that occurred when he was two years old--and RICHARD III (like much of Shakespeare) is rife with anachronisms. The play also shows the influence of medieval morality plays, in which good and evil stood in stark contrast as a way of showing how human nature could be corrupted by temptation and sin. Whatever the sources and inaccuracies of the play, what interested Shakespeare was the study of character, and the events of RICHARD III as he saw them afforded him an opportunity to explore evil and its consequences in one of his most fascinating works.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

Tell Sackett had been lured into the Apaches mountain stronghold by the icy beauty of his brothers wife. He didn't go alone. John J. Battles, Spanish Murphy and the half-breed Tampico rode beside him. Each was driven by his past to test his speed and cunning against an enemy who could smell a white man a mile away--and then shoot his eyes out at a dead gallop. It was a contest few men could enter--and fewer still could hope to win.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

Description not available.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

Description not available.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.

Every man has his weakness. And the Ryland brothers are no different.But Wynthrope Ryland has always believed himself an exception to that rule, an exceptionto every rule. It is the only way he can justifyhis former life -- a life of crime. Long ago he tookadvantage ofhis astounding ability to remainundetected in the most profitable of ways ... andsince then, he has been motivated only by thehope of somehow turning his wrongs to rights.Until he meets Moira. Moira Tyndale, elegant, proud, even haughty,a beautiful viscountess in possession of a priceless crown ofdiamonds.She is to be the victim ofhis final theft, the one that will set the Rylandbrothers free forever from the binds Wyn unknowingly created solong ago. And yet with only the slightest glance, Moira has him moreenchanted than he ever believed possible. In her bedchamber -- thevery place where the theft must take place -- he discovers passionheretofore unknown.She is his weakness. But will she be his undoing?There are dangerous seductions waiting ...
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.