Richard III

The New Oxford Shakespeare
The New Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative editions of Shakespeare’s works with introductory materials designed to encourage new interpretations of the plays and poems.
‘Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,That I may see my shadow as I pass.’Richard III is Shakespeare’s most charismatic protagonist-villain, exercising his wrongdoing with devilish glee and dazzling loquaciousness. He is also one of the most notorious examples in English literature of a damaging equation of disability with moral failing. The introduction to this edition provides a fresh take on this play’s attractions and repulsions. Susan L. Anderson details how Shakespeare’s telling of the final chapter in the Wars of the Roses has irrevocably shaped both the reputation of the historical figure of Richard III and the way disability is represented on stage and in fiction. The introduction draws on the recent burgeoning of work o