Comparing The Characters Of Richard III, Merchant Of...

Richard III, Merchant of Venice, and Titus Andronicus are three plays that each fall into a different genre of play written by Shakespeare. Richard III and Titus Andronicus are visibly more dramatic and intense in comparison to the darker comedy Merchant of Venice. Nonetheless, all of these plays feature villains who easily steal the attention due to their, mostly, egregious actions. To properly define and explain the varying levels of their villainy there are two terms that can attempt to categorize these villains, these are Vice-Like figures and Machiavels. A vice-like figure is a villain who is evil for the sole purpose of being evil, there are no rational motives behind their evil. On the other hand, a Machiavel has a goal in his evil,†¦show more content†¦His physical deformity is only ever mentioned in relation to add more depth to his villainy, meaning that his deformity is caused by his evil ways not that his deformity is the reason behind his evil ways. Moreover, th e way Richard manipulates almost everyone in the play to get what he wants makes it easy to forget his physical deformity when reading. His ability to manipulate the other characters is what makes Richard’s actions almost excusable and endlessly entertaining to read. Richard’s shrewdness is perfectly demonstrated in his exchange with Lady Anne at her husband’s funeral. Richard is able to persuade her to marry him during the funeral of her husband, who Richard happened to murder. He even admits that the only motives he has to marry her are for his own personal gain to get closer to the crown: â€Å"The readiest way to make the wench amends / Is to become her husband and her father; / The which will I, not all so much for love / As for another secret close intent.† (1.1.157-159). Throughout the play the only motivation behind Richard’s evil is his quest to become king. His motivations, though, are not enough to keep him from Machiavellian villain cat egory because the driving force behind his evil is rooted in egoistic gain. During the play none