The Problem of Evil in Shakespeare’s Play Richard Iii

The problem of evil is described by the scholastic philosophers of the middle ages, mainly Decartes, Spinoza, Malebranche and Leibniz. The primary development of the philosophical thought on the subject of evil was represented mainly with the starting point of Leibniz, ‘evil was a privation of goodness’. In his ‘traditional privation theory’, Leibniz states that ‘evils are absences or lacks of appropriate perfections, perfections that things ought to have.’ Then the question arises that is God unable to prevent evil? And given to the fact that he is omnipresent, then is he unwilling?

But God is benevolent and omnipresent and yet the evil exists. Leibniz answers this with his theory of ‘theodicy’. In case of Leibniz’s ‘theodicy’ (came from Greek theos, ‘God’, and dike, ‘justice’), he states that a genuine theodicy must consist a set of propositions, not just hypothetical but actually true, capable of showing the ultimate consistency of the existence of God and evil without sacrificing the attributes of God as classically defined. Thus in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the theodicy problem was not a mere puzzle of ‘cosmic dualism’, rather it was a problem of immense social significance.

Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard III in his 1593 historical play of the same name is a quintessential representation of intense exploration of the psychology of evil. Richard III generate great deal of interest during and after Shakespeare’s lifetime. Shakespeare chose Thomas More’s history of King Richard the Third as his primary source, but chose to highlight and embellish many details. On the other hand, More’s version relied on that of Polydor Vergil for information, at the same time focusing on propagating Richard’s portrayal as an evil villain lent credence to what historians call the ‘Tudor Myth’.

The Tudor Dynasty was founded when Henry, Earl of Richmond, defeated Richard III at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Henry assumed the throne as Henry VII, and was grandfather to Queen Elizabeth I. Having won the throne in battle, it was essential to disregard older claims. Thus Richard III, the last Yorkist king, was depicted in as terrible a light as possible. So the description of Richard as Deformed, having been born with teeth, etc. is highly unlikely and is not born out in any analysis of existing portraits of Richard.

The Shakespearean portrayal of King Richard the Third throws ample light upon the King, not merely as a political ruler, but also on the psychological representation of him. The play draws upon the physical deformity of King Richard III and that relates him much with the allusions of Machiavellian rules.

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