Pretty much all my best essays were handwritten, but I do have a few typed that correspond to this formula. Here is one (ignore the few typos):
By placing himself above social values, Richard is doomed-Anthony Antoniadis
Shakespeare juxtaposes the almost psychopathic Richard with empathetic and emotionally aware characters such as Anne, the Scrivener and Richmond to explore the various ways in which adhering to our conscience can influence our character and people’s conception of us. Richard gladly boasts about taking advantage of people’s trust and out of balance “humour” to fortify to the audience that his wit and ability to stage manage his environment is what earns him the crown of England. Often however, Shakespeare undermines Richard’s myopically cruel perspectives with images intended to evoke sympathy and disgust with Richard, so as to encourage us to notice that “outward fame” is not what determines our character. While Shakespeare does paint Richard’s demise as divine justice, his fall is not inherently due to his megalomania, but, as Shakespeare tacitly alludes, Richard could only have attained and consolidated power by exploiting societal conventions.
Richard purposefully manipulates others in order to benefit himself. Richard does not try to appear to himself as altruistic or even remotely virtuous, he is, as he sees himself a “villain” that “loves Richard”. We are subject to many soliloquies and mid-scene puns that remind us that Richard is either outwardly conveying his ability to use others for his own end, or through deception, showing us. After we witness Richard insult the Woodville’s, make illegitimate Margaret’s testimony then deceptively earn their trust as a “penitent”, remorseful Christian, Richard boasts alone on stage to us that he can “seem a saint when [he] most play[ s ] the devil” as if to remind us that he had not become weak and peaceful. For Shakespeare, Richard’s sinister arrogance exemplifies the sort of depraved lust for power that he sees as having marred the English monarchy. Moreover, while this play serves the overall purpose of legitimising Elizabeth’s rule, Richard’s ability to “clothe [his] naked villainy” has an undercurrent of warning to the Sovereign, as if suggesting that power gained through sin is still judged by God. Richard however believes he is beyond God’s jurisdiction, blasphemously using an image of being “aloft, between two bishops” as public “props of virtue” that serve to portray him as “a Christian prince”. Though this image is meant to convey unity and Divine right, the crowds are hardly moved until after lengthy speeches and being prompted by the Mayor. Even then, the crowd’s supposed support is dictated to us, not shown. We do not see the crowd supporting Richard, nor do we believe they truly go from “[speaking] not a word” of support to cheering and encouraging Richard’s coronation. Nonetheless, his pious act wins support of the people who matter most: The Nobility and politicians, furthermore supporting the assertion that Richard is a cunning manipulator. Shakespeare continually peppers these scenes of Richard’s conniving success with mostly drowned out foreboding omens of his fall, suggesting that for people who try to gain influence through manipulation, the signs of their demise is evident in the way other people react to being used or deceived. As Shakespeare tacitly contends, people loathe being used as means to an end and will therefore become hostile to us when they learn of our subterfuge.
However, such flagrant duplicity and lack of remorse leads to Richard being scorned and “cursed’ by enemies he has thus created. As Machiavelli warns in The Prince, “it is far better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both” as long as you are not “not hated”. For Shakespeare’s audience, Machiavelli’s words would have shadowed Richard’s, creating an aura of sinisterness and distrust around him. For some characters in the play who are seduced by his “childish-foolish” act such as Anne, Richard is loved. However for all in the end; he is hated because of his inhumane treatment of people. The Old Queen Margaret serves as an image of political survival in the play, a hardened veteran who has gained and lost the Crown and therefore understands the subterfuge around the court. Margaret herself is introduced as spying, present on stage yet speaking “aside” to the audience. Margaret calls Richard a “devil” because she does “remember... to well” Richard’s butchering of her family, conveying that by his own actions to bring himself closer to the throne, Richard is amassing enemies. Shakespeare uses Margaret’s memory as a symbol of people’s experience, suggesting that though we- like Richard- can take advantage of the naive and weak for now-these people will often eventually learn that they are being used and will come back for revenge. Unfortunately for the Court, Margaret’s “quick curses” are ignored both because she is a woman and because she explains the long term consequences that conflict with their short term interests. Shakespeare wants us to be aware of how the actions of ourselves and those around us affect us in the future, portraying his message through the repetition of “Margaret’s curse is fall’n upon our heads” in various instantiations by different characters, especially in the denouement of the play. The periphery character Blunt states Shakespeare’s sentiments perfectly when stating that Richard “hath no friends”, fortifying for the audience Shakespeare’s belief that our treatment of others has consequences further than our own autonomy can dictate. Such a regard for other people’s preferences and basic volition is what Shakespeare contends is fundamentally human and necessary for any social order. Ultimately, Shakespeare illustrates that while we can circumvent the feelings of others in selfish deeds, we are, by doing so, eroding the very social values that we rely on to live amongst others. And it is this anti-social mentality that causes Richard’s demise.
For Shakespeare therefore, Richard’s ability to negate guilt, traditional morality and exploit other people’s naive belief in common humanity is what launch Richard to power and generate the hostility to overthrow him. Richard oscillates between believing in free agency and in a deterministic world, paradoxically outlining his motivations as being “determined to prove a villain”. Shakespeare encourages us to analyse Richard’s motivation, as he is quite visibly “deformed” and even more so, aware of it, with nearly half his introduction to us utterly preoccupied with his “unfinished” appearance. As Richard notes by saying he is “cheated of feature”, he had no say in how he looks, encouraging us to consider him as fatalistic. Yet Richard fights against this restriction to his agency, laying “Plots” and “inductions” to usurp the throne. And it is this villainous intent that Shakespeare claims brings about Richard’s fall. Shakespeare pushes us to see that Richard is paradigmatic of most cruel and ambitious people, stating that it was their desire to forge a life for themselves at the expense of others that leads, in an almost deterministic causation, into people losing trust or outright hating them. Shakespeare uses Richard to outline the sort of motivations and treatment that he wants us to avoid, indicating that by doing so we help ourselves in a social and even moral way. For Shakespeare, Richard falls because he “seem[ s ] a saint when most [he] play[ s ] the devil”, transcending morality and seeing other people’s lives as expendable, encouraging his victims and greater society to overthrow him in both retaliation and self-defence.
Ultimately, Shakespeare depicts Richard’s rise and fall as the very image of cheating, trying to win while breaking the rules. Richard wants to reign Sovereign over England, embodying social order yet without either remorse or conscience. In doing so, he tarnishes the Magna Carta at every turn. Shakespeare does at times convey this irony with humour but retains a strong undercurrent of condemnation, continually portrayed through the motif of nature and plants which are inverted into decay for Richard. Shakespeare’s sentiments are echoed through Elizabeth when she asks “Why grow the Branches now the root is wither’d”, illustrating that a solid social order cannot be built upon corruption. As such, Shakespeare’s tacit urge for empathy is a social as much as moral one, and it is through the myth of King Richard III’s demise, Shakespeare clothes his Tudor propaganda with a message of common humanity.
Mod edit: removed strikethrough x3 
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