Looking at Shakespeare's Portrayal: Richard III, Villain or Not?

One thing that really intrigued me about this play was just how bloody Richard's hands were. He would stoop at nothing to gain his ends. I wondered if that was really the case, or if Shakespeare dramatized his morally repugnant character to become larger than life.  

I thought I would look into this a little deeper, to see what the truth might be. So far, the Britannia Encyclopedia said that the evidence for Richard's murders of his brothers and nephews was "based on purely circumstantial evidence." 

I also read up a little in a book called History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third. In my opinion the book is pretty biased, but it gives a much kinder representation of Richard than Shakespeare. Some of the evidence it gives to disassociate Richard from the young Prince Edward's death is the location of Richard in northern England at the time, as well as Richard's pledge of support to the young prince. 

Honestly, either way you put it, he probably was responsible for some of the ill that happened during his reign. He definitely stood in the position of the most benefit for the majority of the murders. 

However, I think it's important to note that, through no fault of his own, Richard III's rule served to help reunite England.

Live Amateur Performance or Professional Video?

In a fit of whimsical curiosity, I asked my roommate and her boyfriend to act out the infamous scene already shown in this blog (see previous entry).
I figured it might be interesting to see what a couple of college students could bring to this play that Ian McKellen couldn't. The answer: humor. Seth's (my roommate's boyfriend) performance made an already creepy character take on a third dimension. Chelsey, my roommate, is a theatre performance major from Weber State, and she made a point of acting exactly as she would expect Lady Anne to act.
Plus, since they were in actuality a couple, it changed the whole dynamic of the scene. When Richard/Seth told Lady Anne he belonged in her bedchamber, I was about to roll on the floor (from laughter of course).
The result was a slightly soap opera-ish performance, nix props that just get in the way. But it really helped cement in my mind just how the scene could work.
(Incidentally, Chelsey and Seth continued to talk in Shakespearean English long after they finished the scene. I may have helped Seth discover the blooming poet inside!)

Courtship as Richard III Sees it

One of the things that intrigues me most about this play is how Richard is received among the women. We know that he is deformed, so there must be a pity factor there. He is also eloquent, which is the bane of the female sex. We are so easily convinced... at least in this play we are.
In class, my group talked a little bit about Richard's smooth talking Lady Anne into marrying him, her husband's murderer. As I experience a tendency to veer back toward my main focus of perspective, I like to look at Lady Anne's character. What has she experienced that exposes her and makes her vulnerable to Richard's charms? She seems to be a passionate person, and as we know, passion can go both ways. Perhaps, for all her volatility, she is not as intelligent as she sounds.
I found this clip of the Ian McKellen version that shows one interpretation of Richard's abilities:

So tell me what you think? Is she stupid, or just overwhelmed with grief?
More on this later!