“Richard III is without doubt a monument of dramatic tragedy. As in Othello or Macbeth, hubris reigns supreme, mocking its victims in both body and mind, inexorably culminating in a bloodbath. The thirst for vengeance, the hunger for power, the irresistible desire to eliminate all those who stand in one's way, the intimate relationship with fate, auguries magnified by ghostly apparitions, characters haunted by betrayal, and violent punishment all make up this maelstrom of poetry and fury.”