If Helen’s beauty launched a thousand ships, Richard III’s charisma has launched an armada of books. Richard III has his own Society. Defenders rally to his cause in droves. Supporters from the seventeenth century to the present day continue to argue he was a good king maligned by the Tudors. After six hundred years, why does anyone care? Why does Richard III continue to arouse such passion? What is the secret of his allure?
Myth and the Man
For many, Richard is defined by Shakespeare’s quote: “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” This is the myth. Then there is the man.
Whether we know it or not, we are all familiar with the fascinating elements of Richard’s life. From the mystery of the Princes in the Tower to his Romeo and Juliet love story with Anne Neville; from the Arthurian quality of the times in which he lived to the Cain and Abel aspect of his relationship with his older brother, Richard’s story is imbued with myth. In discussing his classic, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the late Professor Joseph Campbell said:
“Myths are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance… what we human beings have in common is revealed in myths. We all need to tell our story, and to understand our story. We all need to understand death and cope with death... We need for life to signify, to touch the eternal, and to understand the mysterious.”
Universal Themes in Richard III’s Life
In this sense Richard’s appeal is clear. His story is one of suffering, of striving, of living, and of noble self-sacrifice. Everyone can relate to that, but the way Ricardians relate to Richard III as a human being transcends time and space and is remarkably personal. How is this possible with an historical figure that lived in a vastly different time, who thought differently from us, and who spoke a language we might barely recognize as English?
Unraveling the Secret of Richard III's Appeal
The answer is at once simple and confounding. It lies in Richard’s modernity. In many ways, King Richard III conflicted with the age he lived in. This conflict ultimately sealed his doom, but it is this conflict that binds Ricardians so closely to him.