Richard of Gloucester visits King Henry VI imprisoned in the Tower. Henry recognizes Richard as his doom, speaking in prophecy and classical allusion about the boy born with teeth, destined to bite the world. Richard stabs Henry, dismissing his predictions. After the murder, Richard reveals his twisted self-understanding: his deformed body has made him incapable of love, so he will pursue power alone, plotting against his brothers to claim the crown.
This scene marks the dramatic arrival of the man who will dominate Richard III. Richard enters as a figure of courtly courtesy—'Good day, my lord'—but Henry immediately sees through it. Henry's language shifts into prophecy, invoking the classical myth of Daedalus and Icarus to frame Richard as a force of cosmic disorder. The prophecy is not mystical vision but psychological insight: Henry recognizes that Richard's birth with teeth, his physical deformity, his exclusion from normal human bonds have created a creature without conscience. When Richard stabs him mid-prophecy, silencing Henry's words, he is literally cutting off the only person who has named what he is. Henry's death is quiet, almost peaceful—he forgives Richard even as Richard kills him. This forgiveness echoes Henry's character throughout: he offers grace where others demand blood.
Richard's soliloquy after the murder is the scene's psychological and moral center. He accepts Henry's diagnosis of himself completely but inverts its meaning. Yes, he was born to bite the world—and he will. His deformity is not a curse he resents but a fact he has decided to weaponize. The speech moves from self-pity ('I am myself alone') to cold ambition: he will turn his isolation into power, manipulate Edward's fear, eliminate Clarence, and seize the crown. What makes this terrifying is not rage or passion but clarity. Richard sees himself without illusion and chooses monstrosity. The reference to the Judas kiss—his false affection for the infant prince—shows him already performing the betrayals to come. He has transformed pain into strategy.
I am myself alone.
I am myself, alone.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester · Act 5, Scene 6
Richard of Gloucester delivers this line after killing King Henry, standing alone in the Tower with a corpse. The phrase distills the entire play's movement toward Richard—a man so twisted by his deformity and exclusion that he has decided to care for nothing but his own will to power. It is the moment he stops pretending to serve any cause but himself.
I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.
I, who have no pity, love, or fear.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester · Act 5, Scene 6
Richard stands over Henry's corpse and claims absolute freedom from the three emotions that bind men to one another. The line is Richard's declaration of independence from humanity itself. It is the moment he ceases to be a character and becomes a force—the embodiment of will untempered by conscience or connection.
Original Shakespeare alongside modern English. Synced read-along narration in the app.
