If yesterday’s Shepherd Boy Tumur illustrated Plato’s dictum that the best ruler is one who doesn’t want the job, today’s Richard III (“Shakespeare: The Animated Tales,” 1994) illustrates the corollary: that the worst ruler is one who wants the job very, very badly.
It’s a bit surprising that we don’t get to see Clarence’s famous butt:
GLOUCESTER: Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so,
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven ….
But, soft! here come my executioners. …FIRST MURDERER: Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword, and then we will chop him in the malmsey-butt in the next room. …
CLARENCE: Where art thou, keeper? give me a cup of wine.
SECOND MURDERER: You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon. …
FIRST MURDERER: I’ll drown you in the malmsey-butt within. …
DUCHESS OF YORK: Was never mother had so dear a loss! …
These babes for Clarence weep and so do I …GLOUCESTER: That is the butt-end of a mother’s blessing.
I can’t resist appending a clip of my favourite version of Richard III – Ian McKellen, of course:
