The Duke states that a prophecy revealed to the king that he should beware of ‘G.’ Taking ‘G’ to mean George (the Duke), the king ordered his brother to be imprisoned in the Tower of London. Richard’s soliloquising is interrupted by the arrival of the Duke, who is accompanied by armed guards. If things go to plan, the Duke of Clarence will be jailed for threatening the King’s safety. Specifically, he has plotted to cause tension between his brothers Edward and George (the Duke of Clarence). He continues to say that because of his ‘dissembling nature’ (his deformity), which he attributes his internal corruption to, he has resigned himself to evil, and has given up on trying to be virtuous (‘a lover.’) He decides to seek power for himself, knowing that he will have to rely on Machiavellian methods if he is to be successful. Richard explains that his deformity means that he is better suited to times of conflict and the kind of tension that exists during war than peace. His brother, Edward, is now King Edward IV.
In his opening soliloquy, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, complains about the peace that the House of York’s victory in the War of the Roses has brought to England.
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