Richard the III In the play, Richard the III, by William Shakespeare, the character Richard (Duke of Gloucester) is a very manipulative and deceiving person. Richard acts like this in order to fulfill his dream to become King. And since he is at the bottom of a long, long list to be King, he has a lot of people to deceive. But when he does manipulate people, such as his brothers, Lady Anne, and Buckingham, he does without mercy and conscience. Richard’s brothers are one of the first people to be manipulated and he does it by making them think that one is trying to kill the other. From Richard’s opening soliloquy from the beginning of the play he tells us: And if Kin