The Last Act of Richard IIIIn Shakespeare's play Richard III, the main character Richard is developed as an actor - to the point of morbidity. Richard always plays a role and plays the part that he thinks will most appeal to whoever he is sharing the stage with at any given moment. It’s not that pleasing is his ultimate goal, it’s simply a means to get what he wants – which is the tempting role of the king. His actions from the start were numerous and, for a certain time, almost surprisingly effective. To Clarence, he plays the loving and concerned brother. His forgery tricks Clarence into a state of confidence that stuns the viewer, who knows that the events that cause Richard to exclaim "We're not safe, Clarence, we're not safe!" (Ii70) are in fact the work of Richard. Alone with his audience, Richard plays the role of the self-confident villain. The audience serves a function not unlike that of a mirror, except that it reflects character traits rather than appearance. He presents himself as the actor who cannot play the role of the lover (i.e. be good) satisfactorily, so he chooses to play the villain (i.e. be evil ) instead. The idea that it is a choice, as well as his use of the word play rather than being, emphasizes the fact that for him this is all acting. In front of the audience – his mirror and therefore a second self – Richard performs with the conviction that he can do anything he wants thanks to his acting abilities. He leaves his audience speechless by completing the overly ambitious task he has set for himself. He tells us he'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter, and suddenly he's done it. Whether Anne falls for Richard's sex appeal or his rhetoric is moot, yet she falls. Richard himself seems gullible that she gives in so easily; “Has a woman in this humor ever been courted? / Has a woman in this humor ever been won?” (I.ii.232-233) He speaks as if it were a sign that his loathing must somehow seem attractive to him, although the way he expresses it makes me doubt his seriousness . Perhaps this is an attempt to share a joke with her audience, her feeling being that since it wasn't his looks she fell in love with, it must be his words..