"The Dead-End Comedy of Richard III," in Time and the Artist in Shakespeare's English Histories, Associated University Presses, 1983, pp. 85-97.

[Blanpied asserts that Richard himself, behaving like an actor or clown, is responsible for the comedy in Richard III. The critic contends that for the first three acts, Richard is in control: He keeps us entertained and is able to hold off the grim, inevitable history represented by Margaret's prophecies. Blanpied also asserts that two incidents threaten Richard's comedy. One is Clarence's vivid nightmare in Act I, scene iv, which stops being a threat once Clarence is dead and unceremoniously shoved into a cask of malmsey wine. The other is the murder of the two young princes, and Blanpied points out that this grim scene occurs in Act IV; after Richard's power to attract us has begun to disintegrate.]

Richard is a great role, as Richard himself...