How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
RICHARD
Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun,
Not separated with the racking clouds,
But severed in a pale clear-shining sky.
See, see, they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,
As if they vowed some league inviolable.
Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun;
In this the heaven figures some event. (2.1.26-32)
We'll admit that it's kind of random when Richard and Edward see three suns while on the battlefield. They each have different interpretations of it, but they agree that it's a sign. If heaven is sending them signs, things must be fated or predestined in some way, at least as they see it.
Quote #2
KING HENRY
In God's name, lead. Your king's name be obeyed,
And what God will, that let your king perform.
And what he will, I humbly yield unto. (3.1.98-100)
Henry lets the gamekeepers arrest him because he thinks it's all part of a larger plan. He seems to think that his actions are either irrelevant or predestined. He calmly reacts to everything around him, never really enacting a plan of his own, unless he thinks it is divinely sanctioned. Hmm… sounds like he believes in fate of some kind.
Quote #3
RICHARD
I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
I can add colors to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down. (3.2.190-197)
Richard behaves like a saint to disguise his bad behavior. As Richard himself points out, this is classic "Machiavellian" behavior. Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince (1532) was a "how-to" guide for rulers about holding on to power. Machiavelli argued that being a successful leader has nothing to do with being a nice person or doing the right thing. Instead, it's about being inventive, manipulative, charismatic, crafty, and willful. Why does this matter? Well, when Shakespeare portrays Richard as a "Machiavel," he's suggesting that Richard behaves according to his own free will.