ABSTRACT
Although the First Folio classifies Richard III with Shakespeare’s other English histories, the title pages of the quartos suggest generic difference. In the case of Henry VI, Part II, the title page of the 1594 quarto version indicates both the episodic chronicle structure of the play and its historical subject: “The First part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the death of the good Duke Humphrey: And the banishment and death of the Duke of Suffolke, and the Tragicall end of the proud Cardinall of Winchester, with the notable Rebellion of Iacke Cade: And the Duke of Yorkes first claime unto the Crowne.” The quarto title page of Richard III, by contrast, designates at once its self-consciously dramatic form as a tragedy, its origins as a script for theatrical performance, and its strongly centered focus on the male protagonist: “The Tragedy of Richard the third, Containing, His treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence: the pittiefull muther of his iunocent nephewes: his tyrannicall usurpation: with the whole course of his detested life, and most deserved death. As it hath beene lately Acted by the Right honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his servant.”
