Philosophy
by
Yue Wang
March 7th, 2013
Time
Thanks largely to his portrayal in Shakespeare’s eponymous play, Richard III is generally remembered as a murderous, hunchbacked villain who killed his nephews to gain the throne. But now that his remains, found beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, have been positively identified, researchers at the University of Leicester now say the 15th century monarch was no bloodthirsty psychopath — just a control freak in need of some security.
In findings presented this past weekend, Psychologist Mark Lansdale and forensic psychologist Julian Boon suggest that there is no evidence supporting Shakespeare’s depiction of the last Plantagenet king. After going through historians’ consensus on Richard’s experiences and actions, they found that the king exhibited little sign of the traits used to identify psychopaths today — including narcissism, deviousness, callousness, recklessness and lack of empathy in close relationships.
The two academics presented their studies at the University of Leicester on Saturday. Lansdale said though Richard was not a psychopath, he did suffer psychologically. The king showed signs of a common syndrome known as the intolerance to uncertainty, which is associated with the need to seek security after an insecure childhood. According to Lansdale, people suffering from this syndrome tend to respond disproportionately when loyalty is betrayed, and this can emerge as an authoritarian streak — as in the case of the England king.
Lansdale added that Richard’s spinal deformity — one aspect of his characterization that Shakespeare got right — might have affected him psychologically as well. In medieval times, such physical disabilities were often associated with a twisted soul; this perception might have made Richard cautious in his interactions with others.
Richard III only held the throne for two years — from 1483 to 1485 — before being slain in the Battle of Bosworth Field. But he remains one of England’s most famous kings. Lansdale and Boon are not the first to suggest that he was not Shakespeare’s villain. In 1924, Saxon Barton, a Liverpool surgeon and amateur historian, founded the Richard III society to promote a more balanced view of the king. The group liked to cite British statesman Francis Bacon (who lived more than a century after Richard), who once wrote that monarch was “ a good lawmaker for the ease and solace of the common people.”
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Philosophy
Psychology of Richard III
"Richard III: Psychopath or Just a Control Freak?"
by
Yue Wang
March 7th, 2013
Time
Thanks largely to his portrayal in Shakespeare’s eponymous play, Richard III is generally remembered as a murderous, hunchbacked villain who killed his nephews to gain the throne. But now that his remains, found beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, have been positively identified, researchers at the University of Leicester now say the 15th century monarch was no bloodthirsty psychopath — just a control freak in need of some security.
In findings presented this past weekend, Psychologist Mark Lansdale and forensic psychologist Julian Boon suggest that there is no evidence supporting Shakespeare’s depiction of the last Plantagenet king. After going through historians’ consensus on Richard’s experiences and actions, they found that the king exhibited little sign of the traits used to identify psychopaths today — including narcissism, deviousness, callousness, recklessness and lack of empathy in close relationships.
The two academics presented their studies at the University of Leicester on Saturday. Lansdale said though Richard was not a psychopath, he did suffer psychologically. The king showed signs of a common syndrome known as the intolerance to uncertainty, which is associated with the need to seek security after an insecure childhood. According to Lansdale, people suffering from this syndrome tend to respond disproportionately when loyalty is betrayed, and this can emerge as an authoritarian streak — as in the case of the England king.
Lansdale added that Richard’s spinal deformity — one aspect of his characterization that Shakespeare got right — might have affected him psychologically as well. In medieval times, such physical disabilities were often associated with a twisted soul; this perception might have made Richard cautious in his interactions with others.
Richard III only held the throne for two years — from 1483 to 1485 — before being slain in the Battle of Bosworth Field. But he remains one of England’s most famous kings. Lansdale and Boon are not the first to suggest that he was not Shakespeare’s villain. In 1924, Saxon Barton, a Liverpool surgeon and amateur historian, founded the Richard III society to promote a more balanced view of the king. The group liked to cite British statesman Francis Bacon (who lived more than a century after Richard), who once wrote that monarch was “ a good lawmaker for the ease and solace of the common people.”
- Thoughts About Time
Two astrophysicists at Johns Hopkins, Richard Conn Henry (not to be confused with the other astrophysicist named Richard Henry at University of Oklahoma) and Steve Henke, designed a new calendar. With this calendar, June, March, September, and December...
- The Spiritual Nourishment Of The Garden
I turned in my grades yesterday and then headed out straight to my garden. One cannot, of course, help but think of the end of Candide:"Human grandeur," said Pangloss, "is very dangerous, if we believe the testimonies of almost all philosophers; for we...
- One Toke To Write Another Line...pothead Shakespeare?
This is not justification to exhume Shakespeare's remains. "Exhumation of Shakespeare to determine cause of death and drug test" by Deborah Braconnier June 27th, 2011 physorg.com Director of the Institute for Human Evolution, anthropologist Francis...
- Richard Kirwan...last English Defender Of The "phlogiston Theory"
Richard Kirwan August 1st, 1733 to June 1st, 1812 Richard Kirwan was an "Irish chemist whose Elements of Mineralogy (1784), was the first English systematic treatment of the subject. He did valuable work on chemical affinity and the combining proportions...
- Richard P. Feynman
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