Richard III belongs to Shakespeare's folio of King Richard plays, and is the longest of his plays after Hamlet. It is classified variously as a tragedy and a history, showing the reign of Richard III in an unflattering light. The play's length springs in part from its reference to the other Richard plays, with which Shakespeare assumed his audience would be familiar. These references and characters are often edited out to create an abridged

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William Shakespeare's best-known plays.

"A tragic legend written down in the sixteenth century wherein a learned scientist honoured with the laurels of his university, sold his soul to the devil for still greater knowledge and power in the unknown." - title screen. Deeply unsatisfied with God's decree that the reward of sin is death, Dr. John Faustus, a scholar at Wittenberg, opts to cut a deal with Lucifer. The contract--signed in Faustus's blood--stipulates that the doctor receive the...