Abstract: Among the tragic characters depicted by Shakespeare, Richard III is one of the most peculiar. This tyrant, whose external appearance seemingly conforms to his inner mind and who is scared of his shadow, injures and revenges others with his horrendous “wisdom” and “bravery”. Previous studies of Richard III tend to pay more attention to his evil and being hated, but ignore his tragedy and being pathetic, mournful and bewildering. Centered on exploring the protagonist’s tragic character and its causes of formation, this paper demonstrates that it is not his physical deformity but his incessant pursuit of selfish desires that leads to his tragedy, and that his crook-back is not the root cause of his crooked-mind. Thus, Shakespeare’s insightful exploration of human nature can be observed from a different perspective and a typical model of aesthetics is offered for thinking about the complexity and richness of reality and life.

Key words: Shakespeare, Richard III, tragedy, psychology, deformity