A message from my better half that might be applied to some situation today:
The audience will not recoil from this Richard, not at first, not until the body count starts to rise horrifically. And it is much easier to believe that this Richard achieved his royal status by popular acclaim, as other historical monsters have.
…
And, it is the story of the people who cheered Richard into power, complete with balloons and confetti, and later died for their credulousness.
— Barbara Moshofsky, reviewing the 1993 production of Oregon Shakespeare Company’s Richard III in Willamette Week.