It contained the lines "Off with his head; so much for Buckingham" — possibly the most famous Shakespearean line that Shakespeare did not write — and "Richard's himself again! Later, the Duchess applies this lesson and curses her only surviving son before leaving.
The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as king, in spite of the continued survival of his nephews the Princes in the Tower. After killing off his brothers and many others, who were eligible to succeed, Richard finally became King of England.
Richard asks Buckingham to secure the death of the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard himself also provides some dry remarks in evaluating the situation, as when he plans to marry Queen Elizabeth's daughter: "Murder her brothers, then marry her; Uncertain way of gain He first manages to turn Edward against the Duke of Clarence, who is imprisoned in the Tower on the charge of treason.
After Clarence falls asleep, Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, enters and observes that between the titles of princes and the low names of commoners, there is nothing different but the "outward fame", meaning that they both have "inward toil" whether rich or poor.
The young prince and his brother are coaxed by Richard into an extended stay at the Tower of London. The duke of Buckingham is almost as amoral and ambitious as Richard himself.
Marlowe specialised in tireless megalomaniac central characters: Londoners had recently been able to enjoy the ravings of Tamburlaine the Great Parts One and Two, —88 and The Jew of Malta Richard is soon unhorsed on the field at the climax of the battle, and cries out, "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
The fact that Shakespeare uses a dream and ghosts to cause this major change of plot is just another signal to illustrate how important these supernatural elements are for the dramatic events of this play.