What is Richard III's ultimate goal?

Richard III is delightfully, gleefully straightforward about what his ultimate goal is. He tells us right at the beginning of his play (in fact, he tells us at the end of the last play he appears in as well: “Henry VI, Part Three”, and if you haven't read the three-part “Henry VI”, well, you should because they’re great fun.) Richard III's ultimate goal, of course, is to become Richard III. What I mean by that...

Richard III is delightfully, gleefully straightforward about what his ultimate goal is. He tells us right at the beginning of his play (in fact, he tells us at the end of the last play he appears in as well: “Henry VI, Part Three”, and if you haven't read the three-part “Henry VI”, well, you should because they’re great fun.) Richard III's ultimate goal, of course, is to become Richard III. What I mean by that is he actually is not Richard III at the top of the play; his name is Richard, Duke of Gloucester and his brother is King Edward IV. Richard's goal is to become king himself and he merrily murders his way through his own family, eliminating everyone in line ahead of him until he can be crowned king. It’s when you are crowned king that you finally get those wonderful Roman numerals after your name. Richard III isn't Richard III even in his own play until Act IV after his coronation.

What's maybe the most interesting thing is that after he's crowned in Act IV he’s still got a bit more than a full act of the play to go with his life’s work already accomplished. Once he’s reached his goal the only thing he can do is focus on hanging on to that power and hanging onto it proves much harder than getting the crown in the first place. As soon as you're on top, behind you are other people also trying to kill their way to the throne, as Richard learns at Bosworth Field.