Overview
The antihero of House of Cards is a fictional Conservative Chief Whip, Francis Urquhart played by Ian Richardson. The plot follows his amoral and manipulative scheme to become leader of the governing party and Prime Minister.
It appears Michael Dobbs did not envisage writing the second and third books, as Urquhart dies at the end of the first novel. The screenplay of the BBC's dramatisation of House of Cards differed from the book and hence allowed future series. Dobbs wrote two following books To Play the King and The Final Cut which were televised in 1993 and 1995 respectively.
House of Cards draws heavily from Shakespeare's Macbeth and Richard III, both of which examine issues of power, ambition and corruption. Richardson said he based his performance of the scheming Francis Urquhart on the way Shakespeare portrayed Richard III. Urquhart frequently talks through the camera to the audience, breaking the fourth wall like a Shakespearian soliloquy.
In the dramatisation, the camera frequently focuses on rats for the symbolic effect of filth and conspiracy.
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