Richard III - Act I / Scene I

Richard, the future king, opens his play not by protesting his discontent, but by celebrating an upturn in his family's fortunes. His brother Edward IV—they're sons of the Duke of York—has wrested the English crown from Henry VI and the Lancastrian house. So those who simply quote "Now is the winter of our discontent" are doing these lines a disservice, since the "now" actually modifies "made glorious" (i.e. "The winter is now made glorious summer"). To translate more loosely: "The oppression of our family, which made life like a long winter, has been turned to a summery contentedness now that my brother is king." Edward's emblem is the sun, and the radiance of his glory has dispelled the clouds that "lowered" (frowned) on the House of York. Richard's string of metaphors runs adrift, though, when he begins talking about burying clouds in the ocean.

But lest we get the idea that Richard couldn't be happier with the current state of affairs, he quickly begins grousing about Edward's decadent ways now that he's king. And from there he moves on to brooding over his own deformity—Richard was born hunchbacked and disfigured. In many respects, it's still winter for the restless Richard, who himself has ambitions for the throne. He attempts to bring on his own summer through manipulation, treachery, and murder, and, for a short time, he succeeds.

• Category

  Education

[DeathoftheDisc]

0:47

(Ignores everything else and looks at back of screen)

Me: DOCTOR WATSON- I mean Edward Hardwicke

[LightSpectra]

okay, well if only Jews criticized Nazi Germany, I would hope you think their opinions are still valid. That being said, ask any real modern historian (i.e. not a "History Channel historian") and they'll tell you that Elizabeth's reign was quite frankly a disaster for everybody but her cronies.

[sadlobster1]

The only people I heard call Elizabeth I evil were some members of the Catholic church. But they were the only ones I can recall

[112steinway]

Richard the Third, actually a pretty good guy and not at all the evil despot we think he is. Why? Well, Richard the Third fought, and ultimately lost to, the Tudor family. Shakespeare wasn't writing history, he was writing to please his Tudor patron Queen Elizabeth.

[LightSpectra]

It was called "the Golden Age" because the queen herself heavily rewarded all of the artists that catered to that image. If you think Elizabeth was at all a good human being, you are WAY off base.

[hedonist619]

Her reign wasn't called "the Golden Age" for nothing. "evil, genocidal maniac"??? sorry.......but I think you're way off base on your statement.

[RedGoblinus]

That makes a good 'pub quiz' question. In England, they like pub quizzes where teams of drinkers are tested on their knowledge. Question: "Name the 3 Kings of England to die in battle of their wounds". Of course, we know it's Harold II, Richard I, and Richard III - many can name 2 but rarely all 3. You could include in the quiz: the French King that got guillotined, the only King of England to lose both his head and the monarchy, and the Russian Czar that got machine gunned. What a bloody quiz!

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RedGoblinus: Nope, I guess he did it in mere spite; and yes: Richard III is with Harold Godwinson the only English King who died a soldiers death, though one could include Richard I too as he died of battle wounds as well; and as I said the legitimacy argument is a bit questionable as one Thomas Paine did point out in his fancy book Common Sense. But I also tend to support the Yorkist cause to the extremes verge.

[RedGoblinus]

Maybe Herr Adolf Hitler adored the Eiffel Tower? There's a famous photograph of Herr Adolf Hitler and his entourage taken in front of the Eiffel Tower in 1940. In England and the Holy Lands, all the great castles were built by the Norman-French. Despite the negative Tudor propaganda about King Richard III, I regard King Richard III as the last Norman-French King of England - and thus the last legitimate King by true bloodline and he was a very brave man to lead his troops from the front.

[FireEyedMaidOfWar]

@RedGoblinus: Sure, but don’t hope for its demolition, as not even Hitler did France the favour of demolishing it, to make tanks and ammunition for example (and this is why I suspect him of playing false in the war); and the Normans did built nothing in France, but adopted the French architecture and so it was in Sicily and maybe even England, as the Normans were seafarers and didn’t develop an architecture of their own.