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What are some examples of Richard III soliloquies?
What is Richard III Monologue in Act 1 Scene 1?
What is a Shakespeare soliloquy?
What did Laurence Olivier say about Richard III?
‘Now is the winter of our discontent’ opens a quite stunning soliloquy by the young Richard, Duke of Gloucester in the opening line of Shakespeare’s Richard III play. This line ranks among the most famous and most quoted opening lines of any Shakespeare play, alongside such openings as ‘When shall we three meet again/In thunder ...
By William Shakespeare. (from Richard III, spoken by Gloucester) Now is the winter of our discontent. Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house. In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
- Setting The Scene
- Original Text “Now Is The Winter of Our Discontent”
- Modern Translation
- Verse Breakdown
- Thought Breakdown & Analysis
- Unfamiliar Language
- Conclusion
After a long civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster, England is finally at peace, for now. Richard, who in this scene is still just the Duke of Gloucester, is resentful of his brother King Edward IV’s power and the relative happiness of those around him. In this speech, Richard tells us just why he feels this way and what he plans to do...
Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-vis...
Now our discontent is coming to a close And is made joyful by my brother, King Edward the IV And all the sadness that covered our family Are at the bottom of the ocean, gone away Now we wear the wreaths of victory on our heads Our armour is now mere decoration Our alarms of war are music at parties Instead of marching to war, we dance And instead o...
bold = Stressed Unbold = Unstressed (F) = Feminine Ending Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; Our stern alarums changed to merry meeti...
Now is the winter of out discontent Now the bad times are coming to an end So this is the very first line of the play. And it’s one of my favourite openings in the cannon. Ian Mckellen speaks about the significance of opening a play with the word ‘now’ and I think it’s a good point to raise. The Merchant of Venice opens with ‘In’ Twelfth Night open...
Lour, lower (v.) old form: lowr’d frown, scowl, look dark and threatening Bosom (n.) old form: bosome depths Brow (n.) old form:browes forehead [often plural, referring to the two prominences of the forehead] Monument (n.) memory, memorial, remembrance Alarm, alarum, ‘larm, ‘larum (n.) call to arms, call to battle, signal to begin fighitng Measure ...
We’ve addressed some of the unfamiliar language, and broken down the monologue, so that you now hopefully have a better understanding of the text. Next, read through it multiple times out loud and explore the way the language sounds. For more on how to perform Shakespeare read our article on How to Act Shakespeare. If you have realised that this mo...
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Now is the winter of our discontent’: Richard III’s opening speech from Shakespeare’s history play of that name is among the most famous speeches in all of Shakespeare’s work. Memorably spoken by Laurence Olivier in a 1955 film of Richard III – for which Olivier added some extra lines….
RICHARD, Duke of Gloucester, enters alone. RICHARD. Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this son of York, And all the clouds that loured upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. 5 Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths, Our bruisèd arms hung up for monuments, Our stern alarums changed to merry ...
The opening speech to Richard III sets the tone from the first moment Richard enters the stage. Richard is a curiously—and often sardonically—introspective villain, and his initial soliloquy is tantalizing in the way that it infuses exposition with humanity.
