Richard III
Richard III
Also known as Richard, Duke of Gloucester in:
Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, & 3, and in Richard III
Notes on Richard III
Richard, Romeo, Juliet and the Sonnet
Read the NoteTwo of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Richard III and Romeo and Juliet, open with sonnets and then employ variations on the sonnet’s structure for dramatic and poetic effect, which is not surprising. At this point in Shakespeare’s life he seems to have had dual career goals. First, he wanted to make money, which he could accomplish through theatre.
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Shakespeare and the Casting Couch
Read the NoteStories about women summoned as supplicants to the portals of men with the power to grant their wishes, for a price, are common across professions, across countries, across millennia. Shakespeare dramatized the dilemmas some of these women faced in more than one of his plays.
In both Henry VI Part 3 and Measure for Measure, for example,
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Video: Jonjo O’Neill as Richard III
Read the NoteJonjo O’Neill as King Richard III, in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2012 production
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Quotes spoken by the character Richard III
Now is the winter of our discontent
Read the QuoteNowHyperbaton is the winter of our discontentMetaphor
Made glorious summerMetaphor by this son of York,Paronomasia
And all the clouds that louredMetaphor upon our houseMetonymy
In the deep bosom of the ocean MetaphorburiedHyperbaton & Ellipsis.
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How hath your Lordship brooked imprisonment?
Read the QuoteRichard
How hath your Lordship brooked imprisonment?
Hastings
With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must.
But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks
That were the cause of my imprisonment.
Richard
No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too,
For they that were your enemies are his
And have prevailed as much on him as you.
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I took an oath that he should quietly reign
Read the QuoteYork
I took an oath that he should quietly reign.
Edward
But for a kingdom any oath may be broken.
I would break a thousand oaths to reign one year.
Richard
No, God forbid your Grace should be forsworn.
Therefore, to arms! And, father, do but think
How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown,
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Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down
Read the QuoteRichard
Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.
Anne
What black magician conjures up this fiend
To stop devoted charitable deeds?
Richard
Villains, set down the corse or, by Saint Paul,
I’ll make a corse of him that disobeys.
Gentleman
My lord, stand back and let the coffin pass.
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Lady, you know no rules of charity
Read the QuoteRichard
Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
Anne
Villain, thou know’st nor law of God nor man.
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
Richard
But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
Villain, thou know’st nor law of God nor man.
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He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband
Read the QuoteRichard
He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband
Did it to help thee to a better husband.
Anne
His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
Richard
He lives that loves thee better than he could.
Anne
Name him.
Richard
Plantagenet.
My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word.
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Was ever woman in this humor wooed?
Read the QuoteWas ever woman in this humor wooed?
Was ever woman in this humor won?
I’ll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What, I that killed her husband and his father,
To take her in her heart’s extremest hate,
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
The bleeding witness of my hatred by,
Having God,
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Peace, Master Marquess, you are malapert
Read the QuoteQueen Margaret
Peace, Master Marquess, you are malapert.
Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.
O, that your young nobility could judge
What ’twere to lose it and be miserable!
They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,
And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.
They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,
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But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture
Read the QuoteBut then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol’n forth of holy writ,
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
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They do me wrong, and I will not endure it!
Read the QuoteRichard
They do me wrong, and I will not endure it!
Who is it that complains unto the King
That I, forsooth, am stern and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his Grace but lightly
That fill his ears with such dissentious rumors.
Because I cannot flatter and look fair,
Smile in men’s faces,
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