King Richard III
William Shakespeare

In the 1400s, two branches of England's ruling family, the house of York and the house of Lancaster, fought a decades-long war for the throne. As this play begins, the house of York has just proven victorious in a decisive, bloody battle. Richard's brother Edward IV is now king of England. Richard has another brother named George, Duke of Clarence. Richard is called Gloucester in this speech because he is the Duke of Gloucester.

SCENE: England
ACT I. SCENE 1. London. A street. [Enter RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER]

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;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim—visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front,
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I—that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking—glass—
I—that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph—
I—that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them—
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well—spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the King
In deadly hate the one against the other;
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up—
About a prophecy which says that G
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.

1.	BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE What is Richard referring to in these lines
2.	ANALYZE TONE What is the tone of this part of the speech?
3.	ANALYZE FIGURES OF SPEECH What figure of speech does Richard use to describe war? How does using figurative language help him make his point?
4.	ANALYZE TONE Is the tone of this part of the speech the same as the tone of the earlier part? If not, how has it changed?
5.	SPEAKER'S MEANING What is Richard trying to convey about himself?
6.	CAUSE-AND-EFFECT Why has Richard decided that he must be a villain?
7.	THEME What is Richard's purpose in this speech?
8.	CAUSE-AND-EFFECT According to Richard, why will Clarence be imprisoned on this day?