Sir Ian McKellen explains the opening speech of Richard III
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
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In this video, Sir Ian McKellen explains the start of the "Now is the winter of our discontent" speech from Richard III.
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The title should be "Sir Ian McKellen explains the opening seven words of Richard III."
Good enough for me! Sir Ian is magic!!
Or 15 words
And his analysis isn't even right
@@osazebacchus-oum1298how so?
His analysis is fine
@@osazebacchus-oum1298
The badge of Edward of York was a sun - that's the pun that everyone in Shakespeare's time would have got.Richard's badge was a boar - which is why it's referenced in the play . . . Catesby and Ratcliffe - the cat and the rat under a hog
The setting of the McKellen version was brilliant. The first words of the speech are delivered, if you recall, as a speech to the assembled royals, whereas the bulk is delivered by Richard in the toilet partially while he is urinating! The first part thus is political bullshit for his personal enemies, those who stand in the way of his ambition, whereas the remainder is the traditional aside delivered to the audience to explain his ambitions and to indicate the course of the play. Yes, brilliant, and you can't help but think Willy S. would approve.
And the cut from the first to the second happens with a zoom in on him as begins to show his real feelings with 'fright the souls of fearful adversaries!'
Also the Yorkist banner features the white rose with sun rays coming off it. So it is a tripple meaning, because it may also refer to the yorkist banner being sun like.
There are few things in life that confer as much happiness on me as Ian McKellen's voice does
Yes, but the esteemed theatrical knight has left out the best bit - The pun refers not just to 'sun' and 'son', but also to the fact that King Edward's personal emblem was the 'sun in splendour'. This referred back to the parhelion (triple sun phenomenon) taken as a good sign before the victory at the battle of Mortimer's Cross.
Moreover it's actually a triple pun as Edward IV's livery was the sun in splendour. Fantastic writing, explained by a veteran master of its delivery.
Wonderful delivery and a great film. The cast is superb.
Yes, great, thanks Ian, but WHY is he saying it? - Is Richard angry, surprised or amused? - Is this a NEW concern or has he had these thoughts before and is sick to death about it? What is going on inside the human being? Otherwise Richard is giving a lecture and audiences do NOT want one of those. Yes we need to know what the words mean, but also why the man is saying them. If Lear or Macbeth or Richard cannot laugh when talking about their troubles then why should we be interested? And it's not easy to manage this, because THEN,- having hopefully worked out what is behind what he says, the actor has to connect with it all personally. John.
I thought winter of our discontent meant the end of discontent, hence the next words 'made glorious summer'.
uh uh
Great voice! And such a clear vision as regards these lines.
McKellen's version of the play is great, and the presentation of the opening monologue is clever. But it begs a question: How did the rest of Richard's tribute to his brother go, after they cut away to him taking a leak?
Freud analyzed this speech by Richard the third in his paper on character types in 1916. King Richard felt he was entitled to do evil because fate had caused him to be born deformed. He was entitled to his revenge.
When you hear Olivier speak it, that becomes evident without Freud.
The lines in the monologue are self explanatory! But I that am rudely stamped ...etc
You have to love how he talk about Shakespeare! As anybody familiar, he sounds as though Shakespeare's soul speaks through him.
Our own King our Son of York
In the opening line speech Richard is referring to the current times the warring factions of the Yorkists and Lancastrians, every one is fighting each other and there lots of trouble and battles referred to later in the play such as the battle of Teweksbury. Hence 'now is the winter of our discontent' everyone is worried and uncertain.
.
He is referencing that it was a bad time but now it is fine, later he says that they are living in fair well spoken days and a weak piping time of peace, he references that Edward now spends his time womanising, now that war is over
You think you know better than sir ian mckellen who was been studying and performing shakespeare for sixty years?
I just so….admire him. ❤❤❤
the coolest actor around
I would listen to a podcast with this guy
I think it could mean something different as well. "now is the winter of our discontent" could be Richard talking about his own discontent. I personally think Richard struggles with multiple personalities on account of the fact that later in the play he says "my conscience hath a thousand several tongues" and so I think when he says "our" he is referring to himself and his personalities. He is talking about his general discontent that he doesn't fit in with all the frivolous partying and celebrating and he is discontent that he doesn't have the crown.
winter of discontent means a happy time. R3 isn't happy here. R3 is saying he'd rather be a villian in these happier times as he'll never be happy himself (being 'half made up")
FAntastic! Great explanation. Thanks, Sir Ian.
"Speaking openly to myself or to those that hear me speak openly 😏"
Why can't Sir Ian be my English teacher?
Explains only two lines, not the speach
Winter is the last 10 days of the years.....hence "winter of our discontent" means the bad times are ending.
That doesn't make any sense since the 12 days of Christmas start on 25 Dec. The second biggest festival of the year.
The bad times are over, the winter has been made glorious summer already
@@chrisdaniels3929 One has nothing to do with the other. Winter starts December 21, and is the last 10 days of the year, thus the year is ending. Shakespeare used that as a metaphor to mean discontent was ending. Christmas has nothing to do with the statement. Remember the term "Lion in Winter"? Meant the king was near the end of his life.
You do realise I'm not actually a king.
Nice!...I didn`t notice that aspect.
Even as a voice actor he's good. I saw parts of Flushed Away and the big toad is one funny character.
As a child of seven, my grandfather sat me on his knee and taught me this scene to where I could recite it verbatim. It's stayed with me all through my life. But I never really connected the meaning behind it until hearing Sir Ian put it into context.
Where is the rest of the explanation
@Gemmabeta When he should fail you, he will shout: YOU SHALL NOT PAAAAAAAASS!!!!!!!
@DeathSlayer2 No it isn't. Cocaine is one thing. Crack Cocaine is another. Its like calling Morphine Heroin.
Im not commenting further on the matter; making the comments descend into an argument about drugs when my original intention was a bit of light hearted humour.
L bozzo no ratio 0.10
@Rydaine hello my friend, fan of Sir Ian here, i was reading an interview he did while back which he stated he was an english professor at Oxford University. how long he was a professor he didnt say. he also said he was a professor on the Bill Mahr Show a few years back.
just thought i would share that with you, hell like everyone here has stated here i would love it he if he were my english professor.
take care my friend
Sir Ian1991, when you had.your boots slightly went over the edge of the Lyttleton stage and you spat out this speach like machine gun fire, I was mesmorized.
Glad this is on UA-cam. Unfortunately it looks like the original website was run on adobe flash which no longer works
@Gemmabeta - I would like him to deliver bad news to me. Then I could gawk at his amazing intonation while also receiving bad news in a magnificent manner.
@oowatwat Nope, I always watch it on my DVD. I am sure, though, that typing 'Ian McKellen on acting' into youtube will get you there.
Richard, narcissist that he is, could also be referring to himself when he says "son of York" no?
stagework,org/mckellen isn't working for me.
stageworkmckellen,com does though
Gandalf transformed into Prof. Teabing and now this.....
Richard of Cambridge , would have been better ?
Where can I see the whole thing though
He would make a bloody brilliant Eng Lit professor...
@Gemmabeta because he needs to act as GANDALF!!!!
more more moar! pls kind sir!
@MaximisedInsight do you have a link to that?
How about starting a play with " Heroin, Crack and Cocaine!" ?
Why cant he be my X-man tacher???
Is that it?
LOL
I am so glad I learned everything he just said when I was in high school. One need not be a knight to get this much from the speech.
Reminds me a little of the self-parody in Extras where he eloquently belabours the obvious (see related videos). The 'winter of our discontent' metaphor should be clear to everybody after the opening scene, and at the latest when he brings up 'grim-visaged war'. Though I guess the 'of York', and hence the pun, could be missed by the odd inattentive listener...
Just shows you how actors don't do their homework. 'This sun of York' refers to Edward IV's emblem the sun in splendor.
Completely wrong. What Richard's saying is "Now is the waning time (i.e. short season, death or perigee) of our misery, made even brighter 'cause my big brother, the Duke Of York, is king. In essence what he's saying is today, this very minute, is the happiest time the Yorks will ever know. Things couldn't get any better and won't because now is when my treachery begins. We won the War Of The Roses, we put away the weapons, sex is in the air and everyone's guard is down...
you have a point!
Rowena Kwan Junior year Shakespeare at SCSU, Professor Stuart. I have to give credit where credit is due...
crocostimpy No, Richard is not content with the rule of York. Although sex is in the air, because Richard is deformed/'unfinished' then he is 'unable to prove a lover' and therefor must 'prove a villain'.
That's why Shakespeare's a genius: both your and McKellen's interpretations are completely consistent with the text. "Now is the winter made glorious summer, and I am not at all happy about it"'; "now is actually the winter, but these morons all around me can't see it coming, because they're blinded by the glare off the sun/son of York". There's probably one or two more puns hiding in there somewhere, just in that one line. I understand that many pre-modern cultures were obsessively fond of this kind of word-play, so when Richard spits this kind of multi-level shizz within his first 3 seconds on stage, the Elizabethan audience -- even the groundlings -- would have instinctively understood that, watch out, we're dealing with a real bad-ass over here...loooooooong before he actually lays out his "plots and inductions dangerous" for them.
no offense but i think a famous Shakespearean actor might know more than you about this
is that mr. spok
0:24 I can't believe I'm bringing up Ian McKellen on Shakespeare analysis but "the winter" in "the winter of our discontent" means the end of it, not that it's uncomfortable. Better 14 years late than never