“Now is the winter of our discontent” initially indicates that hard times are behind us. This sentiment is in stark contrast to the final lines of the soliloquy. Richard is discontented clearly. And in this, his, context, the “winter of discontent” takes on a more sinister, bleak meaning. Winter can describe an end, it is also can represent the most bleak of times.

I’ve always interpreted it as our referring reflexively to Richard, and instead of saying my, he uses our in the sense of the ‘Royal We’. So, because he doesn’t have a place in the new peace, and stands out in stark contrast to the revelry, it is truly his discontent that he is lamenting. Especially since he says “Now”, not that the collective discontent has just ended, but that his has just begun. In some ways like a Grinch figure who can’t abide by everyone else’s happiness, simply because he can’t see how he will partake in it.

It’s an awesomely clever pun! The “winter of our discontent” (The Wars of the Roses, which they’ve just won) has been warmed by the “sun” of York (his family). But Richard and his brothers, sons of Richard Duke of York, were known as the “sons of York.” To add to this, prior to the Battle of Towton (Edward’s first decisive victory, occurring several decades before this play took place), he was said to have seen an optical illusion in the sky, namely he saw three suns in the sky and related it to him and his two brothers as the “sons of York.”

Its both. Winter/Sun no chid/son etc….

He just explicates the soliloquy word for word, it can’t be any shorter than so. This is the best thing I’ve found on the internet. Some people cannot be appeased.

Thank you for supplying this information.

It’s not really accurate to call it a translation – it’s a short summary for those who (unlike you) cannot make sense of the original. The website is deigned for “students of all ages”, so perhaps they didn’t really want to make the sexual references too graphic.