Now is the winter of our discontent. What does it mean?

Answer 1

Now is the winter of our discontent
Meaning

The time of unhappiness is past.

Origin

From Shakespeare's Richard III.

In this play Shakespeare presents a version of Richard's character that, until the late 20th century, largely formed the popular opinion of him as a malevolent, deformed schemer. Historians now reject that view as a dramatic plot device that was necessary for the villain role that Shakespeare allocated him. It isn't consistent with what is now known of Richard III, who in many ways showed himself to be an enlightened and forward-looking monarch.

"Now is the winter of our discontent" are the opening words of the play and lay the groundwork for the portrait of Richard as a discontented man who is unhappy in a world that hates him. Later he describes himself as "Deformed, unfinished, sent before his time into this breathing world, scarce half made up". This deformity, which has now been shown to have been exaggerated or even deliberately faked in portraits of Richard, is given as the source of his supposed evil doings. He says that as he "cannot prove a lover" he is "determined to be a villain".

The brooding malevolence that Shakespeare has Richard personify mirrors the playwright's view of the state of the English nation during the Wars of the Roses.


or

The opening words of this play reflect the persona of Richard, a deformed angry man who hates the world that he believes hates him. In this soliloquy, we see the workings of his mind, and how he is always aware of his hideous appearance. "Deformed, unfinished, sent before" his "time into this breathing world, scarce half made up," his personality has grown warped. He is so ugly that the dogs on the street bark at him; women scorn him. And, so, since he "cannot prove a lover" he is "determined to be a villain." Shakespeare's Richard, with all his deformities, both of body and mind, is considered a physical manifestation of the corruption of the monarchy during the War of the Roses, a bloody moment in English history. In this long soliloquy, Richard makes no apologies for his villainy but rather embraces it and gives cause.

Answer 2

You've decapitated the quote. It doesn't stop there. It is "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York." It means the bad times are past, and the good times have come.
"The Winter of our Discontent" is used to refer to any period of general dissatisfaction, and was used as a title for a book by John Steinbeck

Answer 3

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Now is the winter of our discontent. What does it mean?

Answer 4

Quoted out of context, as it often is, it would seem to mean 'we are having bad times now.' But, in fact, this line opens Shakespeare's Richard III, as spoken by the Duke of Gloucester (Richard III):

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.

The opening speech goes on to display Gloucester's resentment, self-pity, and determination to make his mark as a villain if nothing else. In context, the phrase merely sets the scene. In other words 'now our hard times are gone and there is peace and prosperity under Edward, and I'm pissed, and I mean to change that.'

But the phrase has a certain sonority and weight which have led to it being often repeated as if it alone were the statement (most notably when Steinbeck borrowed it as a title for a novel). It's just one of those Shakespearean lines that have been spoken so often out of context that it has lost its meaning. Like 'to be or not to be', it is a phrase that can have any number of intended meanings according to the person co-opting it, but, to find the original meaning, one must return to the text.

Answer 5

This quote does not stop here . . . but in this context it is meaning that the time of discontent is ending or comming to its end . . . Winter here referring to said end.

And good times are now comming . . . for it next references Spring which is commonly used for new beginnings or beginnings in general.

Answer 6

Now is the winter of our discontent...the coldest and hardest or most trying part of unhappiness.

Answer 7

The time for unhappiness is now past. But Don t understand this sun of York. I always thought it meant son of York

Answer 8

it means it is the beginning of our discontent.

Answer 9

The time of unhappiness is past. Things are getting better.

Answer 10

Perhaps it refers to the pain associated with growing old