Richard III | Richard III: Textual Analysis of Act V, Scene iii, Lines 182-206
A close textual analysis of of Richard's speech towards the end of the play, where he awakes from a nightmare on the eve of battle.
In this speech, which occurs near the end of the play, Richard is talking to himself, trying to shake himself out of a nightmare and prepare himself for the battle which will take place at dawn. It is "dead midnight" on the eve of battle, the "witching hour," the time of night when "the lights burn blue," which refers to an old superstition that when ghosts or spirits are about, they affect the lamps. Richard has awakened in a cold sweat ("Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh") with murder on his mind.
The principal (and only) image in the speech occurs in lines 194-200:
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[The entire page is 1962 words long]
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