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Alice Wells's avatar

Then hate me when thou wilt….

Is Richard asking the audience to judge him now not later after fortune has played her card?

What is the ‘sorrow’ he refers to?

As you can see, am a bit confused with what’s going on here!

Henry Oliver's avatar

That is from a sonnet, addressed to the lover, they are going through a rough patch, as it were

Josh Holly's avatar

So fun! Nice breakdown. This duplicity really stays with you. I kept thinking about the play after we read it and talked about it the other day. I also read Tale of Two Cities for the first time last month. Something about those twinnings, man! England's 18th century contrasted with France's. Two households both alike in dignity etc. The pairing technique that writers use give our minds a nudge. I suspect there's a connection to parallelism here. It is as if some of words are granted an extra charge of electricity. The paradox and depth of meaning (and reversals too) in a good pairing create ample space for the mind to explore.

Henry Oliver's avatar

Yeah the famous opening of TOTC is parallelism. Juxtaposition shows both sides in different light.

Alice Wells's avatar

And why would the loss of the audience’s sympathy by worse than the failure of overthrow? For a man out for himself, why would he care?