“Son of York”: The best pun in literature

Being a history buff, it is only natural that I would be interested in Shakespeare’s history plays.  With the garden season winding down, I may begin to write about it; I know how to alienate the readers from this blog.

The opening lines of Richard III (“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York”) are as famous as that of The Tale of Two Cities (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,”) I also like “Call me Ishmael” that begins Moby-Dick.

Richard:
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
            Richard III  Act I  Scene 1

Shakespeare opened the play with a powerful and lengthy (40 some lines) soliloquy of Richard (Duke of Gloucester, at which time his elsder brother, Edward IV, was the king).  It gives us a hint of who he is and what he will be.

I made a ‘map’ (I will be your GPS) which covers more than two thirds of Shakespeare’s history plays.  The Wars of Roses (1455-1485) were fought between the Houses of Lancaster and York, both are the descendants of Edward III.  For about 60 years Lancastrian clans have been Kings (Henry IV, V and VI—the Bard gave us Henry IV—Part 1 & 2, Henry V, and Henry VI—Part 1, 2 & 3) and that is Richard’s “winter of discontent” as Yorkists (Edward IV and Richard III) finally took over the crown, thus “made glorious summer by this son of York”.  The gloomy winter’s discontent turned into glorious and sunny summer's contendedness, now that his brother is the king (Edward IV).

“this son of York” is the pun of “this sun of York”.  The Wars of Roses were fought by several generations—by the sons of Duke of Lancaster and Duke of York.  And less known is that “sun” is also the emblem of Edward IV’s crown.  The radiance of the glorious ‘sun’ dispelled the gloomy clouds overcasting the House of York.