Meditações - a clock strikes ominously

Although it's Shakespeare's second-longest play, Richard III quickly motors through about 14 years of English history. The action is compressed into less than a month, making this five-act drama seem to go by an instant. The play's fast pacing is mostly due to Richard's "hurry up and grab the crown" strategy, which involves acting quickly (he proposes to Lady Anne while she's grieving the deaths of her husband and father-in-law) and accelerating events (like ordering Clarence's death before Edward can reverse the execution order).

The play is very self-conscious about this speeding up of time, and Shakespeare constantly makes us aware of it. (It seems like someone is always asking what time it is.) Yet there's also a sense that Richard simply doesn't have enough time to maintain his power. Just before the Battle of Bosworth Field (where Richard dies almost the instant he encounters Richmond), a clock strikes ominously, signaling that Richard's time has run out.

Shmoop sobre o simbolismo do Tempo em Ricardo III, de William Shakespeare