Richard III (10 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
Wailing within
BOY
I cannot think it. Hark, what noise is this?
Enter the Queen with her
hair about her ears
, Rivers and Dorset after her
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Ah, who shall hinder me to wail and weep,
To
chide
35
my fortune, and torment myself?
I’ll join with
black
36
despair against my soul,
And
to myself become an enemy.
37
DUCHESS OF YORK
What means this scene of
rude impatience?
38
QUEEN ELIZABETH
To make an
act
39
of tragic violence.
Edward, my lord, thy son, our king, is dead.
Why grow the branches when the root is gone?
Why wither not the leaves that
want
42
their sap?
If you will live, lament: if die, be
brief
43
,
That our swift-wingèd souls may
catch
44
the king’s,
Or, like obedient subjects, follow him
To his new kingdom of ne’er-changing night.
DUCHESS OF YORK
Ah, so much
interest
47
have I in thy sorrow
As I had
title in
48
thy noble husband.
I have bewept a worthy husband’s death,
And lived with looking on
his images
50
:
But now two
mirrors
of his princely
semblance
51
Are cracked in pieces by malignant death,
And I for comfort have but one
false glass
53
,
That grieves me when I see my shame in him.
Thou art a widow, yet thou art a mother,
And hast the comfort of thy children left.
But death hath snatched my husband from mine arms,
And plucked two crutches from my feeble hands,
Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I,
Thine being but a
moiety
60
of my moan,
To
overgo
61
thy woes and drown thy cries.
To the Queen
BOY
Ah, aunt, you wept not for our father’s death:
How can we aid you with our
kindred
63
tears?
DAUGHTER
Our fatherless distress was left
unmoaned.
64
To the Queen
Your
widow-dolour
likewise
be
65
unwept.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Give me no help in lamentation,
I am not
barren to
bring forth
complaints.
67
All springs
reduce
68
their currents to mine eyes,
That I, being governed by the
watery moon
69
,
May send forth plenteous tears to drown the world.
Ah, for my husband, for my dear lord Edward!
CHILDREN
Ah, for our father, for our dear lord Clarence!
DUCHESS OF YORK
Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence!
QUEEN ELIZABETH
What
stay
74
had I but Edward? And he’s gone.
CHILDREN
What stay had we but Clarence? And he’s gone.
DUCHESS OF YORK
What stays had I but they? And they are gone.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Was never widow
had so
dear
77
a loss.
CHILDREN
Were never orphans had so dear a loss!
DUCHESS OF YORK
Was never mother had so dear a loss.
Alas, I am the mother of these griefs!
Their woes are
parcelled
, mine is
general.
81
She for an Edward weeps, and so do I:
I for a Clarence weep, so doth not she:
These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I:
I for an Edward weep, so do not they.
Alas, you three, on me, threefold distressed,
Pour all your tears! I am your sorrow’s
nurse
87
,
And I will
pamper
88
it with lamentation.
To the Queen
DORSET
Comfort, dear mother. God is much displeased
That you take with unthankfulness, his doing.
In common worldly things, ’tis called ungrateful,
With
dull
92
unwillingness to repay a debt
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent,
Much more to be thus
opposite
94
with heaven,
For it requires
95
the royal debt it lent you.
RIVERS
Madam, bethink you, like a
careful
96
mother
Of the young prince your son: send straight for him
Let him be crowned. In him your comfort lives.
Drown desperate sorrow in dead Edward’s grave
And plant your joys in living Edward’s throne.
Enter Richard, Buckingham
, [
Stanley, Earl of
]
Derby, Hastings and Ratcliffe
To the Queen
RICHARD
Sister, have comfort. All of us have cause
To wail the dimming of our shining star,
But none can help our harms by wailing them.—
Madam, my mother, I do
cry you mercy
104
:
I did not see your grace. Humbly on my knee
Kneels
I crave your blessing.
DUCHESS OF YORK
God bless thee, and put
meekness
107
in thy breast,
Love, charity, obedience and true duty.
↓Richard rises↓
Aside
RICHARD
Amen.—And make me die a good old man.
That is the
butt-end
110
of a mother’s blessing;
I marvel that her
grace
111
did leave it out.
BUCKINGHAM
You
cloudy
112
princes and heart-sorrowing peers,
That bear this heavy mutual load of
moan
113
,
Now cheer each other in each other’s love.
Though we have spent our harvest of this king,
We are to reap the harvest of his son.
The
broken rancour
117
of your high-swoll’n hates,
But lately splintered
118
, knit, and joined together,
Must gently be preserved, cherished, and
kept.
119
Meseemeth
good, that, with some
little train
120
,
Forthwith
121
from Ludlow the young prince be fet
Hither to London, to be crowned our king.
RIVERS
Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham?
BUCKINGHAM
Marry, my lord, lest by a
multitude
124
,
The new-healed wound of malice should break out,
Which would be so much the more dangerous
By how much the
estate
127
is green and yet ungoverned.
Where every horse bears his commanding rein
128
,
And may direct his course as please himself,
As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent
130
,
In my opinion, ought to be prevented.
RICHARD
I hope the king made peace
with
132
all of us,
And the
compact
133
is firm and true in me.
RIVERS
And so in me, and so, I think, in all.
Yet since it is but
green
135
, it should be put
To no
apparent
136
likelihood of breach,
Which
haply
137
by much company might be urged:
Therefore I say with noble Buckingham,
That it is
meet
139
so few should fetch the prince.
HASTINGS
And so say I.
RICHARD
Then be it so, and go we to determine
Who they shall be that straight shall
post
142
to Ludlow.
Madam, and you my sister, will you go
To give your
censures
144
in this business?
Exeunt. Buckingham and Richard remain
BUCKINGHAM
My lord, whoever journeys to the prince,
For God’s sake, let not us two stay at home.
For
by
147
the way I’ll sort occasion,
As
index
148
to the story we late talked of,
To part the queen’s proud kindred from the prince.
RICHARD
My other self, my
counsel’s
150
consistory,
My oracle, my prophet, my dear cousin,
I, as a child, will go by thy
direction.
152
Towards Ludlow then, for we’ll not stay behind.
Exeunt
running scene 5
Enter one Citizen at one door, and another at the other
FIRST CITIZEN
Good morrow, neighbour. Whither away so fast?
SECOND CITIZEN
I promise you, I scarcely know myself.
Hear you the news
abroad?
3
FIRST CITIZEN
Yes, that the king is dead.
SECOND CITIZEN
Ill news,
by’r lady
5
, seldom comes the better:
I fear, I fear ’twill prove a
giddy
6
world.
Enter another Citizen
THIRD CITIZEN
Neighbours,
God speed.
7
FIRST CITIZEN
Give you good morrow
8
, sir.
THIRD CITIZEN
Doth the news hold
9
of good King Edward’s death?
SECOND CITIZEN
Ay, sir, it is too true,
God help the
while.
10
THIRD CITIZEN
Then,
masters
11
, look to see a troublous world.
FIRST CITIZEN
No, no. By God’s good grace his son shall reign.
THIRD CITIZEN
Woe to that land that’s governed by a child.
SECOND CITIZEN
In him there is a hope of government,
Which in his
nonage
15
, council under him,
And in his full and ripened years, himself,
No doubt shall then, and till then govern well.
FIRST CITIZEN
So stood the state when Henry the Sixth
Was crowned in Paris but at nine months old.
THIRD CITIZEN
Stood the state
so?
20
No, no, good friends, God wot,
For then this land was famously enriched
With
politic grave counsel
22
; then the king
Had virtuous uncles to
protect
23
his grace.
FIRST CITIZEN
Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.
THIRD CITIZEN
Better it were they all came by his father,
Or by his father there were none at all.
For
emulation
27
, who shall now be nearest,
Will
touch us all too near
28
, if God prevent not.
O, full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester,
And the queen’s sons and brothers
haught
30
and proud:
And were they to be ruled, and not to rule,
This sickly land might
solace
32
as before.
FIRST CITIZEN
Come, come, we fear the worst. All will be well.
THIRD CITIZEN
When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not
look for
36
night?
Untimely storms makes men expect a
dearth.
37
All may be well; but, if God
sort
38
it so,
’Tis more than we deserve or I expect.
SECOND CITIZEN
Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear.
You
cannot reason almost
41
with a man
That looks not
heavily
42
and full of dread.
THIRD CITIZEN
Before the days of change,
still
43
is it so.
By a divine instinct men’s minds
mistrust
44
Pursuing danger. As by
proof
45
, we see
The water swell before a
boist’rous
46
storm.
But leave it all to God.
Whither away?
47
SECOND CITIZEN
Marry, we were sent for to the
justices.
48
THIRD CITIZEN
And so was I. I’ll bear you company.