William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (99 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Go you before and I will follow you.
Exit Hastings
He cannot live, I hope, and must not die
Till George be packed with post-haste up to heaven.
I’ll in to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well steeled with weighty arguments.
And if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live—
Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy
And leave the world for me to bustle in.
For then I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter.
What though I killed her husband and her father?
The readiest way to make the wench amends
Is to become her husband and her father,
The which will I: not all so much for love,
As for another secret close intent,
By marrying her, which I must reach unto.
But yet I run before my horse to market.
Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns;
When they are gone, then must I count my gains.
Exit Hastings
He cannot live, I hope, and must not die
Till George be packed with post-haste up to heaven.
I’ll in to urge his hatred more to Clarence,
With lies well steeled with weighty arguments.
And if I fail not in my deep intent,
Clarence hath not another day to live—
Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy
And leave the world for me to bustle in.
For then I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter.
What though I killed her husband and her father?
The readiest way to make the wench amends
Is to become her husband and her father,
The which will I: not all so much for love,
As for another secret close intent,
By marrying her, which I must reach unto.
But yet I run before my horse to market.
Clarence still breathes, Edward still lives and reigns;
When they are gone, then must I count my gains.
Exit
1.2Enter gentlemen, bearing the corpse of King Henry the Sixth in an open coffin, with halberdiers to guard it, Lady Anne being the mourner
LADY ANNE
Set down, set down your honourable load,
If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,
Whilst I a while obsequiously lament
Th’untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.
If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,
Whilst I a while obsequiously lament
Th’untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.
They set the coffin down
Poor key-cold figure of a holy king,
Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster,
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood:
Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost
To hear the lamentations of poor Anne,
Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughtered son,
Stabbed by the selfsame hand that made these wounds.
Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life,
I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.
O cursed be the hand that made these holes,
Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence,
Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it.
More direful hap betide that hated wretch
That makes us wretched by the death of thee
Than I can wish to wolves, to spiders, toads,
Or any creeping venomed thing that lives.
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whose ugly and unnatural aspect
May fright the hopeful mother at the view,
And that be heir to his unhappiness.
If ever he have wife, let her be made
More miserable by the death of him
Than I am made by my young lord and thee.—
Come now towards Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul’s to be interred there,
And still as you are weary of this weight
Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry’s corpse.
Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster,
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood:
Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost
To hear the lamentations of poor Anne,
Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughtered son,
Stabbed by the selfsame hand that made these wounds.
Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life,
I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.
O cursed be the hand that made these holes,
Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence,
Cursed the heart that had the heart to do it.
More direful hap betide that hated wretch
That makes us wretched by the death of thee
Than I can wish to wolves, to spiders, toads,
Or any creeping venomed thing that lives.
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whose ugly and unnatural aspect
May fright the hopeful mother at the view,
And that be heir to his unhappiness.
If ever he have wife, let her be made
More miserable by the death of him
Than I am made by my young lord and thee.—
Come now towards Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul’s to be interred there,
⌈
The gentlemen lift the coffin
⌉
Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry’s corpse.
Enter Richard Duke of Gloucester
RICHARD GLOUCESTER (
to the gentlemen
)
to the gentlemen
)
Stay, you that bear the corpse, and set it down.
LADY ANNE
What black magician conjures up this fiend
To stop devoted charitable deeds?
To stop devoted charitable deeds?
RICHARD GLOUCESTER (
to the gentlemen
)
to the gentlemen
)
Villains, set down the corpse, or by Saint Paul
I’ll make a corpse of him that disobeys.
I’ll make a corpse of him that disobeys.
⌈HALBERDIER⌉
My lord, stand back and let the coffin pass.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Unmannered dog, stand thou when I command.
Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,
Or by Saint Paul I’ll strike thee to my foot
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,
Or by Saint Paul I’ll strike thee to my foot
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
They set the coffin down
LADY ANNE (
to gentlemen and halberdiers
)
to gentlemen and halberdiers
)
What, do you tremble? Are you all afraid?
Alas, I blame you not, for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.—
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell.
Thou hadst but power over his mortal body;
His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone.
Alas, I blame you not, for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.—
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell.
Thou hadst but power over his mortal body;
His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Sweet saint, for charity be not so cursed.
LADY ANNE
Foul devil, for God’s sake hence and trouble us not,
For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
Filled it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.—
O gentlemen, see, see! Dead Henry’s wounds
Ope their congealed mouths and bleed afresh.—
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity,
For ‘tis thy presence that ex-hales this blood
From cold and empty veins where no blood dwells.
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge supernatural.
O God, which this blood mad’st, revenge his death.
O earth, which this blood drink‘st, revenge his death.
Either heav’n with lightning strike the murd’rer dead,
Or earth gape open wide and eat him quick
As thou dost swallow up this good king’s blood,
Which his hell-governed arm hath butchered.
For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
Filled it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.—
O gentlemen, see, see! Dead Henry’s wounds
Ope their congealed mouths and bleed afresh.—
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity,
For ‘tis thy presence that ex-hales this blood
From cold and empty veins where no blood dwells.
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge supernatural.
O God, which this blood mad’st, revenge his death.
O earth, which this blood drink‘st, revenge his death.
Either heav’n with lightning strike the murd’rer dead,
Or earth gape open wide and eat him quick
As thou dost swallow up this good king’s blood,
Which his hell-governed arm hath butchered.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
LADY ANNE
Villain, thou know’st no law of God nor man.
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
LADY ANNE
O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed crimes to give me leave
By circumstance but to acquit myself.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed crimes to give me leave
By circumstance but to acquit myself.
LADY ANNE
Vouchsafe, diffused infection of a man,
Of these known evils but to give me leave
By circumstance t’accuse thy cursèd self.
Of these known evils but to give me leave
By circumstance t’accuse thy cursèd self.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have
Some patient leisure to excuse myself.
Some patient leisure to excuse myself.
LADY ANNE
Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make
No excuse current but to hang thyself.
No excuse current but to hang thyself.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
By such despair I should accuse myself. 85
LADY ANNE
And by despairing shalt thou stand excused,
For doing worthy vengeance on thyself
That didst unworthy slaughter upon others.
For doing worthy vengeance on thyself
That didst unworthy slaughter upon others.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Say that I slew them not.
LADY ANNE
Then say they were not slain.
But dead they are—and, devilish slave, by thee.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
I did not kill your husband.
LADY ANNE
Why, then he is alive.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Nay, he is dead, and slain by Edward’s hand.
LADY ANNE
In thy foul throat thou liest. Queen Margaret saw
Thy murd’rous falchion smoking in his blood,
The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
But that thy brothers beat aside the point.
Thy murd’rous falchion smoking in his blood,
The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
But that thy brothers beat aside the point.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
I was provoked by her sland’rous tongue,
That laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.
That laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.
LADY ANNE
Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind,
That never dream’st on aught but butcheries.
Didst thou not kill this king?
That never dream’st on aught but butcheries.
Didst thou not kill this king?
RICHARD GLOUCESTER I grant ye.
LADY ANNE
Dost grant me, hedgehog? Then God grant me, too,
Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed.
O he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.
Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed.
O he was gentle, mild, and virtuous.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
The better for the King of Heaven that hath him.
LADY ANNE
He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Let him thank me that holp to send him thither,
For he was fitter for that place than earth.
For he was fitter for that place than earth.
LADY ANNE
And thou unfit for any place but hell.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.
LADY ANNE
Some dungeon.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER Your bedchamber.
LADY ANNE
III rest betide the chamber where thou liest.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
So will it, madam, till I lie with you.
LADY ANNE
I hope so.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER I know so. But gentle Lady Anne,
To leave this keen encounter of our wits
And fall something into a slower method,
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?
And fall something into a slower method,
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?
LADY ANNE
Thou wast the cause of that accursed effect.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Your beauty was the cause of that effect—
Your beauty that did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
Your beauty that did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
LADY ANNE
If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,
These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.
These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
These eyes could not endure sweet beauty’s wreck.
You should not blemish it if I stood by.
You should not blemish it if I stood by.
As all the world is cheered by the sun,
So I by that: it is my day, my life.
So I by that: it is my day, my life.
LADY ANNE
Black night o’ershade thy day, and death thy life.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Curse not thyself, fair creature: thou art both.
LADY ANNE
I would I were, to be revenged on thee.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
It is a quarrel most unnatural,
To be revenged on him that loveth you.
To be revenged on him that loveth you.
LADY ANNE
It is a quarrel just and reasonable,
To be revenged on him that killed my husband.
To be revenged on him that killed my husband.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,
Did it to help thee to a better husband.
Did it to help thee to a better husband.
LADY ANNE
His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
He lives that loves thee better than he could.
LADY ANNE
Name him.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER Plantagenet.
LADY ANNE
Why, that was he.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
The selfsame name, but one of better nature.
LADY ANNE
Where is he?
RICHARD GLOUCESTER Here.
She spits at him
Why dost thou spit at me?
LADY ANNE
Would it were mortal poison for thy sake.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Never came poison from so sweet a place.
LADY ANNE
Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.
Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.
LADY ANNE
Would they were basilisks to strike thee dead.
RICHARD GLOUCESTER
I would they were, that I might die at once,
For now they kill me with a living death.
Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
Shamed their aspects with store of childish drops.
I never sued to friend nor enemy;
My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
But now thy beauty is proposed my fee,
My proud heart sues and prompts my tongue to speak.
For now they kill me with a living death.
Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
Shamed their aspects with store of childish drops.
I never sued to friend nor enemy;
My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
But now thy beauty is proposed my fee,
My proud heart sues and prompts my tongue to speak.
She looks scornfully at him
Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
⌈
He
kneels and offers her his
sword
⌉
Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword,
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke
And humbly beg the death upon my knee.
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke
And humbly beg the death upon my knee.
He lays his breast open; she offers at it with his sword
Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King Henry;
But ‘twas thy beauty that provoked me.
Nay, now dispatch: ’twas I that stabbed young
Edward;
But ’was thy heavenly face that set me on.
But ‘twas thy beauty that provoked me.
Nay, now dispatch: ’twas I that stabbed young
Edward;
But ’was thy heavenly face that set me on.
She drops the sword
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