Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter the old Duchess of York with the two
children of Clarence. BOY
Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead? DUCHESS No, boy. DAUGHTER
Why do you weep so oft, and beat your breast,
And cry “O Clarence, my unhappy son”? BOY
Why do you look on us and shake your head, 5
And call us orphans, wretches, castaways,
If that our noble father were alive? DUCHESS
My pretty cousins, you mistake me both.
I do lament the sickness of the King,
As loath to lose him, not your father’s death. 10
It were lost sorrow to wail one that’s lost. BOY
Then, you conclude, my grandam, he is dead.
The King mine uncle is to blame for it.
God will revenge it, whom I will importune
With earnest prayers, all to that effect. 15 DAUGHTER And so will I. DUCHESS
Peace, children, peace. The King doth love you
well.
Incapable and shallow innocents,
You cannot guess who caused your father’s death. 20 BOY
Grandam, we can, for my good uncle Gloucester
Told me the King, provoked to it by the Queen,
Devised impeachments to imprison him;
And when my uncle told me so, he wept,
And pitied me, and kindly kissed my cheek, 25
Bade me rely on him as on my father,
And he would love me dearly as a child. | |
DUCHESS
Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shape,
And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice.
He is my son, ay, and therein my shame, 30
Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit. BOY
Think you my uncle did dissemble, grandam? DUCHESS Ay, boy. BOY
I cannot think it. Hark, what noise is this? Enter Queen Elizabeth with her hair about her ears,
Rivers and Dorset after her. QUEEN ELIZABETH
Ah, who shall hinder me to wail and weep, 35
To chide my fortune and torment myself?
I’ll join with black despair against my soul
And to myself become an enemy. DUCHESS
What means this scene of rude impatience? QUEEN ELIZABETH
To make an act of tragic violence. 40
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 their sap?
If you will live, lament. If die, be brief,
That our swift-wingèd souls may catch the King’s, 45
Or, like obedient subjects, follow him
To his new kingdom of ne’er-changing night. | Just as their grandma is pointing out that their Uncle Richard is not
trustworthy, Queen Elizabeth comes in, looking a mess and grieving for
the dead King Edward. |
DUCHESS
Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow
As I had title in thy noble husband.
I have bewept a worthy husband’s death 50
And lived with looking on his images;
But now two mirrors of his princely semblance
Are cracked in pieces by malignant death,
And I, for comfort, have but one false glass
That grieves me when I see my shame in him. 55
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, 60
Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I,
Thine being but a moiety of my moan,
To overgo thy woes and drown thy cries! BOY, to Queen Elizabeth
Ah, aunt, you wept not for our father’s death.
How can we aid you with our kindred tears? 65 DAUGHTER, to Queen Elizabeth
Our fatherless distress was left unmoaned.
Your widow-dolor likewise be unwept! QUEEN ELIZABETH
Give me no help in lamentation.
I am not barren to bring forth complaints.
All springs reduce their currents to mine eyes, 70
That I, being governed by the watery moon,
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
Alas for both, both mine, Edward and Clarence! 75 QUEEN ELIZABETH
What stay had I but Edward? And he’s gone. CHILDREN
What stay had we but Clarence? And he’s gone. DUCHESS
What stays had I but they? And they are gone. QUEEN ELIZABETH
Was never widow had so dear a loss. CHILDREN
Were never orphans had so dear a loss. 80 DUCHESS
Was never mother had so dear a loss.
Alas, I am the mother of these griefs.
Their woes are parceled; mine is general.
She for an Edward weeps, and so do I;
I for a Clarence weep; so doth not she. 85
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,
And I will pamper it with lamentation. 90 | Then everyone has a round of mourning over all the dead men in the
family: Elizabeth has lost a husband, the children have lost a father,
and the Duchess has lost two sons. |
DORSET, to Queen Elizabeth
Comfort, dear mother. God is much displeased
That you take with unthankfulness His doing.
In common worldly things, ’tis called ungrateful
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent; 95
Much more to be thus opposite with heaven,
For it requires the royal debt it lent you. RIVERS
Madam, bethink you, like a careful mother,
Of the young prince your son. Send straight for
him. 100
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. | Just then Dorset and Rivers (who came in with the queen) interrupt with
more pressing matters. The dead are dead, and the living must be
crowned. Rivers suggests that Queen Elizabeth should straightaway send
for her young son, also named Edward, who's next in line for the throne. |
Enter Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Buckingham, Lord
Stanley, Earl of Derby, Hastings, and Ratcliffe. RICHARD, to Queen Elizabeth
Sister, have comfort. All of us have cause
To wail the dimming of our shining star, 105
But none can help our harms by wailing them.—
Madam my mother, I do cry you mercy;
I did not see your Grace. Humbly on my knee
I crave your blessing. He kneels. DUCHESS
God bless thee, and put meekness in thy breast, 110
Love, charity, obedience, and true duty. RICHARD, standing
Amen. Aside. And make me die a good old man!
That is the butt end of a mother’s blessing;
I marvel that her Grace did leave it out. BUCKINGHAM
You cloudy princes and heart-sorrowing peers 115
That bear this heavy mutual load of moan,
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 rancor of your high-swoll’n hates, 120
But lately splintered, knit, and joined together,
Must gently be preserved, cherished, and kept.
Meseemeth good that with some little train
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fet
Hither to London, to be crowned our king. 125 RIVERS
Why “with some little train,” my lord of
Buckingham? BUCKINGHAM
Marry, my lord, lest by a multitude
The new-healed wound of malice should break out,
Which would be so much the more dangerous 130
By how much the estate is green and yet
ungoverned.
Where every horse bears his commanding rein
And may direct his course as please himself,
As well the fear of harm as harm apparent, 135
In my opinion, ought to be prevented. RICHARD
I hope the King made peace with all of us;
And the compact is firm and true in me. RIVERS
And so in me, and so, I think, in all.
Yet since it is but green, it should be put 140
To no apparent likelihood of breach,
Which haply by much company might be urged.
Therefore I say with noble Buckingham
That it is meet so few should fetch the Prince. HASTINGS And so say I. 145 RICHARD
Then be it so, and go we to determine
Who they shall be that straight shall post to
Ludlow.—
Madam, and you, my sister, will you go
To give your censures in this business? 150 | Just then Richard enters with Buckingham; Stanley, Earl of Derby; Hastings; and Ratcliffe.
Richard receives a cool welcome from his mother, and he and his lackeys discuss the transport of the young Edward to the throne from his place in Ludlow. |
All but Buckingham and Richard exit. BUCKINGHAM
My lord, whoever journeys to the Prince,
For God’s sake let not us two stay at home.
For by the way I’ll sort occasion,
As index to the story we late talked of,
To part the Queen’s proud kindred from the Prince. 155 RICHARD
My other self, my council’s consistory,
My oracle, my prophet, my dear cousin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.
Toward Ludlow then, for we’ll not stay behind. They exit. | Richard then dismisses the ladies to go think over who should bring the young king to the palace. Once Richard and Buckingham have the room to themselves, Buckingham refers to some secret conference the two men had earlier. Buckingham agrees that regardless of who goes to fetch the young king, he and Richard should be there. Their presence will help their other plan, which is making sure that the queen's friends don't get close to the new king. Richard praises Buckingham for being so loyal. |