Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Flourish. Enter King Henry, Queen Margaret,
Clifford, Northumberland, and young Prince Edward,
all wearing the red rose with Drum and Trumpets,
the head of York fixed above them. QUEEN MARGARET, to King Henry
Welcome, my lord, to this brave town of York.
Yonder’s the head of that arch-enemy
That sought to be encompassed with your crown.
Doth not the object cheer your heart, my lord? KING HENRY
Ay, as the rocks cheer them that fear their wrack! 5
To see this sight, it irks my very soul.
Withhold revenge, dear God! ’Tis not my fault,
Nor wittingly have I infringed my vow. | Margaret, Clifford, Northumberland, and Prince Edward all arrive at York (as in the town) and greet Henry. Margaret tells Henry to look at the head of the severed guy who tried to steal his throne. Henry's not amused. He tells Margaret to let it go and stop seeking revenge. |
CLIFFORD
My gracious liege, this too much lenity
And harmful pity must be laid aside. 10
To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick?
Not his that spoils her young before her face.
Who scapes the lurking serpent’s mortal sting? 15
Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.
Ambitious York did level at thy crown,
Thou smiling while he knit his angry brows. 20
He, but a duke, would have his son a king
And raise his issue like a loving sire;
Thou being a king, blest with a goodly son,
Didst yield consent to disinherit him,
Which argued thee a most unloving father. 25
Unreasonable creatures feed their young;
And though man’s face be fearful to their eyes,
Yet in protection of their tender ones,
Who hath not seen them, even with those wings
Which sometime they have used with fearful flight, 30
Make war with him that climbed unto their nest,
Offering their own lives in their young’s defense?
For shame, my liege, make them your precedent.
Were it not pity that this goodly boy
Should lose his birthright by his father’s fault, 35
And long hereafter say unto his child
“What my great-grandfather and grandsire got,
My careless father fondly gave away”?
Ah, what a shame were this! Look on the boy,
And let his manly face, which promiseth 40
Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart
To hold thine own and leave thine own with him. | Clifford asks Henry to think of his own son. Prince Edward deserves the crown, so he shouldn't steal it from him. York wanted to steal it, so he was punished. Clifford delivers some words about the importance of families. |
KING HENRY
Full well hath Clifford played the orator,
Inferring arguments of mighty force.
But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear 45
That things ill got had ever bad success?
And happy always was it for that son
Whose father for his hoarding went to hell?
I’ll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind,
And would my father had left me no more; 50
For all the rest is held at such a rate
As brings a thousandfold more care to keep
Than in possession any jot of pleasure.
Ah, cousin York, would thy best friends did know
How it doth grieve me that thy head is here. 55 QUEEN MARGARET
My lord, cheer up your spirits; our foes are nigh,
And this soft courage makes your followers faint.
You promised knighthood to our forward son.
Unsheathe your sword and dub him presently.—
Edward, kneel down. He kneels. 60 | Henry isn't convinced. Sons don't always like it when their dads to leave them stuff. It doesn't always work out well; Henry himself doesn't seem so thrilled that his father left him the crown. Then Margaret tries to cheer Henry up by telling him to knight Prince Edward. |
KING HENRY, dubbing him knight
Edward Plantagenet, arise a knight,
And learn this lesson: draw thy sword in right. PRINCE EDWARD, rising
My gracious father, by your kingly leave,
I’ll draw it as apparent to the crown
And in that quarrel use it to the death. 65 CLIFFORD
Why, that is spoken like a toward prince. Enter a Messenger. MESSENGER
Royal commanders, be in readiness,
For with a band of thirty thousand men
Comes Warwick backing of the Duke of York,
And in the towns as they do march along 70
Proclaims him king, and many fly to him.
Deraign your battle, for they are at hand. He exits. |
Henry does, and it gets everyone thinking about how Prince Edward is now a true prince. (We'll call this Edward "Prince Edward" now to distinguish him from York's son Edward, the new Duke of York.) A messenger arrives with news that Warwick and the Duke of York (that would be York's son Edward now) are marching toward them, ready for battle. Looks like the family celebration is over. |
CLIFFORD
I would your Highness would depart the field.
The Queen hath best success when you are absent. QUEEN MARGARET
Ay, good my lord, and leave us to our fortune. 75 KING HENRY
Why, that’s my fortune too; therefore I’ll stay. NORTHUMBERLAND
Be it with resolution, then, to fight. PRINCE EDWARD
My royal father, cheer these noble lords
And hearten those that fight in your defense.
Unsheathe your sword, good father; cry “Saint 80
George!” | Clifford tells the king to get lost, because Margaret is much better off without him around. Margaret agrees. Henry, however, doesn't budge: he wants a part of this and decides to stay. |
March. Enter Edward, Warwick, Richard,
George, Norfolk, Montague, and Soldiers,
all wearing the white rose. EDWARD
Now, perjured Henry, wilt thou kneel for grace
And set thy diadem upon my head,
Or bide the mortal fortune of the field? QUEEN MARGARET
Go rate thy minions, proud insulting boy. 85
Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms
Before thy sovereign and thy lawful king? EDWARD
I am his king, and he should bow his knee.
I was adopted heir by his consent.
Since when, his oath is broke; for, as I hear, 90
You that are king, though he do wear the crown,
Have caused him, by new act of Parliament,
To blot out me and put his own son in. | The York crew (Edward, Warwick, Richard, George, Norfolk, and Montague) enter, all fired up.
Edward tells Henry that he better put his crown on his (Edward's) head or else. What a joke, Margaret says. This is the king of England right here—Henry. |
CLIFFORD And reason too:
Who should succeed the father but the son? 95 RICHARD
Are you there, butcher? O, I cannot speak! CLIFFORD
Ay, crookback, here I stand to answer thee,
Or any he, the proudest of thy sort. RICHARD
’Twas you that killed young Rutland, was it not? CLIFFORD
Ay, and old York, and yet not satisfied. 100 RICHARD
For God’s sake, lords, give signal to the fight! WARWICK
What sayst thou, Henry? Wilt thou yield the crown? QUEEN MARGARET
Why, how now, long-tongued Warwick, dare you
speak?
When you and I met at Saint Albans last, 105
Your legs did better service than your hands. WARWICK
Then ’twas my turn to fly, and now ’tis thine. CLIFFORD
You said so much before, and yet you fled. WARWICK
’Twas not your valor, Clifford, drove me thence. NORTHUMBERLAND
No, nor your manhood that durst make you stay. 110 RICHARD
Northumberland, I hold thee reverently.—
Break off the parley, for scarce I can refrain
The execution of my big-swoll’n heart
Upon that Clifford, that cruel child-killer. CLIFFORD
I slew thy father; call’st thou him a child? 115 RICHARD
Ay, like a dastard and a treacherous coward,
As thou didst kill our tender brother Rutland.
But ere sunset I’ll make thee curse the deed. | There's a lot of arguing and name-calling. Each side believes they are the true heirs to the throne. |
KING HENRY
Have done with words, my lords, and hear me
speak. 120 QUEEN MARGARET
Defy them, then, or else hold close thy lips. KING HENRY
I prithee, give no limits to my tongue.
I am a king and privileged to speak. CLIFFORD
My liege, the wound that bred this meeting here
Cannot be cured by words; therefore, be still. 125 RICHARD
Then, executioner, unsheathe thy sword.
By Him that made us all, I am resolved
That Clifford’s manhood lies upon his tongue. EDWARD
Say, Henry, shall I have my right or no?
A thousand men have broke their fasts today 130
That ne’er shall dine unless thou yield the crown. WARWICK
If thou deny, their blood upon thy head,
For York in justice puts his armor on. PRINCE EDWARD
If that be right which Warwick says is right,
There is no wrong, but everything is right. 135 RICHARD
Whoever got thee, there thy mother stands,
For well I wot thou hast thy mother’s tongue. QUEEN MARGARET
But thou art neither like thy sire nor dam,
But like a foul misshapen stigmatic,
Marked by the Destinies to be avoided, 140
As venom toads or lizards’ dreadful stings. RICHARD
Iron of Naples, hid with English gilt,
Whose father bears the title of a king,
As if a channel should be called the sea,
Sham’st thou not, knowing whence thou art 145
extraught,
To let thy tongue detect thy baseborn heart? | Finally, Henry tries to put an end to it and asks people to hear him speak. Margaret just scolds him. Out with it or be quiet, she says. Meanwhile, Clifford and Richard are going at it over where their "manhood" lies (no, really); Edward and Warwick tell Henry he'll have blood on his head if the crown is not theirs; and Prince Edward stands up for his father. It's all happening so quickly that the insults and burns are hard to keep track of. |
EDWARD
A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns
To make this shameless callet know herself.—
Helen of Greece was fairer far than thou, 150
Although thy husband may be Menelaus;
And ne’er was Agamemnon’s brother wronged
By that false woman as this king by thee.
His father reveled in the heart of France,
And tamed the King, and made the Dauphin stoop; 155
And had he matched according to his state,
He might have kept that glory to this day.
But when he took a beggar to his bed
And graced thy poor sire with his bridal day,
Even then that sunshine brewed a shower for him 160
That washed his father’s fortunes forth of France
And heaped sedition on his crown at home.
For what hath broached this tumult but thy pride?
Hadst thou been meek, our title still had slept,
And we, in pity of the gentle king, 165
Had slipped our claim until another age. | Then, Edward delivers a stinger: he says that Henry married a "beggar" (Margaret) and they all pitied him for it. Plus, she's so power hungry that it's just sad. Yep. It just got real. |
GEORGE
But when we saw our sunshine made thy spring,
And that thy summer bred us no increase,
We set the axe to thy usurping root;
And though the edge hath something hit ourselves, 170
Yet know thou, since we have begun to strike,
We’ll never leave till we have hewn thee down
Or bathed thy growing with our heated bloods. EDWARD
And in this resolution, I defy thee,
Not willing any longer conference, 175
Since thou denied’st the gentle king to speak.—
Sound, trumpets! Let our bloody colors wave;
And either victory or else a grave! QUEEN MARGARET Stay, Edward! EDWARD
No, wrangling woman, we’ll no longer stay. 180
These words will cost ten thousand lives this day. They all exit. | Edward won't put up with it any longer: he wants to talk things over with the king, but since Margaret refuses to let the king speak, he has no other choice. To the battlefield—they'll fight for the crown. Margaret tells Edward to stay, but he flat-out denies her. Ten thousand people will die because of her words, he claims as he departs. |