Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter King Edward, Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
George, Duke of Clarence, Lady Grey,
and Attendants. KING EDWARD
Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Albans field
This lady’s husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain,
His land then seized on by the conqueror.
Her suit is now to repossess those lands,
Which we in justice cannot well deny, 5
Because in quarrel of the house of York
The worthy gentleman did lose his life. RICHARD
Your Highness shall do well to grant her suit;
It were dishonor to deny it her. KING EDWARD
It were no less, but yet I’ll make a pause. 10 RICHARD, aside to Clarence Yea, is it so?
I see the lady hath a thing to grant
Before the King will grant her humble suit. CLARENCE, formerly GEORGE, aside to Richard
He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind! RICHARD, aside to Clarence Silence! 15 | Back at the palace, Edward, Richard, George, and Lady Elizabeth Grey talk about Lady Grey and her wealth. We learn that her hubby was killed, and she wants his lands back. Richard and George talk to each other in a bunch of asides. (Basically, they're trying to talk to each other without Lady Grey hearing.) They think Edward will give her lands back as long as the two of them become, ahem, more than friends. |
KING EDWARD
Widow, we will consider of your suit,
And come some other time to know our mind. LADY GREY
Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay.
May it please your Highness to resolve me now,
And what your pleasure is shall satisfy me. 20 RICHARD, aside to Clarence
Ay, widow? Then I’ll warrant you all your lands,
An if what pleases him shall pleasure you.
Fight closer, or, good faith, you’ll catch a blow. CLARENCE, aside to Richard
I fear her not, unless she chance to fall. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
God forbid that, for he’ll take vantages. 25 KING EDWARD
How many children hast thou, widow? Tell me. CLARENCE, aside to Richard
I think he means to beg a child of her. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
Nay, then, whip me; he’ll rather give her two. LADY GREY Three, my most gracious lord. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
You shall have four if you’ll be ruled by him. 30 KING EDWARD
’Twere pity they should lose their father’s lands. LADY GREY
Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then. KING EDWARD
Lords, give us leave. I’ll try this widow’s wit.
Richard and Clarence stand aside. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
Ay, good leave have you, for you will have leave
Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch. 35 | Edward has a conversation alone with Lady Grey while his brothers snicker at them. |
KING EDWARD
Now tell me, madam, do you love your children? LADY GREY
Ay, full as dearly as I love myself. KING EDWARD
And would you not do much to do them good? LADY GREY
To do them good I would sustain some harm. KING EDWARD
Then get your husband’s lands to do them good. 40 LADY GREY
Therefore I came unto your Majesty. KING EDWARD
I’ll tell you how these lands are to be got. LADY GREY
So shall you bind me to your Highness’ service. KING EDWARD
What service wilt thou do me if I give them? LADY GREY
What you command that rests in me to do. 45 KING EDWARD
But you will take exceptions to my boon. LADY GREY
No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it. KING EDWARD
Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask. LADY GREY
Why, then, I will do what your Grace commands. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
He plies her hard, and much rain wears the marble. 50 CLARENCE, aside to Richard
As red as fire! Nay, then, her wax must melt. LADY GREY
Why stops my lord? Shall I not hear my task? KING EDWARD
An easy task; ’tis but to love a king. LADY GREY
That’s soon performed because I am a subject. KING EDWARD
Why, then, thy husband’s lands I freely give thee. 55 LADY GREY
I take my leave with many thousand thanks. She curtsies and begins to exit. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
The match is made; she seals it with a cursy. KING EDWARD
But stay thee; ’tis the fruits of love I mean. | Edward tells Lady Grey he will give her lands back to her if she loves him. He's not happy when he gets rejected. |
LADY GREY
The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege. KING EDWARD
Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense. 60
What love, think’st thou, I sue so much to get? LADY GREY
My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers,
That love which virtue begs and virtue grants. KING EDWARD
No, by my troth, I did not mean such love. LADY GREY
Why, then, you mean not as I thought you did. 65 KING EDWARD
But now you partly may perceive my mind. LADY GREY
My mind will never grant what I perceive
Your Highness aims at, if I aim aright. KING EDWARD
To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee. LADY GREY
To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison. 70 KING EDWARD
Why, then, thou shalt not have thy husband’s lands. LADY GREY
Why, then, mine honesty shall be my dower,
For by that loss I will not purchase them. KING EDWARD
Therein thou wrong’st thy children mightily. LADY GREY
Herein your Highness wrongs both them and me. 75
But, mighty lord, this merry inclination
Accords not with the sadness of my suit.
Please you dismiss me either with ay or no. KING EDWARD
Ay, if thou wilt say “ay” to my request;
No, if thou dost say “no” to my demand. 80 LADY GREY
Then no, my lord; my suit is at an end. RICHARD, aside to Clarence
The widow likes him not; she knits her brows. CLARENCE, aside to Richard
He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom. KING EDWARD, aside
Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;
Her words doth show her wit incomparable; 85
All her perfections challenge sovereignty.
One way or other, she is for a king,
And she shall be my love or else my queen.—
Say that King Edward take thee for his queen? | So then Edward asks Lady Grey to marry him. Wait, what? That's right: Edward takes one denial to be the green light for popping the question. |
LADY GREY
’Tis better said than done, my gracious lord. 90
I am a subject fit to jest withal,
But far unfit to be a sovereign. KING EDWARD
Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee
I speak no more than what my soul intends,
And that is, to enjoy thee for my love. 95 LADY GREY
And that is more than I will yield unto.
I know I am too mean to be your queen
And yet too good to be your concubine. KING EDWARD
You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen. LADY GREY
’Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you 100
father. KING EDWARD
No more than when my daughters call thee mother.
Thou art a widow and thou hast some children,
And, by God’s mother, I, being but a bachelor,
Have other some. Why, ’tis a happy thing 105
To be the father unto many sons.
Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen. | Lady Grey thinks it's all a joke. She's not good enough to be a queen, she says. She's too low class to be a queen, but she's too high class to be his prostitute, so it looks like they're at an impasse. But Edward insists and says that Lady Grey raises pointless objections. She tells him he won't like it when her sons call him dad. He comes back and says that she'll like it even less when his daughters call her mom. |
RICHARD, aside to Clarence
The ghostly father now hath done his shrift. CLARENCE, aside to Richard
When he was made a shriver, ’twas for shift. KING EDWARD
Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had. 110 RICHARD
The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad. KING EDWARD
You’d think it strange if I should marry her. CLARENCE
To who, my lord? KING EDWARD Why, Clarence, to myself. RICHARD
That would be ten days’ wonder at the least. 115 CLARENCE
That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts. RICHARD
By so much is the wonder in extremes. KING EDWARD
Well, jest on, brothers. I can tell you both
Her suit is granted for her husband’s lands. | There will be no more discussion, Edward says. Lady Grey will be queen. Edward announces the news to his brothers, who are shocked. They tell Edward that he barely knows this lady. The whole thing is strange, they say, and on top of it all, she just doesn't seem that into him. |
Enter a Nobleman. NOBLEMAN
My gracious lord, Henry, your foe, is taken 120
And brought your prisoner to your palace gate. KING EDWARD
See that he be conveyed unto the Tower. Nobleman exits. And go we, brothers, to the man that took him,
To question of his apprehension.—
Widow, go you along.—Lords, use her honorably. 125 They exit.
Richard remains. | Before anyone can break up the engagement party, a nobleman comes in and tells everyone that Henry has been captured. Edward orders Henry taken to the Tower. He rushes off to see Henry, and the others follow him. |
RICHARD
Ay, Edward will use women honorably!
Would he were wasted—marrow, bones, and all—
That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring
To cross me from the golden time I look for.
And yet, between my soul’s desire and me, 130
The lustful Edward’s title burièd,
Is Clarence, Henry, and his son, young Edward,
And all the unlooked-for issue of their bodies
To take their rooms ere I can place myself.
A cold premeditation for my purpose. 135
Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty
Like one that stands upon a promontory
And spies a far-off shore where he would tread,
Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,
And chides the sea that sunders him from thence, 140
Saying he’ll lade it dry to have his way.
So do I wish the crown, being so far off,
And so I chide the means that keeps me from it,
And so, I say, I’ll cut the causes off,
Flattering me with impossibilities. 145
My eye’s too quick, my heart o’erweens too much,
Unless my hand and strength could equal them.
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard,
What other pleasure can the world afford?
I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap 150
And deck my body in gay ornaments,
And ’witch sweet ladies with my words and looks.
O miserable thought, and more unlikely
Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!
Why, Love forswore me in my mother’s womb, 155
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail Nature with some bribe
To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits Deformity to mock my body; 160
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part,
Like to a chaos, or an unlicked bear-whelp,
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I then a man to be beloved? 165
O monstrous fault to harbor such a thought!
Then, since this Earth affords no joy to me
But to command, to check, to o’erbear such
As are of better person than myself,
I’ll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, 170
And, whiles I live, t’ account this world but hell
Until my misshaped trunk that bears this head
Be round impalèd with a glorious crown.
And yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home; 175
And I, like one lost in a thorny wood,
That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way and straying from the way,
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out, 180
Torment myself to catch the English crown.
And from that torment I will free myself
Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
And cry “Content” to that which grieves my heart, 185
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
And frame my face to all occasions.
I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor, 190
Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
I can add colors to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school. 195
Can I do this and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I’ll pluck it down. He exits. | Alone on stage, Richard tells us that he hopes Edward and his new wife don't have any kids; that would really put a damper on things, because he wants the crown for himself. Um, okay.
Because Richard is physically deformed, he knows no one will love him, so he figures he should "dream upon the crown" instead. If Edward and Lady Grey have kids, he'll be even further away from the crown than he is now. Richard's jaw-dropping speech contains one heck of a confession: he's planning to manipulate everyone into turning against one another so that he can take the crown for himself. So this whole time, he's actually just wanted the power for himself—not for his father, and not for his brother. He's planning to get that crown on his head, even if he has to be a hypocritical, manipulative killer for it. |