King John & Henry VIII (20 page)
Read King John & Henry VIII Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
PRINCE HENRY
O that there were some
virtue
46
in my tears,
That might relieve you!
KING JOHN
The salt in them is hot.
Within me is a hell, and there the poison
Is, as a fiend, confined to tyrannize
On unreprievable condemnèd blood.
Enter
[
the
]
Bastard
BASTARD
O, I am scalded with my violent
motion
52
And
spleen
53
of speed to see your majesty!
KING JOHN
O cousin, thou art come to
set
54
mine eye:
The
tackle
55
of my heart is cracked and burnt,
And all the
shrouds
56
wherewith my life should sail
Are turnèd to one thread, one little hair:
My heart hath one poor
string
to
stay
58
it by,
Which holds but till thy news be utterèd:
And then all this thou see’st is but a
clod
60
And
module
of
confounded
61
royalty.
BASTARD
The dauphin is
preparing hitherward
62
,
Where
heaven he
63
knows how we shall answer him:
For in a night the best part of my power,
As I
upon
advantage did
remove
65
,
Were in the Washes all unwarily
Devourèd by the unexpected
flood
67
.
King John dies
SALISBURY
You breathe these
dead
68
news in as dead an ear.—
To King John
PRINCE HENRY
Even so
70
must I run on, and even so stop.
What surety of the world, what hope, what
stay
71
,
When this was now a king, and now is clay?
To King John
BASTARD
Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind
To do the office for thee of revenge,
And then my soul shall
wait on
75
thee to heaven,
As it on earth hath been thy servant
still
76
.—
To the Lords
Now, now, you stars that move in your
right spheres
77
,
Where be your powers? Show now your mended faiths,
And instantly return with me again,
To push destruction and perpetual shame
Out of the weak door of our fainting land:
Straight
82
let us seek, or straight we shall be sought:
The dauphin rages at our very heels.
SALISBURY
It seems you know not, then, so much as we:
The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest,
Who half an hour since came from the dauphin,
And brings from him such offers of our peace
As we with honour and
respect
88
may take,
With purpose
presently
89
to leave this war.
BASTARD
He will the
rather
90
do it when he sees
Ourselves well
sinewèd
91
to our defence.
SALISBURY
Nay, ’tis in a manner done already,
For many
carriages
93
he hath dispatched
To the seaside, and put his cause and quarrel
To the
disposing
95
of the cardinal,
With whom yourself, myself and other lords,
If you think
meet
, this afternoon will
post
97
To
consummate
98
this business happily.
BASTARD
Let it be so.— And you, my noble prince,
With other
princes
100
that may best be spared,
Shall
wait upon
101
your father’s funeral.
PRINCE HENRY
At Worcester must his body be interred;
For so he willed it.
BASTARD
Thither shall it then,
And
happily
105
may your sweet self put on
The
lineal state
106
and glory of the land,
To whom with all submission, on my knee
I do
bequeath
108
my faithful services
He kneels
And true subjection everlastingly.
SALISBURY
And the
like tender
110
of our love we make,
The Lords kneel
PRINCE HENRY
I have a kind soul that would give thanks
He weeps
And knows not how to do it but with tears.
Rising
BASTARD
O, let us pay the time
but
needful woe
114
,
Since it hath been
beforehand
115
with our griefs.
This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,
But
118
when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,
Come the
three corners
120
of the world in arms,
And we shall
shock
them. Nought shall make us
rue
121
,
If England to itself do
rest
122
but true.
Exeunt
F = First Folio text of 1623, the only authority for the play
F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632
Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
SD = stage direction
SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker’s name)
List of parts
= Ed
1.1.SD
the
= F. Ed = them,
but
F
can be supported if “Chatillon” is regarded as a title rather than a name
49 expeditious
= F. F2 = expeditions
148 It
= F. F2 = I. F
is taken to refer to the Bastard’s
face
from the previous line
189 too
= F2. F = two
209 smack
= Ed. F = smoake
217 SD
Enter … Gurney
= Ed.
SD five lines down in
F
239 Could
= F. Ed = Could he/a.
Although inserting “he” clarifies the sense, the suggestion is not supported metrically
259 That
= F. Ed = Thou
Act 2 Scene 1
= Ed. F =
Scæna Secunda
1 SH KING PHILIP
= Ed. F =
Lewis
18 SH LEWIS
= F.
Some eds reassign to King Philip
63 Ate
= Ed. F = Ace
113 breast
= F2. F = beast
146 shoes
= F. Ed = shows
151 SH KING PHILIP
= Ed. F
continues Austria’s speech, with line beginning
“King
Lewis
”
221 Confronts your
= Ed. F = Comfort yours
265 roundure
= Ed. F = rounder
332 SH CITIZEN
= Ed. F =
Hubert. This SH recurs for rest of the scene; editors dispute whether or not the Hubert who is a character from Act 3 scene 2 onward is intended
342 run
= F2 (runne). F = rome
359 dead
= F. Ed = dread
375 SH CITIZEN
= Ed. F =
Fra
378 Kings
= F. Ed = Kinged
432 niece
= Ed. F = neere
442 of
= F. Ed = O
496 Anjou
= Ed. F =
Angiers
Act 2 [Scene 2]
= Ed. F =
Actus Secundus
3.1.75 test
= Ed. F = tast. Ed = task
124 that
= F. Ed = it
190 casèd
= F. Ed = crazèd, chafed
213 truth
= F. Ed = troth
3.2.4 SD
Enter … Hubert
= Ed.
Placed one line earlier in
F
64 broad-eyed
= Ed. F = brooded
3.3.45 not holy
= Ed. F = holy
65 friends
= Ed. F = fiends
112 word’s
= F. Ed = world’s
151 evilly
= F. Ed = vilely
4.1.68 this
= F. Ed = his
4.2.again
= F3. F = against
42 than
= Ed. F = then. Ed = when
223 account
spelled
accompt
in
F
4.3.161 cincture
= Ed. F = center
Act 5
= Ed. F =
Actus Quartus
5.1.55 glisten
= Ed. F = glister
5.2.36 grapple
= Ed. F = cripple. Ed = gripple
134 unheard
= F. Ed = unhaired
136 these
= Ed. F = this
5.4.18 more
= Ed. F = moe
5.5.7 tott’ring
= F. Ed = tatt’ring,
secondary sense, i.e. torn
5.6.15 endless
= F. Ed = eyeless
5.7.18 mind
= Ed. F = winde
22 cygnet
= Ed. F = Symet
44 strait
spelled
straight
in
F
ACT 1 SCENE 1
Lines 1–49:
The Chatillon of France claims the English throne and lands on behalf of Arthur, King John’s nephew, threatening war with France if John refuses. King John, however, is defiant and says that he will be in France with his army before him if Chatillon doesn’t hurry. Once Chatillon has left, Queen Elinor reflects that she foresaw that “ambitious Constance” wouldn’t stop until she’d provoked French support for Arthur and that the situation could have been prevented if they’d handled her with more tact; it will now involve two kingdoms and a war to sort things out. John protests his “strong possession” and “right” to the crown but his mother points out that his “strong possession” is greater than his “right” in this matter, but she will only admit this privately to him. A Sheriff arrives with news of “the strangest controversy” from the country. John gives permission for the plaintiffs to approach. Returning briefly to the subject of the forthcoming war with France he says he’ll make “Our abbeys and our priories” pay for it.
Lines 50–163:
Two brothers arrive, Robert Falconbridge, son and heir to the late Robert Falconbridge, and his older brother, Philip. Robert claims that his father made him his heir on his deathbed, although he’s the younger brother, because he believed that his older brother was illegitimate, conceived while he was in Germany on business for King Richard. Elinor and John both think that Philip must be Richard’s son (“He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion’s face”) but John points out that in law, since his mother was married, he is the legal heir to the Falconbridge lands. Elinor asks him if he would rather be son and heir of Falconbridge or acknowledged as King Richard’s bastard son with no land. He answers that if he and his brother’s places were changed, he’d give away all his
land rather than have his brother’s face and figure. Elinor likes his bluntness and offers him the chance to leave the Falconbridge estate to his brother, be acknowledged as Richard’s bastard son, and follow her to war. He decides at once to follow her “unto the death.” John then knights him—he is to be known henceforth as Sir Richard Plantagenet.
Lines 164–278:
The brothers say farewell and John and Elinor leave to prepare for war with France. Alone on stage, Richard reflects on his new fortune and status, satirizing the pretensions of the newly risen in the way they treat social inferiors and give themselves airs. He argues that it’s the way society works and “fits the mounting spirit like myself” but concludes that he must learn to recognize, although he will not practice, flattery: the “Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age’s tooth.” His mother arrives with a servant, seeking his brother. He dismisses the servant and then confronts his mother, demanding to know his real father’s identity. She is shocked at first at the slur on her reputation but finally confesses that “King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father,” claiming that she was seduced and unable to resist, and asking his pardon. The Bastard is delighted, however, and says he couldn’t “wish a better father” and that she should have no regrets since he has none, and takes her to meet his “kin,” who will agree it would have been a sin to refuse King Richard’s sexual advances and not have borne him.
