William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (208 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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BASTARD
The French, my lord: men’s mouths are full of it.
Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury
With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,
And others more, going to seek the grave
Of Arthur, whom they say is killed tonight
On your suggestion.
Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury
With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,
And others more, going to seek the grave
Of Arthur, whom they say is killed tonight
On your suggestion.
KING JOHN Gentle kinsman, go
And thrust thyself into their companies.
I have away to win their loves again.
Bring them before me.
I have away to win their loves again.
Bring them before me.
BASTARD I will seek them out.
KING JOHN
Nay, but make haste, the better foot before.
O, let me have no subject enemies
When adverse foreigners affright my towns
With dreadful pomp of stout invasion!
Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels,
And fly like thought from them to me again. 175
O, let me have no subject enemies
When adverse foreigners affright my towns
With dreadful pomp of stout invasion!
Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels,
And fly like thought from them to me again. 175
BASTARD
The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. Exit
KING JOHN
Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman!—
Go after him, for he perhaps shall need
Some messenger betwixt me and the peers,
And be thou he. 180
Go after him, for he perhaps shall need
Some messenger betwixt me and the peers,
And be thou he. 180
MESSENGER With all my heart, my liege. Exit
KING JOHN My mother dead!
Enter Hubert
HUBERT
My lord, they say five moons were seen tonight,
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
The other four in wondrous motion.
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
The other four in wondrous motion.
KING JOHN
Five moons?
HUBERT Old men and beldams in the streets
Do prophesy upon it dangerously.
Young Arthur’s death is common in their mouths,
And when they talk of him they shake their heads,
And whisper one another in the ear; 190
And he that speaks doth grip the hearer’s wrist,
Whilst he that hears makes fearful action,
With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.
I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
With open mouth swallowing a tailor’s news,
Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,
Standing on slippers which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet,
Told of a many thousand warlike French 200
That were embattailèd and ranked in Kent.
Another lean unwashed artificer
Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur’s death.
Young Arthur’s death is common in their mouths,
And when they talk of him they shake their heads,
And whisper one another in the ear; 190
And he that speaks doth grip the hearer’s wrist,
Whilst he that hears makes fearful action,
With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.
I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
With open mouth swallowing a tailor’s news,
Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,
Standing on slippers which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet,
Told of a many thousand warlike French 200
That were embattailèd and ranked in Kent.
Another lean unwashed artificer
Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur’s death.
KING JOHN
Why seek’st thou to possess me with these fears?
Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur’s death?
Thy hand hath murdered him. I had a mighty cause
To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.
Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur’s death?
Thy hand hath murdered him. I had a mighty cause
To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.
HUBERT
No had, my lord? Why, did you not provoke me?
KING JOHN
It is the curse of kings to be attended
By slaves that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life,
And on the winking of authority
To understand a law, to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns
More upon humour than advised respect.
By slaves that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life,
And on the winking of authority
To understand a law, to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns
More upon humour than advised respect.
HUBERT
Here is your hand and seal for what I did.
He shows a paper
KING JOHN
O, when the last account ’twixt heaven and earth
Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal
Witness against us to damnation!
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds 220
Make deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by,
A fellow by the hand of nature marked,
Quoted, and signed to do a deed of shame,
This murder had not come into my mind.
But taking note of thy abhorred aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,
Apt, liable to be employed in danger,
I faintly broke with thee of Arthur’s death;
And thou, to be endeared to a king,
Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.
Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal
Witness against us to damnation!
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds 220
Make deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by,
A fellow by the hand of nature marked,
Quoted, and signed to do a deed of shame,
This murder had not come into my mind.
But taking note of thy abhorred aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,
Apt, liable to be employed in danger,
I faintly broke with thee of Arthur’s death;
And thou, to be endeared to a king,
Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.
HUBERT My lord—
KING JOHN
Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause
When I spake darkly what I purposed,
Or turned an eye of doubt upon my face,
When I spake darkly what I purposed,
Or turned an eye of doubt upon my face,
As bid me tell my tale in express words,
Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off,
And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me.
But thou didst understand me by my signs,
And didst in signs again parley with sin;
Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,
And consequently thy rude hand to act
The deed which both our tongues held vile to name.
Out of my sight, and never see me more!
My nobles leave me, and my state is braved,
Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers;
Nay, in the body of this fleshly land,
This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
Hostility and civil tumult reigns
Between my conscience and my cousin’s death.
Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off,
And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me.
But thou didst understand me by my signs,
And didst in signs again parley with sin;
Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,
And consequently thy rude hand to act
The deed which both our tongues held vile to name.
Out of my sight, and never see me more!
My nobles leave me, and my state is braved,
Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers;
Nay, in the body of this fleshly land,
This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
Hostility and civil tumult reigns
Between my conscience and my cousin’s death.
HUBERT
Arm you against your other enemies;
I’ll make a peace between your soul and you.
Young Arthur is alive. This hand of mine
Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,
Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.
Within this bosom never entered yet
The dreadful motion of a murderous thought;
And you have slandered nature in my form,
Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,
Is yet the cover of a fairer mind
Than to be butcher of an innocent child. 260
I’ll make a peace between your soul and you.
Young Arthur is alive. This hand of mine
Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,
Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.
Within this bosom never entered yet
The dreadful motion of a murderous thought;
And you have slandered nature in my form,
Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,
Is yet the cover of a fairer mind
Than to be butcher of an innocent child. 260
KING JOHN
Doth Arthur live? O, haste thee to the peers;
Throw this report on their incensed rage,
And make them tame to their obedience.
Forgive the comment that my passion made
Upon thy feature, for my rage was blind, 265
And foul imaginary eyes of blood
Presented thee more hideous than thou art.
O,answer not, but to my closet bring
The angry lords with all expedient haste.
I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast.
Throw this report on their incensed rage,
And make them tame to their obedience.
Forgive the comment that my passion made
Upon thy feature, for my rage was blind, 265
And foul imaginary eyes of blood
Presented thee more hideous than thou art.
O,answer not, but to my closet bring
The angry lords with all expedient haste.
I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast.
Exeunt
⌈
severally
⌉
Enter Arthur Duke of Brittaine on the walls, disguised as a ship-boy
ARTHUR
The wall is high, and yet will I leap down.
Good ground, be pitiful, and hurt me not.
There’s few or none do know me; if they did,
This ship-boy’s semblance hath disguised me quite.
I am afraid, and yet I’ll venture it.
If I get down and do not break my limbs,
I’ll find a thousand shifts to get away.
As good to die and go, as die and stay.
Good ground, be pitiful, and hurt me not.
There’s few or none do know me; if they did,
This ship-boy’s semblance hath disguised me quite.
I am afraid, and yet I’ll venture it.
If I get down and do not break my limbs,
I’ll find a thousand shifts to get away.
As good to die and go, as die and stay.
He leaps down
O me! My uncle’s spirit is in these stones.
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! I0
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! I0
He dies Enter the Earls of Pembroke and Salisbury, and Lord Bigot
SALISBURY
Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury.
It is our safety, and we must embrace
This gentle offer of the perilous time.
It is our safety, and we must embrace
This gentle offer of the perilous time.
PEMBROKE
Who brought that letter from the Cardinal?
SALISBURY
The Count Melun, a noble lord of France,
Who’s private with me of the Dauphin’s love;
’Tis much more general than these lines import.
Who’s private with me of the Dauphin’s love;
’Tis much more general than these lines import.
BIGOT
Tomorrow morning let us meet him then.
SALISBURY
Or rather, then set forward, for ’twill be
Two long days’journey, lords, or ere we meet. 20
Two long days’journey, lords, or ere we meet. 20
Enter the Bastard
BASTARD
Once more today well met, distempered lords.
The King by me requests your presence straight.
The King by me requests your presence straight.
SALISBURY
The King hath dispossessed himself of us.
We will not line his thin bestainèd cloak
With our pure honours, nor attend the foot 25
That leaves the print of blood where’er it walks.
Return and tell him so; we know the worst.
We will not line his thin bestainèd cloak
With our pure honours, nor attend the foot 25
That leaves the print of blood where’er it walks.
Return and tell him so; we know the worst.
BASTARD
Whate’er you think, good words I think were best.
SALISBURY
Our griefs and not our manners reason now.
BASTARD
But there is little reason in your grief.
Therefore ’twere reason you had manners now.
Therefore ’twere reason you had manners now.
PEMBROKE
Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege.
BASTARD
’Tis true—to hurt his master, no man else.
SALISBURY
This is the prison.
He sees Arthur’s body
What is he lies here?
PEMBROKE
O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty!
The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. 36
The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. 36
SALISBURY
Murder, as hating what himself hath done,
Doth lay it open to urge on revenge.
Doth lay it open to urge on revenge.
BIGOT
Or when he doomed this beauty to a grave,
Found it too precious-princely fora grave. 40
Found it too precious-princely fora grave. 40
SALISBURY (
to the Bastard
)
to the Bastard
)
Sir Richard, what think you? You have beheld.
Or have you read or heard; or could you think,
Or do you almost think, although you see,
That you do see? Could thought, without this object,
Form such another? This is the very top,
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
Of murder’s arms; this is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke
That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
Presented to the tears of soft remorse.
Or have you read or heard; or could you think,
Or do you almost think, although you see,
That you do see? Could thought, without this object,
Form such another? This is the very top,
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
Of murder’s arms; this is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke
That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
Presented to the tears of soft remorse.
PEMBROKE
All murders past do stand excused in this,
And this, so sole and so unmatchable,
Shall give a holiness, a purity,
To the yet-unbegotten sin of times,
And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest, 55
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.
And this, so sole and so unmatchable,
Shall give a holiness, a purity,
To the yet-unbegotten sin of times,
And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest, 55
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.
BASTARD
It is a damned and a bloody work,
The graceless action of a heavy hand—
If that it be the work of any hand.
The graceless action of a heavy hand—
If that it be the work of any hand.
SALISBURY
If that it be the work of any hand? 60
We had a kind of light what would ensue:
It is the shameful work of Hubert’s hand,
The practice and the purpose of the King;
We had a kind of light what would ensue:
It is the shameful work of Hubert’s hand,
The practice and the purpose of the King;
From whose obedience I forbid my soul,
Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life, 65
And breathing to his breathless excellence
The incense of a vow, a holy vow,
Never to taste the pleasures of the world,
Never to be infected with delight,
Nor conversant with ease and idleness, 70
Till I have set a glory to this hand
By giving it the worship of revenge.
Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life, 65
And breathing to his breathless excellence
The incense of a vow, a holy vow,
Never to taste the pleasures of the world,
Never to be infected with delight,
Nor conversant with ease and idleness, 70
Till I have set a glory to this hand
By giving it the worship of revenge.
PEMBROKE and BIGOT
Our souls religiously confirm thy words.
Enter Hubert
HUBERT
Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you.
Arthur doth live; the King hath sent for you.
Arthur doth live; the King hath sent for you.
SALISBURY
O,he is bold, and blushes not at death!—
Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone I
Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone I
HUBERT
I am no villain.
SALISBURY Must I rob the law?
He draws his sword
BASTARD
Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.
SALISBURY
Not till I sheathe it in a murderer’s skin.
HUBERT (
drawing his sword
)
drawing his sword
)
Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand back, I say!
By heaven, I think my sword’s as sharp as yours.
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true defence,
Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget
Your worth, your greatness and nobility.
By heaven, I think my sword’s as sharp as yours.
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true defence,
Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget
Your worth, your greatness and nobility.
BIGOT
Out, dunghill! Dar’st thou brave a nobleman?
HUBERT
Not for my life; but yet I dare defend
My innocent life against an emperor.
My innocent life against an emperor.
SALISBURY
Thou art a murderer.
HUBERT
Do not prove me so;
Do not prove me so;
Yet I am none. Whose tongue soe’er speaks false,
Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.
Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.
PEMBROKE
Cut him to pieces!
BASTARD (
drawing his sword
) Keep the peace, I say I
drawing his sword
) Keep the peace, I say I
SALISBURY
Stand by, or I shall gall you, Falconbridge.
BASTARD
Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury.
If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,
Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,
I’ll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime,
Or I’ll so maul you and your toasting-iron
That you shall think the devil is come from hell. 100
If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,
Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,
I’ll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime,
Or I’ll so maul you and your toasting-iron
That you shall think the devil is come from hell. 100
BIGOT
What wilt thou do, renowned Falconbridge,
Second a villain and a murderer?
Second a villain and a murderer?
HUBERT
Lord Bigot, I am none.
BIGOT Who killed this prince?
HUBERT
’Tis not an hour since I left him well.
I honoured him, I loved him, and will weep
My date of life out for his sweet life’s loss.
I honoured him, I loved him, and will weep
My date of life out for his sweet life’s loss.
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