Ha, ha! Keep time. How sour sweet music is
When time is broke and no proportion43 kept!
So is it in the music of men’s lives.
And here have I the daintiness45 of ear
To hear time broke in a disordered string46,
But for the concord47 of my state and time
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I waste49d time, and now doth time waste me,
For now hath time made me his numb’ring clock50.
My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar51
Their watches52 on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial’s point53,
Is pointing still54, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells55 what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, that strike56 upon my heart,
Which is the bell. So sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, hours and times58. But my time
Runs posting59 on in Bullingbrook’s proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o’th’clock60.
This music mads61 me. Let it sound no more,
↓Music stops↓
For though it have holp madmen to their wits62,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me,
For ’tis a sign of love, and love to65 Richard
Is a strange brooch66 in this all-hating world.
Enter Groom
GROOM Hail, royal prince!
KING RICHARD Thanks, noble peer68.
The cheapest of us69 is ten groats too dear.
What art thou? And how com’st thou hither
Where no man ever comes but that sad71 dog
That brings me food to make misfortune72 live?
GROOM I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,
When thou wert king, who, travelling towards York,
With much ado75, at length have gotten leave
To look upon my sometimes76 royal master’s face.
O, how it yearned77 my heart when I beheld
In London streets, that coronation-day,
When Bullingbrook rode on roan79 Barbary,
That horse that thou so often hast bestrid80,
That horse that I so carefully have dressed!
KING RICHARD Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle82 friend,
How went he under him?
GROOM So proudly as if he had disdained the ground.
KING RICHARD So proud that Bullingbrook was on his back?
That jade86 hath eat bread from my royal hand,
This hand hath made him proud with clapping87 him.
Would he not stumble? Would he not fall down,
Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck
Of that proud man that did usurp his back?
Forgiveness, horse. Why do I rail on91 thee,
Since thou, created to be awed92 by man,
Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse,
And yet I bear a burden like an ass,
Spurred, galled95 and tired by jauncing Bullingbrook.
Enter Keeper, with a dish
KEEPER Fellow96, give place. Here is no longer stay.
KING RICHARD If thou love me, ’tis time thou wert away.
To Groom
GROOM What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say.
Exit
KEEPER My lord, will’t please you to fall to99?
KING RICHARD Taste of it first, as thou wert wont100 to do.
KEEPER My lord, I dare not. Sir Pierce of Exton, who
Lately came from th’king, commands the contrary.
KING RICHARD The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee!
Patience is stale, and I am weary of it.
Beats him
KEEPER Help, help, help!
Enter Exton and Servants [armed]
KING RICHARD How now? What means death in this rude106 assault?
Villain, thine own hand yields thy death’s instrument.—
Takes a weapon from one man and kills him with it
Go thou, and fill another room108 in hell.—
Kills another man
Exton strikes him down
That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire
That staggers110 thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand
Hath with the king’s blood stained the king’s own land.
Mount, mount, my soul! Thy seat112 is up on high,
Whilst my gross113 flesh sinks downward, here to die.
Dies
EXTON As full of valour as of royal blood.
Both have I spilled. O, would the deed were good!
For now the devil that told me I did well
Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.
This dead king to the living king I’ll bear.—
Take hence the rest, and give them burial here.
Exeunt
Act 5 Scene [6]
running scene 18
Location: the royal court
Flourish. Enter Bullingbrook, York, with other Lords and Attendants
BULLINGBROOK Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear
Is that the rebels have consumed with fire
Our town of Cicester3 in Gloucestershire,
But whether they be ta’en4 or slain we hear not.
Enter Northumberland
Welcome, my lord. What is the news?
NORTHUMBERLAND First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness.
The next7 news is, I have to London sent
The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt and Kent.
The manner of their taking9 may appear
At large discoursèd10 in this paper here.
Gives a paper
BULLINGBROOK We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains,
And to thy worth will add right worthy12 gains.
Enter Fitzwaters
FITZWATERS My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London
The heads of Brocas and Sir Bennet Seely,
Two of the dangerous consorted traitors
That sought at Oxford thy dire16 overthrow.
BULLINGBROOK Thy pains, Fitzwaters, shall not be forgot.
Right noble is thy merit, well I wot18.
Enter Percy and Carlisle
PERCY The grand19 conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog20 of conscience and sour melancholy
Hath yielded up his body to the grave,
But here is Carlisle living, to abide22
Thy kingly doom23 and sentence of his pride.
BULLINGBROOK Carlisle, this is your doom:
Choose out some secret place, some reverend room25,
More26 than thou hast, and with it joy thy life.
So as thou liv’st in peace, die free from strife:
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High29 sparks of honour in thee have I seen.
Enter Exton, with [Attendants carrying] a coffin
EXTON Great king, within this coffin I present
Thy buried fear. Herein all breathless lies
The mightiest of thy greatest enemies,
Richard of Bordeaux33, by me hither brought.
BULLINGBROOK Exton, I thank thee not, for thou hast wrought34
A deed of slaughter with thy fatal hand
Upon my head and all this famous land.
EXTON From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed.
BULLINGBROOK They love not poison that do poison need,
Nor do I thee. Though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murd’rer, love him murderèd40.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word nor princely favour.
With Cain43 go wander through the shade of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light.
Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe
That
blood should sprinkle me to make me grow.
Come, mourn with me for that I do lament,
And put on sullen48 black incontinent.
I’ll make a voyage to the Holy Land49,
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand.
March sadly51 after: grace my mourning here,
In weeping after52 this untimely bier.
Exeunt
TEXTUAL NOTES
Q = First Quarto text of 1597
F = First Folio text of 1623
F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632
Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
List of parts = Ed
1.1.127 duly = Q. Not in F 163 Obedience bids = Ed. F erroneously prints the words twice 203 we shall = Q. F = you shall
1.2.20 faded spelled vaded in F 43 to = F. Q = and 62 my = F. Q = thy
1.3.28 plated = Q. F = placed 29 formally = Q. F = formerly 76 furbish = Q. F = furnish 86 King = Q. F = Kings 256 as foil = Q. F = a soyle 266 never = Q. F = euer
1.4.7 blew = Q. F = grew 22 Bagot here = Q. F = heere Bagot 27 smiles = Q. F = soules
2.1.18 found = Q. F = sound 118 chasing = Q. F = chafing 191 grip spelled gripe in F 234 thou wouldst = Q. F = thou’dst 286 Brittany = Ed. F = Britaine
2.2.3 life-harming = Q. F = selfe-harming 27 weeps = Q. F = weepe 54 son young = Q. F = yong sonne 74 hope lingers = Q. F = hopes linger 95 as … callèd = Q. F = I came by, and call’d
2.3.87 nor uncle me no uncle = Ed. F = nor Unckle me 92 then more = Q. F = more then
3.2.26 rebellion’s = Q. F = Rebellious 102 makes = Q. F = make 107 Whitebeards = Q. F = White Beares 177 And … yourself = Q. Not in F
3.3.39 most royal = Q. F = Royall (F’s lineation is also aberrant in these lines)
3.4.11 joy = Ed. F = Griefe 26 come = Q. F = comes 61 we at = Ed. F = at 62 Do = Q. F = And 70 and = F. Q = of
4.1.27 I say thou = Q. F = Thou 34 sympathy = Q. F = sympathize 113 noblesse = Q. F = noblenesse 132 his = F. Q = this 139 rear = F. Q = raise
5.1.39 thy = Q. F = my
5.3.36 be = Q. F = me 49 reason = F. Q = treason 62 held = Q. F = had 93 kneel = F. Q = walke
5.5 [Scene 5] = Ed. F = Scoena Quarta (i.e. numbered 5.4, since previous scene break is not noted) 31 prison = F. Q = person 95 Spurred, galled = Q. F = Spur-gall’d
5.6 [Scene 6] = Ed. F = Scoena Quinta
QUARTO PASSAGES THAT DO NOT APPEAR IN THE FOLIO
Following 1.3.127:
And for we think the eagle-wingèd pride
Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,
With rival-hating envy, set on you
To wake our peace, which in our country’s cradle
Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;
Following 1.3.232:
O, had it been a stranger, not my child,
To smooth his fault I should have been more mild:
A partial slander sought I to avoid,
And in the sentence my own life destroyed.
Following 1.3.257:
BULLINGBROOK Nay, rather, every tedious stride I make
Will but remember me what a deal of world
I wander from the jewels that I love.
Must I not serve a long apprenticehood
To foreign passages, and in the end,
Having my freedom, boast of nothing else
But that I was a journeyman to grief?
GAUNT All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.
Think not the king did banish thee,
But thou the king. Woe doth the heavier sit,
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.
Go, say I sent thee forth to purchase honour
And not the king exiled thee; or suppose
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air
And thou art flying to a fresher clime:
Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
To lie that way thou go’st, not whence thou comest:
Suppose the singing birds musicians,
The grass whereon thou tread’st the presence strewed,
The flowers fair ladies, and thy steps no more
Than a delightful measure or a dance;
For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite
The man that mocks at it and sets it light.
Following 3.2.28:
The means that heaven yields must be embraced,
And not neglected; else, if heaven would,
And we will not, heaven’s offer we refuse,
The proffered means of succour and redress.
Following 4.1.52:
LORD I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;
And spur thee on with full as many lies
As may be holloaed in thy treacherous ear
From sun to sun: there is my honour’s pawn;
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.
AUMERLE Who sets me else? By heaven, I’ll throw at all:
I have a thousand spirits in one breast,
To answer twenty thousand such as you.
OATHS FROM THE QUARTO
The following oaths were altered in the Folio text as a result of the Parliamentary Act to Restrain the Abuses of Players (spelling has been modernized in this list):
1597 QUARTO FOLIO
1.1.188 O God defend my soul O, heaven defend my soul
1.2.37 God’s is the quarrel for God’s substitute Heaven’s is the quarrel, for heaven’s substitute
1.2.43 To God the widow’s champion To heaven, the widow’s champion
1.3.18 (Which God defend …) Which heaven defend
1.3.37 To prove by God’s grace, To prove, by heaven’s grace
1.3.78 God, in thy good cause Heaven in thy good cause
1.3.85 How ever God or Fortune However, heaven or fortune
1.3.101 … and God defend the right And heaven defend thy right!
1.3.174 that y’owe to God, that you owe to heaven
1.3.177 so help you truth and God so help you truth and heaven
1.3.198 But what thou art, God, thou, and I, do know But what thou art heaven, thou, and I, do know
1.4.58 Now put it (God) in the physician’s mind Now put it, heaven, in his physician’s mind
1.4.63 Pray God we may make haste Pray heaven we may make haste
2.1.240 Now afore God Now, afore heaven,
2.2.41 God save your majesty, Heaven save your majesty!
2.2.78 Uncle, for God’s sake Uncle, for heaven’s sake,
2.2.99 God for his mercy Heav’n for his mercy!
2.2.101 I would to God, I would to heaven—
3.1.37 For God’s sake fairly For heaven’s sake, fairly
3.2.55 God for his Ric[hard]: Heaven for his Richard
3.2.150 For God’s sake let us For heaven’s sake let us
3.4.108 Pray God the plants I would the plants
4.1.8 Marry God forbid Marry, heaven forbid!
4.1.127 Stirred up by God Stirred up by heaven
5.2.80 God for his mercy! Heaven for his mercy,
5.3.4 I would to God I would to heaven,
5.3.73 … for God’s sake let me in For heaven’s sake, let me in
5.3.132 I pardon him as God shall pardon me I pardon him as heaven shall pardon me
5.3.148 I pray God make thee new I pray heaven make thee new
SCENE-BY-SCENE ANALYSIS
ACT 1 SCENE 1
The scene begins in medias res, emphasizing that the events of the play are part of a much wider span of English history, also shown by many references to the past, present, and future.
Lines 1–151: Gaunt has brought his son, Henry Bullingbrook, Duke of Hereford, to court to make his accusations against Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Richard has the two men called “Face to face / And frowning brow to brow,” introducing recurrent th
emes of opposition/conflict and “mirroring.” Bullingbrook and Mowbray greet the king formally, emphasizing the importance of status and ceremony, but Richard responds that one of them merely “flatters” him, drawing attention to the secrecy and plotting under the surface. Bullingbrook calls Mowbray a “traitor and a miscreant,” an accusation he claims his “divine soul” will answer “in heaven,” establishing the religious aspect of Bullingbrook’s characterization and the play’s Christian framework. The furious Mowbray calls him a “slanderous coward,” at which Bullingbrook throws down his gage as a challenge to personal combat, and Mowbray accepts by picking it up.
Bullingbrook outlines three charges. First, Mowbray spent money intended for paying Richard’s soldiers on “lewd employment.” Second, he has instigated “all the treasons” against Richard for the last “eighteen years.” Third, he is implicated in the Duke of Gloucester’s murder. Bullingbrook repeatedly refers to “blood,” a key motif in the play signifying both violence and lineage. His comparison between Gloucester’s blood and “sacrificing Abel’s,” however, perhaps implicates a family member, a hint at Richard’s involvement. Mowbray denies everything, although his arguments are ambiguous. He, too, throws down his gage.
Lines 152–206: Richard tries to command peace, declaring “Lions make leopards tame,” revealing his awareness of the power and importance of the king. He fails to reconcile them, however, reluctantly recognizing that their dispute can only be resolved through personal combat.
ACT 1 SCENE 2
Gaunt is visited by his sister-in-law, Gloucester’s widow. He assures her that he grieves for Gloucester, but is unable to do anything, believing “correction lieth in those hands / Which made the fault,” a reference to Richard’s part in the murder. He says that they will have to place their faith in “the will of heaven.” The duchess argues that this is not enough and urges him to take action, reminding him of the ties of kinship through the metaphor of a tree, part of the play’s natural imagery. Gaunt argues though that “Heaven’s is the quarrel” and that Richard is heaven’s “deputy anointed on earth,” establishing the concept of the “divine right of kings” that is central to the play. Despite believing that Richard “Hath caused his death,” Gaunt will not avenge Gloucester since it would become an act of treason, introducing a recurring tension between personal feelings and traditional codes and duties.
Richard II Page 12
