by Luke Dixon
I am barr’d, like one infectious. My third comfort,
Starr’d most unluckily,* is from my breast
(The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth)
Hal’d out to murder. Myself on every post
Proclaim’d a strumpet. With immodest hatred
The child-bed privilege denied, which longs*
To women of all fashion. Lastly, hurried
Here, to this place, i’ th’ open air, before
I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,
Tell me what blessings I have here alive,
That I should fear to die? Therefore proceed.
But yet hear this. Mistake me not. No life,
I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour,
Which I would free – if I shall be condemn’d
Upon surmises (all proofs sleeping else,
But what your jealousies awake) I tell you
’Tis rigour* and not law. Your honours all,
I do refer me to the oracle:*
Apollo be my judge!”
(Act 3, scene 2, lines 90–115)
GLOSSARY
bug – terror
Starr’d most unluckily – destined by the stars for an unlucky fate
longs – belongs
refer me to the oracle – Hermione asks that the mouth-piece of the god Apollo be asked to reveal the truth
rigour – severity
The Winter’s Tale
WHO Paulina, a Lady at the court of King Leontes of Sicilia.
WHERE A court of justice in Sicilia.
WHO ELSE IS THERE King Leontes, Lords, Officers and Ladies.
WHAT IS HAPPENING King Leontes has wrongly accused his wife Queen Hermione of adultery with Polixenes. Paulina comes into the court to bring the news of her death.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Paulina has come to say that the Queen is dead, but before getting to this she publicly accuses the King of all his wrong doings that have led to this point.
• Paulina is being brave to say such things to the King. The punishments she is risking are real.
• Make each of these accusations individual: the betrayal of his friend King Polixenes; ordering his adviser Camillo to kill Polixenes; ordering his daughter murdered and left to be eaten by crows; the death of the young Prince.
• Decide what the lords that she turns to at the end of her speech might be thinking and feeling and how that could affect the way in which she makes her accusations.
• She might feel relieved, angry, exhausted and scared once she has said that the Queen is dead.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Women who stand up to men of power include Hermione (The Winter’s Tale) and Lady Percy (Henry IV, Part Two).
Paulina
“What studied* torments, tyrant, hast for me?
What wheels? racks? fires? what flaying? boiling?
In leads or oils? what old or newer torture
Must I receive, whose every word deserves
To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny
(Together working with thy jealousies,
Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
For girls of nine) O, think what they have done,
And then run mad indeed. Stark mad. For all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices* of it.
That thou betray’dst Polixenes, ’twas nothing;
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant,
And damnable ingrateful. Nor was’t much
Thou wouldst have poison’d good Camillo’s honour,
To have him kill a king: poor trespasses,*
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby-daughter
To be or none, or little though a devil
Would have shed water out of fire ere done’t.
Nor is’t directly laid to thee the death
Of the young prince, whose honourable thoughts
(Thoughts high for one so tender) cleft the heart
That could conceive a gross and foolish sire
Blemish’d his gracious dam.*This is not, no,
Laid to thy answer. But the last: O lords,
When I have said, cry ‘woe!’The Queen, the Queen,
The sweet’st, dear’st creature’s dead. And vengeance for’t
Not dropp’d down yet.”
(Act 3, scene 2, lines 174–201)
GLOSSARY
studied – calculated
but spices – mere hints
poor trespasses – feeble sins
dam – wife
Pericles
WHO Marina, daughter of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
WHERE Aboard a boat off the coast of Mytilene (the present day Greek island of Lesbos).
WHO ELSE IS THERE Pericles. Helicanus (a Lord of Tyre), Lysimachus (Governor of Mytilene) and others are close by.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Pericles thinks his daughter Marina has died many years ago. Not knowing him to be her father, she comes to try to bring comfort to the grieving old man.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Notice how Marina is keen to establish her status.
• Think what makes her decide to desist and whether she says this to herself or to the others waiting nearby.
• Decide what it is that glows upon her cheeks and whispers in her ear.
• Decide how she might react to the whispering voice.
• Marina tells the tragic tale of her life. Consider how she might feel about it.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Another daughter pleading with her father is Miranda (The Tempest).
Marina
“I am a maid,
My lord, that ne’er before invited eyes,
But have been gaz’d on like a comet. She speaks,
My lord, that maybe hath endur’d a grief
Might equal yours, if both were justly weigh’d.
Though wayward Fortune did malign my state,
My derivation was from ancestors
Who stood equivalent with mighty kings.
But time hath rooted out my parentage,
And to the world and awkward casualties
Bound me in servitude. I will desist,
But there is something glows upon my cheek,
And whispers in mine ear, ‘Go not till he speak.’
The King my father did in Tarsus leave me;
Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,
Did seek to murder me: and having woo’d
A villain to attempt it, who having drawn to do’t,
A crew of pirates came and rescued me;
Brought me to Mytilene.* But, good sir,
Whither will you have me? Why do you weep?
It may be, you think me an impostor.
No, good faith,
I am the daughter to King Pericles,
If good King Pericles be.”
(Act 5, scene 1, lines 85–97 and 172–81; two speeches conflated)
GLOSSARY
Mytilene – pronounced ‘Mit-ee-lee-nee’
The Histories
King John
WHO Lady Constance, mother of Arthur, Duke of Brittany.
WHERE At Angers in France, c. 1200.
WHO ELSE IS THERE The Duke of Salisbury and Lady Constance’s son Arthur.
WHAT IS HAPPENING The Duke of Salisbury brings news that France and England have made peace through the marriage of Lewis the Dauphin (oldest son of the King) of France and Blanche of Spain, niece of the English King John. Constance, mother of Arthur, Duke of Brittany, is angry at the new peace and curses the wedding that has thus deprived her son of succession to the English crown.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Beware of playing the whole speech on one note of indignant, incredulous rage.
• Decide how much of Constance’s anger is expressed directly at Salisbury and how much at each of the other characters she talks of.
• Decide why she uses the word ‘fears’ so many tim
es and find different ways of delivering that word.
• Think how she might include her son in the scene.
• Decide why it is that Salisbury says nothing and whether Constance softens when she see the tears welling in his eyes.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Other women angry at those that have done them wrong include the Duchess of Gloucester and Queen Margaret (Henry VI, Part Two).
Constance
“Gone to be married? Gone to swear a peace?
False blood to false blood join’d? Gone to be friends?
Shall Lewis have Blanche, and Blanche those provinces?
It is not so, thou hast misspoke, misheard,
Be well advis’d, tell o’er thy tale again.
It cannot be, thou dost but say ’tis so.
I trust I may not trust thee, for thy word
Is but the vain breath of a common man.
Believe me, I do not believe thee, man,
I have a King’s oath to the contrary.
Thou shalt be punish’d for thus frighting me,
For I am sick, and capable of fears,
Oppress’d with wrongs and therefore full of fears,
A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,
A woman, naturally born to fears;
And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,
With my vex’d spirits, I cannot take a truce,
But they will quake and tremble all this day.
What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?
Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?
What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,*
Like a proud river peering o’er his bounds?
Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?
Then speak again, not all thy former tale,
But this one word, whether thy tale be true.”
(Act 3, scene 1, lines 1–26)
GLOSSARY
lamentable rheum – sorrowful tears
Richard II
WHO The Duchess of Gloucester.
WHERE A room in John of Gaunt’s house in London, c. 1397.
WHO ELSE IS THERE John of Gaunt.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Thomas Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk, has murdered the King’s uncle, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. The dead man’s brother, John of Gaunt, and his wife, the Duchess of Gloucester, believe that he was murdered on the orders of King Richard. The Duchess pleads with Gloucester’s brother, John of Gaunt, to avenge his death.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• The Duchess’s love for her husband permeates all the speech. Note how she calls him ‘Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester’, each of which can have a different tone and thought.
• The Duchess uses a number of different tactics with Gaunt in an attempt to get him to side with her. Find different tones for each of these tactics.
• It is a political speech demanding an outcome; it is also a speech about the bonds of family, and it is a speech that plays on Gaunt’s self-interest.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Lady Percy (Henry IV, Part Two) also cites the combination of family and politics in pleading her case.
Duchess of Gloucester
“Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire?
Edward’s seven sons,* whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven vials of his sacred blood,
Or seven fair branches springing from one root.
Some of those seven are dried by nature’s course;
Some of those branches by the Destinies cut;
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester,
One vial full of Edward’s sacred blood,*
One flourishing branch of his most royal root,
Is crack’d, and all the precious liquor spilt,
Is hack’d down, and his summer leaves all faded,
By Envy’s hand and Murder’s bloody axe.
Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine!* That bed, that womb,
That metal,* that self mould, that fashion’d thee,
Made him a man; and though thou liv’st and breath’st,
Yet art thou slain in him. Thou dost consent
In some large measure to thy father’s death
In that thou seest thy wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father’s life.
Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair.
In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter’d,
Thou show’st the naked pathway to thy life,
Teaching stern Murder how to butcher thee.
That which in mean men we entitle patience
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.
What shall I say? To safeguard thine own life,
The best way is to venge my Gloucester’s death.”
(Act 1, scene 2, lines 9–36)
GLOSSARY
Edward’s seven sons – the seven sons of the previous King, Edward III, of whom the dead Gloucester and John of Gaunt are two
One vial full of Edward’s sacred blood – as one of Edward’s sons he contained Edward’s blood
his blood was thine – as his brother his blood was yours
metal – substance
Henry IV, Part One
WHO Lady Elizabeth ‘Kate’ Percy, wife of Henry ‘Harry Hotspur’ Percy.
WHERE Warkworth Castle, Northumberland, her home, c. 1403.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Her husband Harry Hotspur.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Harry Hotspur has just told his wife that he must leave her ‘within these two hours’. Lady Percy questions her husband as to why he spends so much time on his own, demands he tell her his plans and explain why he talks of war in his sleep.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Hotspur says nothing in response to his wife. This could be a factor in driving on her speech.
• We know from a later speech (see next page) how much Lady Percy loves and admires her husband.
• There is a feeling here of a woman who has lost the relationship she once had with her husband. Her words might be tinged with grief, sadness, anger, concern, love, desire, or a combination of any or all of these.
• Lady Percy has lost sleep as she has watched over her husband. Decide how this might affect the scene.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Portia (Julius Caesar) is also distressed by her husband’s nocturnal behaviour and demands to know his secrets.
Lady Elizabeth Percy
“O my good lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offence have I this fortnight been
A banish’d woman from my Harry’s bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is’t that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start so often when thou sit’st alone?
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks;
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-ey’d musing and curs’d melancholy?*
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch’d,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars,
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed,
Cry ‘Courage! To the field!’ And thou hast talk’d
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,
Of palisadoes,* frontiers, parapets,
Of basilisks,* of cannon, culverin,*
Of prisoners’ ransom, and of soldiers slain,
And all the currents of a heady fight.
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,
And thus hath so bestirr’d thee in thy sleep,
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow
Like bubbles in a late-disturbèd stream,
And in thy face strange motions have appear’d,
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden hest.* O, what portents are these?
<
br /> Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,
And I must know it, else he loves me not.”
(Act 2, scene 3, lines 37–64)
GLOSSARY
given my treasures and my rights of thee / To thick-ey’d musing and curs’d melancholy – ignored my love and my rights as a wife because of your depression
palisadoes – defences made of pointed stakes
basilisks – large cannons
culverin – small cannon
hest – command
Henry IV, Part Two
WHO Lady Elizabeth ‘Kate’ Percy, wife of Henry ‘Harry Hotspur’ Percy.
WHERE Warkworth Castle, Northumberland, c. 1403.
WHO ELSE IS THERE The Earl of Northumberland (father of her recently killed husband) and his wife.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Her husband, Harry Hotspur, has been killed in battle by Harry Monmouth (later Henry V), Hotspur’s calls to his father, the Earl of Northumberland, having gone unanswered. The Earl has now joined the rebel army. Lady Percy and his wife (her mother-in-law) try to dissuade him from going.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Much of the speech paints a picture of her dead husband (referred to as Percy, Harry or Hotspur), bringing him to life.
• Imagine what Hotspur’s ‘thick’ voice sounded like and how that might colour Lady Percy’s speech as she recollects it.
• She may be lost in the past as she talks of her husband and her marriage and then return to the present when she accuses Northumberland of having abandoned him.
• Do not forget that Northumberland’s wife is also present.
• Remember that Monmouth is the man who killed her husband.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra) speaks lovingly of the absent and later dead Antony.
Lady Elizabeth Percy
“O yet, for God’s sake, go not to these wars!