by Luke Dixon
The time was, father, that you broke your word
When you were more endear’d to it than now;
When your own Percy, when my heart’s dear Harry,
Threw many a northward look to see his father
Bring up his powers; but he did long in vain.
Who then persuaded you to stay at home?
There were two honours lost: yours and your son’s.
For yours, the God of heaven brighten it!
For his, it stuck upon him as the sun
In the grey vault of heaven, and by his light
Did all the chivalry of England move
To do brave acts. He was indeed the glass*
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.
He had no legs that practis’d not his gait;
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,
Became the accents of the valiant;
For those that could speak low and tardily
Would turn their own perfection to abuse,
To seem like him. So that in speech, in gait,
In diet, in affections of delight,
In military rules, humours of blood,*
He was the mark and glass, copy and book,
That fashion’d others. And him – O wondrous him!
O miracle of men! – him did you leave,
Second to none, unseconded by you,
To look upon the hideous god of war
In disadvantage, to abide a field
Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur’s name
Did seem defensible: so you left him.
Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong
To hold your honour more precise and nice
With others than with him! Let them alone.
The marshal and the archbishop are strong:
Had my sweet Harry had but half their numbers,
Today might I, hanging on Hotspur’s neck,
Have talk’d of Monmouth’s grave.”
(Act 2, scene 3 lines 9–45)
GLOSSARY
glass – looking-glass, mirror
humours of blood – there were four bodily fluids thought to govern a person’s disposition: governance by the humour of blood would imply you were amorous, optimistic, passionate and courageous
Henry V
WHO The Hostess of the Boar’s Head Tavern, formerly Mistress Quickly.
WHERE Before a tavern in Eastcheap, London, c. 1414.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Her husband Pistol, their friends Nym, Bardolph and a boy.
WHAT IS HAPPENING The group are in mourning. Sir John Falstaff, a fat, lecherous old knight and their friend and leader has died. Bardolph has just asked whether his soul has gone to heaven or hell.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• The speech is a rich mixture of grief and humour. The Hostess is recounting the death of someone loved by the entire group.
• Picture the scene she is describing and fill in every detail as you talk about it.
• Imagine what Falstaff ’s voice was like as you recall his words.
• There is an accent of some kind in the Hostess’s voice. Find one you are comfortable with and which works for the speech.
• Find the sadness in her feeling his cold feet and the humour as her hand moves further up her body.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK The Nurse (Romeo and Juliet) is another older comic character.
The Hostess
“Nay, sure, he’s not in hell. He’s in Arthur’s bosom,* if ever man went to Arthur’s bosom. ’A made a finer end, and went away an it had been any christom* child. ’A parted e’en just between twelve and one, e’en at the turning o’th’ tide. For after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers’ end, I knew there was but one way: for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and ’a babbled of green fields. ‘How now, Sir John?’ quoth I. ‘What, man? Be o’ good cheer!’ So ’a cried out, ‘God, God, God,’ three or four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him ’a should not think of God; I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So ’a bade me lay more clothes on his feet. I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone. Then I felt to his knees, and so upward and upward, and all was as cold as any stone.”
(Act 2, scene 3, line 9 onwards)
GLOSSARY
Arthur’s bosom – a malapropism for Abraham’s bosom, i.e. heaven
christom – christened
Henry VI, Part One
WHO Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc), a shepherd girl.
WHERE The siege of Orléans, 1429.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Charles the Dauphin (oldest son of the King) of France and others.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Arriving amongst the besieged French troops at Orléans, the shepherd girl Joan of Arc explains how she had a vision of the mother of God and challenges the Dauphin to single combat to demonstrate her ability to join his forces.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Joan starts this speech as ‘a shepherd’s daughter’ and ends it as a ‘warlike mate’. Find that extraordinary change as you work through her words.
• Her being visited by the Virgin Mary is a scene within the speech and can show us the childlike Joan and how the revelation transformed her.
• Decide how brave and daring she is being to present herself before the Dauphin in this way.
• Decide what it is about her presence and her way of speaking that convinces the Dauphin and the French troops to have her lead them.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Cross-dressing and the combination of gender roles within one speech can also be found with Viola (Twelfth Night) and Rosalind (As You Like It).
Joan la Pucelle
“Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd’s daughter,
My wit untrain’d in any kind of art.
Heaven and Our Lady gracious hath it pleas’d
To shine on my contemptible estate.
Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs,
And to sun’s parching heat display’d my cheeks,
God’s mother deignèd to appear to me,
And in a vision full of majesty,
Will’d me to leave my base vocation,
And free my country from calamity.
Her aid she promis’d and assur’d success.
In complete glory she reveal’d herself.
And, whereas I was black and swart* before,
With those clear rays, which she infus’d* on me,
That beauty am I bless’d with which you may see.
Ask me what question thou canst possible,
And I will answer unpremeditated.
My courage try by combat, if thou dar’st,
And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex.
Resolve on this: thou shalt be fortunate,
If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.”
(Act 1, scene 2, lines 51–71)
GLOSSARY
swart – swarthy
infus’d – shone, poured, distilled
Henry VI, Part Two
WHO The Duchess of Gloucester.
WHERE A street in London, c. 1445.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and others.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, has been arrested for witchcraft and for conspiracy against the young King Henry. She has been publicly humiliated and enters with papers pinned to her accusing her of being a witch and ‘in a white sheet, her feet bare, and a taper burning in her hand’. She is about to be exiled.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• Though the Duchess is talking to her husband, there are others looking on.
• For someone of such high status, to be led in public through the streets must be especially humiliating.
• The little word ‘No’ is a pivot in the middle of the speech.
• A focus of the Duchess’s anger is Queen Margaret (the wife of the King who has conspired against her husband the Duke of Gloucester), whom she onl
y refers to as ‘her’.
• Though a speech of defeat, there are other emotions and forces to be found in it, such as anger, defiance, self-pity and confusion.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Hermione (The Winter’s Tale) is another humiliated but publicly defiant woman.
Duchess of Gloucester
“Ah, Gloucester, teach me to forget myself.
For whilst I think I am thy married wife,
And thou a prince, Protector of this land,
Methinks I should not thus be led along,
Mail’d up in shame, with papers on my back,
And follow’d with a rabble, that rejoice
To see my tears, and hear my deep-fet* groans.
The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet,
And when I start, the envious people laugh
And bid me be advisèd how I tread.
Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke?
Trow’st thou* that e’er I’ll look upon the world,
Or count them happy that enjoy the sun?
No. Dark shall be my light, and night my day.
To think upon my pomp shall be my hell.
Sometime I’ll say, ‘I am Duke Humphrey’s wife,
And he a prince, and ruler of the land.
Yet so he rul’d, and such a prince he was,
As he stood by, whilst I, his forlorn duchess,
Was made a wonder, and a pointing-stock*
To every idle rascal follower.’
But be thou mild, and blush not at my shame,
Nor stir at nothing, till the axe of death
Hang over thee, as sure it shortly will.
For Suffolk, he that can do all in all
With her, that hateth thee and hates us all,
And York, and impious Beaufort, that false priest,
Have all lim’d bushes to betray thy wings,*
And fly thou how thou canst, they’ll tangle thee.
But fear not thou, until thy foot be snar’d,
Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.”
(Act 2, scene 4, lines 28–58)
GLOSSARY
deep-fet – from deep inside
trow’st thou – do you believe
pointing-stock – laughing stock
lim’d bushes to betray thy wings – bushes were covered in lime to trap birds
Henry VI, Part Two
WHO Queen Margaret, wife of King Henry VI.
WHERE The Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, where the Parliament are meeting, c. 1450.
WHO ELSE IS THERE King Henry, the Dukes of Buckingham, Suffolk and York, Cardinal Beaufort and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Before Parliament, King Henry’s wife accuses Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the King’s uncle, of planning a coup. It is him she is referring to throughout the speech.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• This is at the beginning of the scene and the King is wondering why Humphrey is not there.
• This is a highly political speech from a woman dominating a room full of the most powerful men in the country.
• Decide how the Queen deals with her gender in winning the men to her viewpoint.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Forceful speeches by Queens and other women of high rank include Hermione (The Winter’s Tale) and Lady Percy (Henry IV, Part Two).
Queen Margaret
“Can you not see? Or will ye not observe
The strangeness of his alter’d countenance?
We know the time since he was mild and affable,
And if we did but glance a far-off look,
Immediately he was upon his knee,
That all the court admir’d him for submission:
But meet him now, and be it in the morn,
When everyone will give the time of day,
He knits his brow, and shows an angry eye,
And passeth by with stiff unbowèd knee,
Disdaining duty that to us belongs.
Small curs are not regarded when they grin,*
But great men tremble when the lion roars,
And Humphrey is no little man in England.
First note that he is near you in descent,
And should you fall, he as the next will mount.
Me seemeth then, it is no policy,
Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears,
And his advantage following your decease,
That he should come about your royal person,
Or be admitted to your highness’ council.
By flattery hath he won the commons’ * hearts.
And when he please to make commotion,
’Tis to be fear’d they all will follow him.
Now ’tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden,
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care I bear unto my lord
Made me collect these dangers in the duke.
If it be fond, call it a woman’s fear;
Which fear, if better reasons can supplant,
I will subscribe, and say I wrong’d the duke.”
(Act 3, scene 1, lines 4–35)
GLOSSARY
grin – snarl
commons’ - the common people’s
Henry VI, Part Three
WHO Queen Margaret, wife of King Henry VI.
WHERE The Parliament House, London, c. 1460.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Her husband the King, and Prince Edward their son.
WHAT IS HAPPENING King Henry’s wife rails at him for disinheriting their son Edward by naming the Duke of York as his heir. She will raise an army against him by recruiting disaffected ‘northern lords’.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• The first line might be to herself.
• Margaret is full of action and stronger at doing a man’s work than her husband is. Think of the importance of gender in the speech.
• Her concerns are with family, power and politics. Plot those different concerns through the speech.
• When she talks of other characters have a picture of each of them in your mind.
• The Queen says she will not sleep with Henry until his decision is repealed. Decide what their sexual relationship might be like and how strong a threat that might be.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) is another woman prepared to do a man’s work.
Queen Margaret
“Who can be patient in such extremes?
Ah, wretched man, would I had died a maid
And never seen thee, never borne thee son,
Seeing thou hast prov’d so unnatural a father.
Hath he deserv’d to lose his birthright thus?
Hadst thou but lov’d him half so well as I,
Or felt that pain which I did for him once,
Or nourish’d him as I did with my blood,
Thou wouldst have left thy dearest heart-blood there,
Rather than have that savage duke thine heir,
And disinherited thine only son.
Ah, timorous wretch,
Thou hast undone thyself, thy son, and me,
And giv’n unto the house of York such head,
As thou shalt reign but by their sufferance.
To entail him and his heirs unto the crown,
What is it, but to make thy sepulchre,*
And creep into it far before thy time?
Warwick is Chancellor and the Lord of Calais,
Stern Falconbridge commands the narrow seas,
The Duke is made Protector of the realm,
And yet shalt thou be safe? Such safety finds
The trembling lamb, environèd with wolves.
Had I been there, which am a silly woman,
The soldiers should have toss’d me on their pikes
Before I would have granted to that act.
But thou preferr’st thy life before thine honour.
And seeing thou dost, I here divorce myself,
Both from thy table, Henry, and thy bed,
Until that Act of Parliament be repeal’d
Whereby my son is disinherited.
The northern lords, that have forsworn thy colours,*
Will follow mine, if once they see them spread.
And spread they shall be, to thy foul disgrace,
And utter ruin of the house of York.”
(Act 1, scene 1, lines 216–55, with some cuts)
GLOSSARY
sepulchre – grave
forsworn thy colours – renounced your flags of battle (i.e. refused to fight for you)
Richard III
WHO Lady Anne, newly married to King Richard III.
WHERE The Court, gathered at the Tower of London, c. 1485.
WHO ELSE IS THERE Queen Elizabeth, the old Duchess of York, Clarence’s daughter and others.
WHAT IS HAPPENING Lady Anne explains to Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of York how she came to fall in love with and marry the man who killed both her first husband and her father-in-law, King Henry VI.
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
• The curse Lady Anne put on the man who has become her husband earlier in the play has come true and she has been its victim.
• The scene is unusual in being made up almost entirely of women.
• She looks back on the ‘honey words’ with which Richard trapped her into this marriage and talks of how different her life is with him now.
• She looks to the inevitable future when he will ‘be rid’ of her.
• Decide what she wants as she explains to the other women the mistakes she has made and whether she is seeking understanding or forgiveness, or maybe just someone to listen to her.
WHERE ELSE TO LOOK Emilia (Othello) has regrets about her marriage.
Lady Anne
“When he that is my husband now