RICHARD III
A monologue from the
play by William
Shakespeare
- QUEEN MARGARET: If ancient sorrow be most reverent,
- Give mine the benefit of seniory
- And let my griefs frown on the upper hand.
- If sorrow can admit society,
- Tell over your woes again by viewing mine.
- I had an Edward, till a Richard killed him;
- I had a Harry, till a Richard killed him:
- Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard killed him;
- Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard killed him.
- Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard killed him.
- From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
- A hellhound that doth hunt us all to death:
- That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
- To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood,
- That foul defacer of God's handiwork,
- That excellent grand tyrant of the earth
- That reigns in gallèd eyes of weeping souls,
- Thy womb let loose to chase us to our graves.
- O upright, just, and true-disposing God,
- How do I thank thee that this carnal cur
- Preys on the issue of his mother's body
- And makes her pew-fellow with others' moan!
- Bear with me! I am hungry for revenge,
- And now I cloy me with beholding it.
- Thy Edward he is dead, that killed my Edward;
- Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward;
- Young York he is but boot, because both they
- Matched not the high perfection of my loss.
- Thy Clarence he is dead that stabbed my Edward,
- And the beholders of this frantic play,
- Th' adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey,
- Untimely smoth'red in their dusky graves.
- Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer;
- Only reserved their factor to buy souls
- And send them thither. But at hand, at hand,
- Ensues his piteous and unpitied end.
- Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray,
- To have him suddenly conveyed from hence.
- Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray,
- That I may live and say, 'The dog is dead.'
- I called thee once vain flourish of my fortune;
- I called thee then poor shadow, painted queen,
- The presentation of but what I was,
- The flattering index of a direful pageant,
- One heaved a-high to be hurled down below,
- A mother only mocked with two fair babes,
- A dream of what thou wast, a garish flag,
- To be the aim of every dangerous shot;
- A sign of dignity, a breath, a bubble,
- A queen in jest, only to fill the scene.
- Where is thy husband now? Where be thy brothers?
- Where be thy two sons? Wherein dost thou joy?
- Who sues and kneels and says, 'God save the queen'?
- Where be the bending peers that flatterèd thee?
- Where be the thronging troops that followèd thee?
- Decline all this, and see what now thou art:
- For happy wife, a most distressèd widow;
- For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
- For one being sued to, one that humbly sues;
- For queen, a very caitiff crowned with care;
- For she that scorned at me, now scorned of me;
- For she being feared of all, now fearing one;
- For she commanding all, obeyed of none.
- Thus hath the course of justice whirled about
- And left thee but a very prey to time,
- Having no more but thought of what thou wast,
- To torture thee the more, being what thou art.
- Thou didst usurp my place, and dost thou not
- Usurp the just proportion of my sorrow?
- Now thy proud neck bears half my burdened yoke,
- From which even here I slip my weary head
- And leave the burden of it all on thee.
- Farewell, York's wife, and queen of sad mischance!
- These English woes shall make me smile in France.
MORE MONOLOGUES BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE |
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