Video Clips of Shakespeare Plays

The following entries are You Tube clips taken from movies based on some of Shakespeare's most popular history plays. I think you will enjoy them. Let me tell you something about each video:

1. Henry V, Act 3, Scene 4: "An English Lesson for A French Princess" - The wonderful British actress Emma Thompson (you may have seen her in the Harry Potter movies) interprets a scene in which the French Princess Katherine asks her maid (who has spent some time in England) to teach her some words of English. After learning such words as "hand", "finger", "nail" and "chin", she is shocked to learn the words "foot" and "count" which sound to her very much like certain obscene words in French. She says that the English are bad people to use such words, and that she would never say them in front of French gentlemen.

2. Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1, Opening Monologue (Traditional interpretation)- In this classic 1955 movie, the great actor Sir Laurence Olivier interprets Richard III's speech that begins, "Now is the winter of our discontent..." In this version, some lines from another Shakespeare play, Henry VI (in which Richard III also figures as a character) are added to the end of the speech.

3. Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1, Opening Monologue (Alternative version) - In this version of the same scene, the well-known actor Ian Mckellen ("Dumbledore" in Harry Potter and "Gandalf" in Lord of the Rings interprets Richard III as an unscrupulous 20th century English politician. Since this is the beginning of the movie, we have to wait a while for Richard's speech, but the details of the movie are interesting. For example, we hear a woman singing a 1930's style jazz song. If we listen to the words, we notice that they from a well-knwon 16th century poem by Christopher Marlow (Shakespeare's contemporary and professional rival). What I most like about this version is the way that Richard gives the first part of his speech (the part that extolls his brother's victories in war) in public, but as soon as he starts to talk about his own evil plots the scene switches and he is enterring a public bathroom. He delivers part of his speech as he is urinating!

4-5. Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2, Richard woos Lady Anne (Traditional interpretation)- this is taken from a BBC television production. The actor doesn't look quite ugly and wicked enough for Richard III, but he acts the part well and speaks his lines in a way that make the meaning clear. This scene is divided into 2 parts, since it is rather long.

6. Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2, Richard woos Lady Anne (Alternate version) - In this modernized version of the same scene, Ian Mckellen, as Richard III, hands Lady Anne a knife from a morgue table (instead of a sword) and invites her to kill him. The actress who interprets Lady Anne also does a great job. The original text is shortened and the language is modernized a little, but none of Shakespeare's art is lost.

Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3: An English Lesson for a French Princess (interpreted by Emma Thompson)

Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1, Opening Monologue: Tradtional version interpreted by Sir Laurence Olivier

Richard III, Act 1, Scene I, Opening Monologue: Ian Mckellen interprets Richard III as a 20th century politician

Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2, Richard woos Lady Anne, Part 1 (Traditional Interpretation)

Richard III, Act 1, scene 2: Richard woos Lady Anne (Part 2): Traditional interpretation

Richard woos Lady Anne: Ian Mckellen's version (with some simplification and modernization of the text).

Henry IV, Part I, Act 3, scene 1

Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Lancaster and cousin to King Richard II has forced the king to abdicate, has imprisoned him in the Tower of London, and, has finally had him murdered. Henry Bolingbroke has taken the throne as King Henry IV, but now he has problems with his subjects, since many of them do not recognize him as the legitimate king. Owen Glendower, a nobleman of Wales, takes advantage of this situation in order fight for the independence of Wales and to make himself its king. In the following scene, Owen Glendower is in conference with English noblemen who are allies with him in opposition to Henry IV.

According to some legends, Owen Glendower claimed to have occult powers. In this scene, Shakespeare makes Glendower look ridiculous. He has Glendower boast of his magical powers and makes the English nobleman, Hotspur contradict him. This reinforces the English stereotype of Welshmen as being given to exaggeration and empty boasting (somewhat like the stereotype of Antioqueños here in Colombia). At one point, Hotspur “complements” Glendower on speaking good Welsh. This statement can be interpreted in many ways, almost all of them ironic.

GLENDOWER

No, here it is. Sit, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hotspur,

For by that name as oft as Lancaster

Doth speak of you, his cheek looks pale and with

A rising sigh he wisheth you in heaven.

HOTSPUR

And you in hell, as oft as he hears Owen Glendower spoke of. oft - often

GLENDOWER

I cannot blame him: at my nativity

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,

Of burning cressets; and at my birth

The frame and huge foundation of the earth

Shaked like a coward.

HOTSPUR

Why, so it would have done at the same season,

ifyour mother's cat had but kittened,

though yourself had never been born.

GLENDOWER

I say the earth did shake when I was born.

HOTSPUR

And I say the earth was not of my mind,

If you suppose as fearing you it shook.

GLENDOWER

The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.

HOTSPUR

O, then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire,

And not in fear of your nativity. nativity - birth

Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth

In strange eruptions; oft the teeming earth teeming - generating life

Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd colic - anger / vexed - angry

By the imprisoning of unruly wind unruly - violent

Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving,

Shakes the old beldam earth and topples down beldam - ugly old woman

Steeples and moss-grown towers. steeple bell tower of a church

At your birth

Our grandam earth, having this distemperature, distemperature - sickness

In passion shook.

GLENDOWER

Cousin, of many men

I do not bear these crossings.

Give me leave

To tell you once again that at my birth

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,

The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds

Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields.

These signs have mark'd me extraordinary;

And all the courses of my life do show

I am not in the roll of common men.

Where is he living, clipp'd in with the sea

That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales,

Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me?

And bring him out that is but woman's son

Can trace me in the tedious ways of art

And hold me pace in deep experiments.

HOTSPUR

I think there's no man speaks better Welsh.

I'll to dinner.

MORTIMER

Peace, cousin Percy; you will make him mad.

GLENDOWER

I can call spirits from the vasty deep. vasty - profound

HOTSPUR

Why, so can I, or so can any man;

But will they come when you do call for them?

GLENDOWER

Why, I can teach you, cousin, to command the devil.

HOTSPUR

And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil coz - cousin

By telling truth: tell truth and shame the devil.

If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, hither - here

And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence. hence - from now on

O, while you live, tell truth and shame the devil!

MORTIMER

Come, come, no more of this unprofitable chat. chat - informal conversation

Henry VI, Act 5. Scene 4

This play, which is divided into three parts, deals with the reign of King Henry VI, whose lack of leadership gave the French their chance to expel the English in the final phase of the Hundred Years War, and whose mental incompetence left England with a power vacuum that resulted in the Wars of the Roses.

In this scene the King does not appear at all. The focus is on Joan, “La Pucelle”, better known today as Joan of Arc, who has just been captured by the English. As Shakespeare presents Joan of Arc, she is not at all heroic. When her father, a humble shepherd, expresses his affection for her and his anxiety about her impending execution she is ashamed to admit that she is of such humble origins and so she pretends she does not know him. Her father is so disgusted by this that even he expresses a wish to see her burned. Next, Joan claims to be a holy virgin. The executioners reply that, since she is so good and holy, they will put more wood on the fire so that her death may be quicker. Finally, Joan tries to convince her executioners to spare her life on the grounds that she is pregnant. But when they press her to name the father of her child she gives first one name and then another. The English laugh at this, saying that this “pure virgin” has had so many lovers that she cannot even be sure which is the father of her child. At the end, she is led away to execution.

SCENE IV. Camp of the YORK in Anjou.Enter YORK, WARWICK, and others

YORK
Bring forth that sorceress condemn'd to burn.

Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE, guarded, and a Shepherd

Shepherd
Ah, Joan, this kills thy father's heart outright!
Have I sought every country far and near,
And, now it is my chance to find thee out,
Must I behold thy timeless cruel death?
Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I'll die with thee!

JOAN LA PUCELLE
Decrepit miser! base ignoble wretch! decrepit - ugly, deformed
I am descended of a gentler blood:
Thou art no father nor no friend of mine.

Shepherd
Out, out! My lords, an please you, 'tis not so;
I did beget her, all the parish knows:
Her mother liveth yet, can testify
She was the first fruit of my bachelorship.

WARWICK
Graceless! wilt thou deny thy parentage?

YORK This argues what her kind of life hath been,
Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes.

Shepherd
Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle!
God knows thou art a collop of my flesh;
And for thy sake have I shed many a tear:
Deny me not, I prithee, gentle Joan. prithee - beg you

JOAN LA PUCELLE
Peasant, avaunt! avaunt! - go away!
You have suborn'd this man, suborned -bribed
Of purpose to obscure my noble birth.

Shepherd
'Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest
The morn that I was wedded to her mother.
Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl.
Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time
Of thy nativity! I would the milk
Thy mother gave thee when thou suck'dst her breast,
Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake! ratsbane - rat poison
Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs a-field,
I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee!
Dost thou deny thy father, cursed drab?
O, burn her, burn her! hanging is too good.

Exit

YORK
Take her away; for she hath lived too long,
To fill the world with vicious qualities.

JOAN LA PUCELLE
First, let me tell you whom you have condemn'd:
Not me begotten of a shepherd swain, swain - peasant
But issued from the progeny of kings;
Virtuous and holy; chosen from above,
By inspiration of celestial grace,
To work exceeding miracles on earth.
I never had to do with wicked spirits:
But you, that are polluted with your lusts,
Stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents,
Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,
Because you want the grace that others have,
You judge it straight a thing impossible
To compass wonders but by help of devils.
No, misconceived! Joan of Arc hath been
A virgin from her tender infancy,
Chaste and immaculate in very thought;
Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused,
Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.

YORK
Ay, ay: away with her to execution!

WARWICK
And hark ye, sirs; because she is a maid,
Spare for no faggots, let there be enow: faggots - logs
Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake, pitch - cumbustable substance
That so her torture may be shortened.

JOAN LA PUCELLE
Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts?
Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity, discover - reveal
That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.
I am with child, ye bloody homicides:
Murder not then the fruit within my womb,
Although ye hale me to a violent death.

YORK
Now heaven forfend! the holy maid with child!

WARWICK
The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought:
Is all your strict preciseness come to this?

YORK
She and the Dauphin have been juggling:
I did imagine what would be her refuge.

WARWICK
Well, go to; we'll have no bastards live;
Especially since Charles must father it.

JOAN LA PUCELLE
You are deceived; my child is none of his:
It was Alencon that enjoy'd my love.

YORK
Alencon! that notorious Machiavel!
It dies, an if it had a thousand lives.

JOAN LA PUCELLE
O, give me leave, I have deluded you:
'Twas neither Charles nor yet the duke I named,
But Reignier, king of Naples, that prevail'd.

WARWICK
A married man! that's most intolerable.

YORK
Why, here's a girl! I think she knows not well,
There were so many, whom she may accuse.

WARWICK
It's sign she hath been liberal and free.

YORK
And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure.
Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee:
Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.

JOAN LA PUCELLE
Then lead me hence; with whom I leave my curse:
May never glorious sun reflex his beams
Upon the country where you make abode;
But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you, till mischief and despair
Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!

Exit, guarded

YORK
Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes,

Richard III, Act 1, Scene 2

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is determined to become king, and he is willing to do anything to accomplish his purpose. In the fist scene of the play, he tells the audience (in a think-aloud monologue) how he plans to bring about his older brother’s death by making the king (Edward IV, Richard’s brother) suspect him of treason. In this scene, Richard courts the Lady Anne – not because he loves her, but simply because this will bring political advantages. But this will not be easy. Anne is a widow and it was Richard himself who killed Anne’s husband. At the beginning of the scene, Anne is following her husband’s coffin and as she cries for him she invokes curses upon her husband’s murderer. But despite all this, Richard approaches her. He let Anne curse and insult him, while he begins to plant in her mind the idea that his own passion for her induced him to kill her husband. At one point, he even offers her his sword and invites her to kill him. By the end of the scene Richard manages to change her attitude. She even accepts a ring from him, and she says that she is happy to know that he has truly repented of his evil actions. But we (the audience) suspect that it is not so much Anne’s Christian charity as it is her woman’s vanity that has really softened her heart. We understand that Richard has now succeeded in winning over the Lady Anne and that she will become his wife.

After Anne has left the scene and Richard is again alone (with us, the audience) he cynically expresses his wicked pleasure at Anne’s foolishness and his own ability to deceive without scruple.

(Note: this scene is a bit long, but the basic idea is easy to follow).


Enter the corpse of KING HENRY the Sixth, Gentlemen with halberds to guard it; LADY ANNE being the mourner

LADY ANNE
Set down, set down your honourable load,
If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,
Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament
The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.
Poor key-cold figure of a holy king!
Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!
Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood!
Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost,
To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne,
Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter'd son,
Stabb'd by the selfsame hand that made these wounds!
Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life,
I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.
Cursed be the hand that made these fatal holes!
Cursed be the heart that had the heart to do it!
Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence!
More direful hap betide that hated wretch,
That makes us wretched by the death of thee,
Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,
Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
If ever he have child, abortive be it,
Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,
Whose ugly and unnatural aspect
May fright the hopeful mother at the view;
And that be heir to his unhappiness!
If ever he have wife, let her he made
A miserable by the death of him
As I am made by my poor lord and thee!
Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load,
Taken from Paul's to be interred there;
And still, as you are weary of the weight,
Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry's corse. corse - corpse, body

Enter GLOUCESTER

GLOUCESTER
Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down.

LADY ANNE
What black magician conjures up this fiend,
To stop devoted charitable deeds?

GLOUCESTER
Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul,
I'll make a corse of him that disobeys.

Gentleman
My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.

GLOUCESTER
Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command:
Advance thy halbert higher than my breast,
Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.

LADY ANNE
What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?
Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!
Thou hadst but power over his mortal body,
His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone.

GLOUCESTER
Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.

LADY ANNE
Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not;
For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, heinous - wicked
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh!
Blush, Blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
Provokes this deluge most unnatural. deluge -flood (in this case, of blood)
O God, which this blood madest, revenge his death!
O earth, which this blood drink'st revenge his death!
Either heaven with lightning strike the murderer dead,
Or earth, gape open wide and eat him quick,
As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood
Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!

GLOUCESTER
Lady, you know no rules of charity,
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.

LADY ANNE
Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man:
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.

GLOUCESTER
But I know none, and therefore am no beast.

LADY ANNE
O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!

GLOUCESTER
More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed-evils, to give me leave,
By circumstance, but to acquit myself.

LADY ANNE
Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man,
For these known evils, but to give me leave,
By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.

GLOUCESTER
Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have
Some patient leisure to excuse myself.

LADY ANNE
Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make
No excuse current, but to hang thyself.

GLOUCESTER
By such despair, I should accuse myself.

LADY ANNE
And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand excused;
For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,

Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others.

GLOUCESTER
Say that I slew them not?

LADY ANNE
Why, then they are not dead:
But dead they are, and devilish slave, by thee.

GLOUCESTER
I did not kill your husband.

LADY ANNE
Why, then he is alive.

GLOUCESTER
Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand.

LADY ANNE
In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen Margaret saw

Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood; falchion - knife
The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
But that thy brothers beat aside the point.

GLOUCESTER
I was provoked by her slanderous tongue,
which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.

LADY ANNE
Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind.
Which never dreamt on aught but butcheries:
Didst thou not kill this king?

GLOUCESTER
I grant ye.

LADY ANNE
Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant me too
Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed!
O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous!

GLOUCESTER
The fitter for the King of heaven, that hath him.

LADY ANNE
He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.

GLOUCESTER
Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither; holp - helped / thither - there
For he was fitter for that place than earth.

LADY ANNE
And thou unfit for any place but hell.

GLOUCESTER
Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.

LADY ANNE
Some dungeon.

GLOUCESTER
Your bed-chamber.

LADY ANNE
Ill rest betide the chamber where thou liest!

GLOUCESTER
So will it, madam till I lie with you.


LADY ANNE
I hope so.

GLOUCESTER
I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne,
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall somewhat into a slower method,
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?

LADY ANNE
Thou art the cause, and most accursed effect.

GLOUCESTER
Your beauty was the cause of that effect;
Your beauty: which did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world,
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom. bosum - breast

LADY ANNE
If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,
These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.

GLOUCESTER
These eyes could never endure sweet beauty's wreck;
You should not blemish it, if I stood by:
As all the world is cheered by the sun,
So I by that; it is my day, my life.

LADY ANNE
Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!

GLOUCESTER
Curse not thyself, fair creature thou art both.

LADY ANNE
I would I were, to be revenged on thee.

GLOUCESTER
It is a quarrel most unnatural,
To be revenged on him that loveth you.

LADY ANNE
It is a quarrel just and reasonable,
To be revenged on him that slew my husband.

GLOUCESTER
He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband, berift - deprived
Did it to help thee to a better husband.

LADY ANNE
His better doth not breathe upon the earth.

GLOUCESTER
He lives that loves thee better than he could.

LADY ANNE
Name him.

GLOUCESTER
Plantagenet.

LADY ANNE
Why, that was he.

GLOUCESTER
The selfsame name, but one of better nature.

LADY ANNE
Where is he?

GLOUCESTER
Here.

She spitteth at him

Why dost thou spit at me?

LADY ANNE
Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake!

GLOUCESTER
Never came poison from so sweet a place.

LADY ANNE
Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes.

GLOUCESTER
Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.

LADY ANNE
Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!

GLOUCESTER
I would they were, that I might die at once;
For now they kill me with a living death.
Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
Shamed their aspect with store of childish drops:
These eyes that never shed remorseful tear,
No, when my father York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made
When black-faced Clifford shook his sword at him;
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the sad story of my father's death,
And twenty times made pause to sob and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;
And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never sued to friend nor enemy;
My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
But now thy beauty is proposed my fee,
My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.

She looks scornfully at him

Teach not thy lips such scorn, for they were made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true bosom.
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,
And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

He lays his breast open: she offers at it with his sword

Nay, do not pause; for I did kill King Henry,
But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.
Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward, dispatch - be quick
But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

Here she lets fall the sword

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

LADY ANNE
Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,
I will not be the executioner.

GLOUCESTER
Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it.

LADY ANNE
I have already.

GLOUCESTER
Tush, that was in thy rage:
Speak it again, and, even with the word,
That hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love,
Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;
To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary.

LADY ANNE
I would I knew thy heart.

GLOUCESTER
'Tis figured in my tongue.

LADY ANNE
I fear me both are false.

GLOUCESTER
Then never man was true.

LADY ANNE
Well, well, put up your sword.

GLOUCESTER
Say, then, my peace is made.

LADY ANNE
That shall you know hereafter.

GLOUCESTER
But shall I live in hope?

LADY ANNE
All men, I hope, live so.

GLOUCESTER
Vouchsafe to wear this ring.

LADY ANNE
To take is not to give.

GLOUCESTER
Look, how this ring encompasseth finger. encompass - enclose

Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted suppliant may
But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.

LADY ANNE
What is it?

GLOUCESTER
That it would please thee leave these sad designs
To him that hath more cause to be a mourner,
And presently repair to Crosby Place;
Where, after I have solemnly interr'd
At Chertsey monastery this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,
I will with all expedient duty see you:
For divers unknown reasons. I beseech you,
Grant me this boon.

LADY ANNE
With all my heart; and much it joys me too,
To see you are become so penitent.
Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.

GLOUCESTER
Bid me farewell.

LADY ANNE
'Tis more than you deserve;
But since you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have said farewell already.

Exeunt LADY ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKELEY

GLOUCESTER
Sirs, take up the corse.

GENTLEMEN
Towards Chertsey, noble lord?

GLOUCESTER
No, to White-Friars; there attend my coining. White-Friars (a church)

Exeunt all but GLOUCESTER

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? woo - court (a woman)
Was ever woman in this humour won?
I'll have her; but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that kill'd her husband and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate,
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,
The bleeding witness of her hatred by;
Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me,
And I nothing to back my suit at all, suit - petition
But the plain devil and dissembling looks, dissembling - false
And yet to win her, all the world to nothing!
Ha! Hath she forgot already that brave prince,
Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months since,
Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?
A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,
Framed in the prodigality of nature,
Young, valiant, wise, and, no doubt, right royal,
The spacious world cannot again afford
And will she yet debase her eyes on me,
That cropp'd the golden prime of this sweet prince, cropped – cut down
And made her widow to a woful bed?
On me, whose all not equals Edward's moiety? all - entire self /moiety - part
On me, that halt and am unshapen thus? halt - walking with a limp
My dukedom to a beggarly denier,
I do mistake my person all this while:
Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot,
Myself to be a marvellous proper man.
I'll be at charges for a looking-glass, be at charges – buy
And entertain some score or two of tailors, score - twenty
To study fashions to adorn my body:
Since I am crept in favour with myself, crept in - enterred into
Will maintain it with some little cost.
But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave;
And then return lamenting to my love.
Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass, glass – mirror
That I may see my shadow as I pass.

Exit

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