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