Richard III – Act 1 Scene 3

EARL RIVERS

Have patience, madam, there’s no doubt his Majesty

Have patience, madam, there’s no doubt King Edward

Will soon recover his accustomed health.

Will soon recover back to decent health.

LORD GREY

In that you brook it ill, it makes him worse;

If you are suffering, it makes him worse;

Therefore for God’s sake entertain good comfort,

And so, for God’s sake, look as though you’re happy

And cheer his Grace with quick and merry eyes.

And cheer the King up with your twinkly eyes.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

If he were dead, what would betide on me?

If he were dead, what would become of me?

LORD GREY

No other harm but loss of such a lord.

Nothing at all, except losing your husband.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

The loss of such a lord includes all harms.

Losing my lord comes laced with every pain.

LORD GREY

The heavens have blest you with a goodly son

You have been blessed to have a lovely son

To be your comforter when he is gone.

To comfort and protect you when he’s gone.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Ah! He is young; and his minority

Ah! He is still a child; as he’s a minor,

Is put unto the trust of Richard Gloucester,

He’s in the care of Richard, Duke of Gloucester,

A man that loves not me, nor none of you.

A man that neither loves me, nor loves you lot.

EARL RIVERS

Is it concluded he shall be Protector?

Is it confirmed that he’s your son’s Protector?

QUEEN ELIZABETH

It is determined, not concluded yet;

It’s been agreed, but not as yet confirmed;

But so it must be, if the King miscarry.

But that’s the way it will be if the King dies.

LORD GREY

Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.

Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Good time of day unto your royal Grace!

Good day to you, your royal Grace, good day!

LORD STANLEY

God make your Majesty joyful, as you have been!

Your Majesty, may God bring back your joy!

QUEEN ELIZABETH

The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Derby,

My Lord of Derby, your wife – Countess Richmond –

To your good prayer will scarcely say amen.

Will not agree with your good wishes for me.

Yet, Derby, notwithstanding she’s your wife

But, Derby, even though she is your wife

And loves not me, be you, good lord, assured

And doesn’t love me, rest assured my lord,

I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

I do not hate you for her arrogance.

LORD STANLEY

I do beseech you, either not believe

I ask that either you do not believe

The envious slanders of her false accusers;

The lies her slanderers accuse her of;

Or if she be accused on true report,

Or if there is some truth within those lies,

Bear with her weakness, which I think proceeds

Forgive her misdemeanours, which I think come

From wayward sickness and no grounded malice.

From illness rather than a grudge against you.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Saw you the King today, my Lord of Derby?

Lord Derby, have you seen the King today?

LORD STANLEY

But now the Duke of Buckingham and I

Just now the Duke of Buckingham and I

Are come from visiting his Majesty.

Came here from visiting his Majesty.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

What likelihood of his amendment, lords?

What is the likelihood that he’ll recover?

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Madam, good hope, his Grace speaks cheerfully.

Good chance, madam, for he speaks cheerfully.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

God grant him health! Did you confer with him?

God give him health! Did you confer with him?

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Ay, madam, he desires to make atonement

Yes, madam, he is keen to broker peace

Between the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers,

With Richard, Duke of Gloucester and your brothers,

And between them and my Lord Chamberlain,

And them with the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Hastings,

And sent to warn them to his royal presence.

And he has sent for them to come to him.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Would all were well! But that will never be:

I wish that all was well! But that won’t happen:

I fear our happiness is at the height.

I fear this is our height of happiness.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

They do me wrong, and I will not endure it!

They wrong me, and I will no longer take it!

Who is it that complains unto the King

Who is the one complaining to the King

That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not?

That I – good lord! – am stern and do not love them?

By holy Paul, they love his Grace but lightly

Oh, by Saint Paul, they do not love the King much

That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours.

Who whisper slanderous rumours in his ear.

Because I cannot flatter and look fair,

Because I’m neither fawning nor attractive;

Smile in men’s faces, smooth, deceive, and cog,

Don’t smile; not suave, deceitful nor conniving;

Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,

Can’t bow like Frenchmen with a faux politeness;

I must be held a rancorous enemy.

I’m seen as a contentious enemy.

Cannot a plain man live and think no harm,

Why can’t a simple, harmless man exist

But thus his simple truth must be abused

Without his honest words being distorted

With silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?

By slimy slick insinuating cretins?

LORD GREY

To who in all this presence speaks your Grace?

Which of us here are you referring to?

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace:

To you: you have no honesty or grace.

When have I injured thee? When done thee wrong?

When have I injured you? When have I wronged you?

Or thee? Or thee? Or any of your faction?

Or you? Or you? Or anybody like you?

A plague upon you all! His royal Grace

God damn you all! His Majesty the King –

(Whom God preserve better than you would wish!)

Whom God’s kept healthier than you would hope for! –

Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while

Can barely get a moment’s peace before

But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.

You pester him with your false allegations.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter:

Brother-in-law, you have got this all wrong:

The King, on his own royal disposition

The royal King has, of his own accord –

(And not provoked by any suitor else),

And unprovoked by anybody else –

Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred,

Been scrutinising all your pent-up hatred

That in your outward action shows itself

That manifests itself in your behaviour

Against my children, brothers, and myself,

Towards my children, brothers, and myself,

Makes him to send, that he may learn the ground.

And hence he’s sent for you to learn the cause.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

I cannot tell, the world is grown so bad

I can’t see how the world has grown so twisted

That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.

That wrens now hunt where eagles fear to perch.

Since every Jack became a gentleman,

Since peasants all are now considered noble,

There’s many a gentle person made a Jack.

Those truly noble are no more than peasants.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloucester;

I know what you’re implying, brother Gloucester;

You envy my advancement and my friends’.

You envy how my friends and I have prospered.

God grant we never may have need of you!

God help us if we ever need your help!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Mean time, God grants that I have need of you.

But meanwhile, God has granted I need your help.

Our brother is imprisoned by your means,

Our brother is in prison at your order,

Myself disgraced, and the nobility

I am disgraced, and all nobility

Held in contempt, while great promotions

Is badly thought of, all while great promotions

Are daily given to ennoble those

Are daily given out to make those noble

That scarce some two days since were worth a noble.

That just two days ago weren’t worth a penny.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

By Him that raised me to this careful height

By God, who gave me this predicament

From that contented hap which I enjoyed,

And took away my former happy life,

I never did incense his Majesty

I never urged his Majesty the King

Against the Duke of Clarence, but have been

To hate the Duke of Clarence, but have been

An earnest advocate to plead for him.

A vocal advocate supporting him.

My lord, you do me shameful injury

My lord, I find it shamefully offensive

Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects.

That you falsely accuse me of this meanness.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

You may deny that you were not the mean

I guess that you’ll deny you weren’t the reason

Of my Lord Hastings’ late imprisonment.

Lord Hastings has been recently imprisoned.

EARL RIVERS

She may, my lord, for –

My lord, she may deny it, all because…

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

She may, Lord Rivers! Why, who knows not so?

She ‘may’, Lord Rivers! Everybody knows it!

She may do more, sir, than denying that:

She ‘may’ do more than just denying it:

She may help you to many fair preferments,

She ‘may’ give you some favourable promotions,

And then deny her aiding hand therein

And then deny the helping hand she gave you

And lay those honours on your high desert.

By claiming you achieved them on your merit.

What may she not, she may, ay, marry, may she.

What ‘may’ she not do? Well, perhaps, she ‘may’…

EARL RIVERS

What, marry, may she?

What ‘may’ she do?

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

What, marry, may she? Marry with a king,

What ‘may’ she do? Get married to a king,

A bachelor, and a handsome stripling too:

A bachelor, and handsome lad at that?

Iwis your grandam had a worser match.

For sure, your grandmother was married worse.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

My Lord of Gloucester, I have too long borne

My Lord of Gloucester, too long I’ve endured

Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs.

Your castigations and your nasty sneers.

By heaven, I will acquaint his Majesty

By God, I’ll make his Majesty aware

Of those gross taunts that oft I have endured.

Of all the insults I endure from you.

I had rather be a country servant maid

I’d rather be a servant in the country

Than a great queen with this condition,

Than be a great queen in this situation

To be so baited, scorned, and stormed at.

Who gets wound up, abused, and shouted at.

[ENTER OLD QUEEN MARGARET BEHIND.]

Small joy have I in being England’s queen.

I get so little joy as England’s queen.

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

And less’ned be that small, God I beseech him!

And may that little joy reduce, by God!

Thy honour, state, and seat is due to me.

Your title as the Queen is owed to me.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

What? Threat you me with telling of the King?

You’re threatening to tell the King about me?

Tell him, and spare not. Look what I have said,

Go, tell him everything. All I have said

I will avouch’t in presence of the King.

I’ll freely say in presence of the King.

I dare adventure to be sent to th’ Tow’r.

I’d say it if it sends me to the Tower.

’Tis time to speak, my pains are quite forgot.

It’s time I spoke; my efforts seem forgotten.

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

Out, devil! I do remember them too well:

Oh, I remember them too well, you devil!

Thou kill’dst my husband Henry in the Tower,

You killed my husband Henry in the Tower

And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury.

And Edward, my poor son, at Tewksbury.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king,

Before you and your husband were the monarchs,

I was a pack-horse in his great affairs:

I slogged my heart out, working on his business:

A weeder-out of his proud adversaries,

I found out and removed his enemies,

A liberal rewarder of his friends;

And generously rewarded all his friends;

To royalise his blood I spent mine own.

I spilt my blood so his blood would be royal.

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

Ay, and much better blood than his or thine.

Yes, and much better blood than his or yours.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

In all which time you and your husband Grey

Throughout, you and your former husband Grey

Were factious for the house of Lancaster;

Were loyal to the house of Lancaster;

And, Rivers, so were you. Was not your husband

And, Rivers, so were you. Wasn’t your husband

In Margaret’s battle at Saint Albans slain?

Killed in the second battle of St Albans?

Let me put in your minds, if you forget,

In case you have forgotten, I’ll remind you

What you have been ere this, and what you are;

What you were formerly, and what you are now;

Withal, what I have been, and what I am.

And also, what I did, and who I am now.

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

A murd’rous villain, and so still thou art.

You were a murderous villain, and you are still.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Poor Clarence did forsake his father, Warwick,

My brother George betrayed his father-in-law,

Ay, and forswore himself – which Jesu pardon! –

The Earl of Warwick, broke his oath – God save him!...

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

Which God revenge!

And may God take revenge!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

To fight on Edward’s party for the crown,

…to fight for Edward as he sought the crown,

And for his meed, poor lord, he is mewed up.

And for his efforts, poor chap, he’s locked up.

I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward’s,

I wish to God my heart was stone, like Edward’s,

Or Edward’s soft and pitiful, like mine:

Or Edward’s heart were soft and kind, like mine:

I am too childish-foolish for this world.

I’m too naïve and childlike for this world.

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave this world,

Depart this world and go to hell for shame,

Thou cacodemon, there thy kingdom is.

You evil demon, that’s where you belong.

EARL RIVERS

My Lord of Gloucester, in those busy days,

My Lord of Gloucester, in those hectic days,

Which here you urge to prove us enemies,

Which you reiterate to prove we’re foes,

We followed then our lord, our sovereign king.

We stayed subservient unto our king.

So should we you, if you should be our king.

We’d do the same to you if you were king.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

If I should be? I had rather be a pedlar:

If I were king? I’d rather be a hawker:

Far be it from my heart, the thought thereof!

I’ve not considered ever being king!

QUEEN ELIZABETH

As little joy, my lord, as you suppose

As little joy, my lord, as you assume

You should enjoy, were you this country’s king –

There wouldn’t be if you became the King;

As little joy you may suppose in me

As little joy as you observe in me

That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.

That I enjoy now as I am the Queen.

QUEEN MARGARET

[Aside.]

A little joy enjoys the queen thereof,

The queen she speaks of doesn’t get much joy,

For I am she, and altogether joyless.

For I’m that queen and I’m completely joyless.

I can no longer hold me patient.

I cannot hold my tongue for any longer.

[Comes forward.]

Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out

Listen to me, you quibbling pirates, bickering

In sharing that which you have pilled from me!

About the sovereignty you stole from me!

Which of you trembles not that looks on me?

Which one of you is not afraid to see me?

If not, that I am queen, you bow like subjects,

If you don’t tremble, bowing when I’m queen,

Yet that, by you deposed, you quake like rebels?

You shiver knowing you wrongly dethroned me.

Ah, gentle villain, do not turn away!

Ah, noble villain, do not turn away!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Foul wrinkled witch, what mak’st thou in my sight?

Disgusting witch, what are you doing here?

QUEEN MARGARET

But repetition of what thou hast marred,

Repeating all the damage you have done

That will I make before I let thee go.

I will explain to you before you leave here.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Wert thou not banished on pain of death?

Were you not banished, though, on pain of death?

QUEEN MARGARET

I was; but I do find more pain in banishment

I was; but being banished is more painful

Than death can yield me here by my abode.

Than dying here at home would be to me.

A husband and a son thou ow’st to me –

You owe me both a husband and a son;

And thou a kingdom – all of you allegiance.

And you owe me a kingdom; you, allegiance.

This sorrow that I have, by right is yours,

My sadness should, by rights, belong to you,

And all the pleasures you usurp are mine.

And all your stolen pleasures should be mine.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

The curse my noble father laid on thee

The curse my noble father set on you

When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper,

When, mocking him, you crowned his head with paper,

And with thy scorns drew’st rivers from his eyes,

Derided him, and drew his floods of tears,

And then, to dry them, gav’st the Duke a clout

And then, to dry them, offered him a cloth

Steeped in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland –

Soaked in the faultless blood of his son, Rutland.

His curses then, from bitterness of soul

Those curses, from the bottom of his heart,

Denounced against thee, are all fall’n upon thee;

Condemned you, and now all have come to pass;

And God, not we, hath plagued thy bloody deed.

And God, not us, has penalised your cruelty.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

So just is God, to right the innocent.

For God is kind and saves the innocent.

LORD HASTINGS

O, ’twas the foulest deed to slay that babe,

It was appalling killing teenage Rutland

And the most merciless, that e’er was heard of!

Remorselessly, the worst thing ever done!

EARL RIVERS

Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported.

And even warlords cried when hearing of it.

MARQUESS OF DORSET

No man but prophesied revenge for it.

All men predicted it would be revenged.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Northumberland, then present, wept to see it.

Even our foe Northumberland shed tears.

QUEEN MARGARET

What? Were you snarling all before I came,

Hang on! Weren’t you all crazed before I got here,

Ready to catch each other by the throat,

About to grab each other by the throat,

And turn you all your hatred now on me?

But now you flip your hatred back at me?

Did York’s dread curse prevail so much with heaven

So did the Duke of York’s curse hoodwink heaven

That Henry’s death, my lovely Edward’s death,

To thinking that my husband’s and my son’s death,

Their kingdom’s loss, my woeful banishment,

Losing their kingdom, and my banishment,

Should all but answer for that peevish brat?

Is recompense for tetchy Rutland’s death?

Can curses pierce the clouds and enter heaven?

Can curses get to heaven just like that?

Why then give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses!

In which case, clouds divide and hear my curses!

Though not by war, by surfeit die your king,

May your king die from gluttony, not war,

As ours by murder, to make him a king!

For he’s now king due to my husband’s murder!

Edward thy son, that now is Prince of Wales,

May your son, Edward, who’s now Prince of Wales,

For Edward our son, that was Prince of Wales,

For my son, Edward, who was Prince of Wales,

Die in his youth by like untimely violence!

Die young and violently whilst in his prime!

Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen,

May you, a queen, for me who once was queen,

Outlive thy glory like my wretched self!

Outlive your glory and be sad like me!

Long mayst thou live to wail thy children’s death,

And may you live to mourn your children’s deaths

And see another, as I see thee now,

And see another queen, as I see you now,

Decked in thy rights as thou art stalled in mine!

Wearing your robes as you are wearing mine!

Long die thy happy days before thy death,

May happy days cease long before your death,

And after many length’ned hours of grief,

And after an extended bout of grief,

Die neither mother, wife, nor England’s queen!

You’ll die no mother, wife, nor England’s queen!

Rivers and Dorset, you were standers-by,

Rivers and Dorset, you were standing by,

And so wast thou, Lord Hastings, when my son

And so were you, Lord Hastings, when my son

Was stabbed with bloody daggers: God, I pray him

Was stabbed to death by daggers: God, I pray

That none of you may live his natural age,

That none of you will die a natural death,

But by some unlooked accident cut off!

But will be killed by some dire accident!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Have done thy charm, thou hateful with’red hag.

Desist your curses, hateful withered witch.

QUEEN MARGARET

And leave out thee? Stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me.

And leave you out? Wait, dog, and hear me out.

If heaven have any grievous plague in store

If heaven has a dreadful pestilence

Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee,

That’s even worse than I can wish upon you,

O, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe,

I hope they keep it till your sins bear fruit,

And then hurl down their indignation

And then release it with a burst of fury

On thee, the troubler of the poor world’s peace!

On you, who’ve wreaked such havoc on the world!

The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!

And may your conscience eat you up inside!

Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv’st,

And may you start to think your friends are traitors,

And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends!

And take the cruellest traitors as your friends!

No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine,

And don’t let sleep close up those eyes of yours,

Unless it be while some tormenting dream

Unless it’s caused by an appalling nightmare

Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!

With ugly devils scaring you from hell!

Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!

You scarred, revolting pig, digging the dirt!

Thou that wast sealed in thy nativity

You who became, the day that you were born,

The slave of nature and the son of hell!

A freak of nature and the son of hell!

Thou slander of thy heavy mother’s womb!

You have disgraced your mother’s pregnant womb!

Thou loathed issue of thy father’s loins!

You are the hated offspring of your father!

Thou rag of honour! Thou detested –

You toerag! You disgusting, hated…

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Margaret.

Margaret.

QUEEN MARGARET

Richard!

Richard!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Ha!

What?

QUEEN MARGARET

I call thee not.

I didn’t call you.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

I cry thee mercy then; for I did think

I beg your pardon; for I just believed

That thou hadst called me all these bitter names.

That you had called me all those awful names.

QUEEN MARGARET

Why, so I did, but looked for no reply.

Well, yes, I did, but didn’t seek an answer.

O, let me make the period to my curse!

Now, let me finish off my awful curse!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

’Tis done by me, and ends in “Margaret.”

I’ve finished it, and it concludes with ‘Margaret.’

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself.

So, you have cast your curse against yourself.

QUEEN MARGARET

Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune!

You pseudo queen, a shadow of my reign!

Why strew’st thou sugar on that bottled spider

Why are you sweet to that fat-bellied spider

Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?

Who’s trying to trap you in his deadly web?

Fool, fool, thou whet’st a knife to kill thyself.

You’re sharpening a knife to kill yourself, fool.

The day will come that thou shalt wish for me

The day will come when you will ask for me

To help thee curse this poisonous bunch-backed toad.

To help you curse this evil hunchbacked toad.

LORD HASTINGS

False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse,

Enough of all these baseless omens, woman,

Lest to thy harm thou move our patience.

Or we’ll run out of patience, and we’ll hurt you.

QUEEN MARGARET

Foul shame upon you, you have all moved mine.

Damn you for making me run out of patience.

EARL RIVERS

Were you well served, you would be taught your duty.

If you had been respected, you’d respect us.

QUEEN MARGARET

To serve me well, you all should do me duty,

If you were more respectful, you’d respect me,

Teach me to be your queen, and you my subjects:

And learn that I’m your queen and you’re my subjects:

O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty!

Respect me, and then teach yourselves respect!

MARQUESS OF DORSET

Dispute not with her, she is lunatic.

Don’t argue with her; she’s a lunatic.

QUEEN MARGARET

Peace, Master Marquess, you are malapert,

Shut up, faux-nobleman, you cheeky smart arse,

Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current.

Your newly granted title’s barely valid.

O that your young nobility could judge

If only young nobility could know

What ’twere to lose it and be miserable!

The misery of losing what you have!

They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,

The higher up one stands, the more the winds blow,

And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.

But when they fall, they shatter into pieces.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Good counsel, marry! Learn it, learn it, Marquess.

That’s sound advice indeed! Now learn it, Marquess.

MARQUESS OF DORSET

It touches you, my lord, as much as me.

It’s just as relevant to you as me.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Ay, and much more; but I was born so high,

Yes, more for me, for I was born so noble,

Our aery buildeth in the cedar’s top

My nest is built atop a cedar tree,

And dallies with the wind and scorns the sun.

And play with wind and do not fear the sun.

QUEEN MARGARET

And turns the sun to shade – alas, alas!

And cast a shadow from the sun, alas!

Witness my son, now in the shade of death,

Like my own son, who’s shaded by his death,

Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath

Whereby your clouds have smothered his bright light

Hath in eternal darkness folded up.

So he’s consumed eternally in darkness.

Your aery buildeth in our aery’s nest:

You’ve built your eagle’s nest upon our nest:

O God that seest it, do not suffer it!

Oh God, don’t let them get away with this!

As it is won with blood, lost be it so!

You won this spilling blood; that’s how you’ll lose it!

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Peace, peace, for shame! If not, for charity.

Shut up, for goodness’ sake! Or just for kindness.

QUEEN MARGARET

Urge neither charity nor shame to me.

Don’t preach of shame or kindness back to me.

[Turning to the others.]

Uncharitably with me have you dealt,

You’ve treated me with terrible unkindness,

And shamefully my hopes, by you, are butchered.

And shamefully, you have destroyed my hopes.

My charity is outrage, life my shame,

My kindness now is anger; my life, shameful;

And in that shame still live my sorrow’s rage!

And in my shame, I’m furious from sorrow.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Have done, have done.

Now, that’s enough.

QUEEN MARGARET

O princely Buckingham, I’ll kiss thy hand

Oh noble Buckingham, I’ll kiss your hand

In sign of league and amity with thee.

To show that I’m aligned and friends with you.

Now fair befall thee and thy noble house!

I wish good things for you and for your family!

Thy garments are not spotted with our blood;

Your clothes aren’t splattered with my family’s blood;

Nor thou within the compass of my curse.

Nor are you implicated in my curses.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Nor no one here; for curses never pass

Nobody’s implicated, for your curses

The lips of those that breathe them in the air.

Are nothing more than breath within the air.

QUEEN MARGARET

I will not think but they ascend the sky,

I’ve never doubted they fly up to heaven

And there awake God’s gentle-sleeping peace.

And wake God up from his idyllic slumber.

O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog!

Oh Buckingham, beware of that dog Richard!

Look when he fawns he bites; and when he bites,

When he is sucking up, he’ll bite; and his bite

His venom tooth will rankle to the death.

Is venomous, and it’s enough to kill you.

Have not to do with him, beware of him;

Have nothing more to do with him, be careful;

Sin, death, and hell have set their marks on him,

He’s overwhelmed by evil, death, and hell,

And all their ministers attend on him.

And every devil does as he desires.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

What doth she say, my Lord of Buckingham?

What does she say, my Lord of Buckingham?

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord.

Nothing that I believe, my gracious lord.

QUEEN MARGARET

What, dost thou scorn me for my gentle counsel?

What, do you mock me for my kind advice?

And soothe the devil that I warn thee from?

And then appease the devil whom I warned of?

O but remember this another day,

Oh, you’ll remember this another day,

When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow,

When he will break your heart with grief and sorrow,

And say poor Margaret was a prophetess!

And you’ll say Margaret could predict the future!

Live each of you the subjects to his hate,

May all of you live under Richard’s hatred,

And he to yours, and all of you to God’s!

And you will hate him; God will hate you too!

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

My hair doth stand an end to hear her curses.

Her curses make my hair stand up on end.

EARL RIVERS

And so doth mine. I muse why she’s at liberty.

And so does mine. I wonder why she’s free.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

I cannot blame her; by God’s holy Mother,

I cannot blame her; by the Mother of God,

She hath had too much wrong, and I repent

Too much has gone wrong for her, and I’m sorry

My part thereof that I have done to her.

For what I’ve done to contribute to this.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

I never did her any to my knowledge.

As far as I’m aware, I’ve never wronged her.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong.

But you have profiteered from her pain.

I was too hot to do somebody good

I was too keen to help King Edward thrive

That is too cold in thinking of it now.

For it’s like he’s forgotten what I did.

Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid;

And as for Clarence, hasn’t he done well?

He is franked up to fatting for his pains –

He’s locked up like a pig that’s being fattened.

God pardon them that are the cause thereof!

Oh, God forgive those that have caused this pain!

EARL RIVERS

A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion –

That is a kind and Christian-like assessment

To pray for them that have done scathe to us.

To pray for people that have caused us harm.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

So do I ever –

I always do that…

[Speaks to himself.]

being well advised;

…for, because I’m guilty,

For had I cursed now, I had cursed myself.

If I had cursed them now, I’d curse myself.

SIR WILLIAM CATESBY

Madam, his Majesty doth call for you,

Madam, his Majesty has called for you,

And for your Grace, and yours, my gracious lord.

And also you, your Grace, and you, my lord.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

Catesby, I come. Lords, will you go with me?

I’m coming, Catesby. Lords, will you come with me?

EARL RIVERS

We wait upon your Grace.

We’ll do as you desire, your Grace.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.

I do the wrong and instigate the fights.

The secret mischiefs that I set abroach

The secret tricks and traps I set in motion

I lay unto the grievous charge of others.

I surreptitiously pin blame on others.

Clarence, who I indeed have cast in darkness,

Clarence, who I have had thrown into prison,

I do beweep to many simple gulls –

I feign tears for, in front of all those fools –

Namely, to Derby, Hastings, Buckingham –

Namely, to Derby, Hastings, Buckingham –

And tell them ’tis the Queen and her allies

And tell them it’s the Queen and all her allies

That stir the King against the Duke my brother.

That pitched the King against the Duke, my brother.

Now they believe it, and withal whet me

Now they believe it, and they egg me on

To be revenged on Rivers, Dorset, Grey.

To get revenge on Rivers, Dorset, Grey.

But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture,

But then I sigh, and, quoting from the Bible,

Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:

Say God bids us return good deeds for evil:

And thus I clothe my naked villainy

And so I hide my truly wicked nature

With odd old ends stol’n forth of holy writ,

By quoting random phrases from the Bible;

And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

It makes me look a saint, but I’m the devil.

[ENTER TWO MURDERERS.]

But soft, here come my executioners.

But wait, here come my executioners.

How now, my hardy, stout, resolved mates,

What’s up, my tough and strong, reliable friends?

Are you now going to dispatch this thing?

Are you about to take good care of business?

FIRST MURDERER

We are, my lord, and come to have the warrant,

We are, my lord, and have come for the warrant

That we may be admitted where he is.

So we can be admitted to his cell.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Well thought upon, I have it here about me.

Good thinking; now, I have it here upon me.

[Gives the warrant.]

When you have done, repair to Crosby Place.

When you are done, return to Crosby Place.

But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,

Don’t hesitate before the execution,

Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead;

Remain hard-hearted, do not hear him plead;

For Clarence is well-spoken, and perhaps

For Clarence is persuasive, and perhaps

May move your hearts to pity if you mark him.

He might convince you to take pity on him.

FIRST MURDERER

Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to prate;

Good grief, my lord, we won’t stop for a chat;

Talkers are no good doers. Be assured;

For chatty folk don’t get things done. Don’t worry;

We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.

We’re going to use our hands, and not our tongues.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Your eyes drop millstones, when fools’ eyes fall tears.

You must remain stone-faced when fools start crying.

I like you, lads, about your business straight.

I like you, lads; now, go about your business.

Go, go, dispatch.

Go, get it done.

FIRST MURDERER

We will, my noble lord.

We will, my noble lord.