Richard III – Act 2 Scene 1

KING EDWARD IV

Why, so: now have I done a good day’s work.

Well, there we are: I’ve done a good day’s work.

You peers, continue this united league.

You all must persevere to keep the peace.

I every day expect an embassage

Each day I now expect to get a message

From my Redeemer to redeem me hence;

From God to say my days on earth are done;

And more in peace my soul shall part to heaven,

And I’ll ascend to heaven peacefully

Since I have made my friends at peace on earth.

Because I’ve brought my friends on earth to peace.

Hastings and Rivers, take each other’s hand,

Hastings and Rivers, take each other’s hand,

Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love.

And don’t just hide your hatred, swear your love.

EARL RIVERS

By heaven, my soul is purged from grudging hate,

I swear my soul no longer harbours hatred,

And with my hand I seal my true heart’s love.

And, with this handshake, share my heart’s true love.

LORD HASTINGS

So thrive I, as I truly swear the like!

So I will prosper too, I swear the same!

KING EDWARD IV

Take heed you dally not before your king,

Make sure you are not lying to your king,

Lest He that is the supreme King of kings

Or else our God, the real King of kings,

Confound your hidden falsehood and award

Will penalise your lying and declare

Either of you to be the other’s end.

That both of you will die for that one sin.

LORD HASTINGS

So prosper I, as I swear perfect love!

So may I prosper, for my love is real!

EARL RIVERS

And I, as I love Hastings with my heart!

And me as well, for I love Hastings too!

KING EDWARD IV

Madam, yourself is not exempt from this;

Madam, you’re not exempt from this thing either;

Nor you, son Dorset; Buckingham, nor you;

Nor you, young Dorset; Buckingham, nor you;

You have been factious one against the other.

You’ve all had quarrelsome relationships.

Wife, love Lord Hastings, let him kiss your hand,

Dear wife, now let Lord Hastings kiss your hand,

And what you do, do it unfeignedly.

And do it with sincerity, not pretence.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

There, Hastings, I will never more remember

Here, Hastings, take my hand and I’ll forget

Our former hatred, so thrive I and mine!

Our former hatred so we both can thrive!

KING EDWARD IV

Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love Lord Marquess.

Dorset, embrace him; Hastings, love Lord Marquess.

MARQUESS OF DORSET

This interchange of love, I here protest,

The love we hereby share today I swear

Upon my part shall be inviolable.

Will never be retracted on my part.

LORD HASTINGS

And so swear I.

I swear that too.

[They embrace.]

KING EDWARD IV

Now, princely Buckingham, seal thou this league

Now, Duke of Buckingham, confirm your friendship

With thy embracements to my wive’s allies,

By shaking hands with my wife’s many friends,

And make me happy in your unity.

And thereby make me happy with this bond.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

When ever Buckingham doth turn his hate

If I, the Duke of Buckingham, show hatred

Upon your Grace

Towards your Grace

[To the Queen.]

But with all duteous love

And fail to offer love

Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me

To you and family, let God punish me

With hate in those where I expect most love!

With hatred from the folk I thought would love me!

When I have most need to employ a friend,

When I most need a friend to help me out,

And most assured that he is a friend,

And think for sure he is a loyal friend,

Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile

He can be insincere, false and deceptive

Be he unto me! This do I beg of God,

To me! And this is what I beg of God

When I am cold in love to you or yours.

If ever I don’t love you and your family.

[They embrace.]

KING EDWARD IV

A pleasing cordial, princely Buckingham,

This sounds medicinal, dear Buckingham,

Is this thy vow unto my sickly heart.

Whereby your words have soothed my sickly heart.

There wanteth now our brother Gloucester here

We only need my brother, Duke of Gloucester,

To make the blessed period of this peace.

To come to seal the peace amongst us all.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

And in good time,

With perfect timing,

Here comes Sir Richard Ratcliffe and the Duke.

Here comes Sir Richard Ratcliffe and the Duke.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen,

My greetings to my sovereign king and queen,

And, princely peers, a happy time of day!

And to my fellow peers, my happy thoughts!

KING EDWARD IV

Happy indeed, as we have spent the day.

It’s been a happy day for all of us.

Gloucester, we have done deeds of charity,

For, Richard, we have shaken hands in friendship,

Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,

Swapped rivalry for peace, and hate for love,

Between these swelling wrong-incensed peers.

Between the misplaced anger of these peers.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

A blessed labour, my most sovereign lord.

What honourable work, my noble lord.

Among this princely heap, if any here

If there is anybody in this group

By false intelligence or wrong surmise

Who, by some wrong intelligence or hunch

Hold me a foe –

Considers me an enemy…

If I unwittingly, or in my rage,

If I unwittingly, or out of anger,

Have aught committed that is hardly borne

Have done something that might have caused offence

By any in this presence, I desire

To anybody here, I wish to know

To reconcile me to his friendly peace.

So I can make amends between us both.

’Tis death to me to be at enmity;

It’s like a death to be an enemy;

I hate it, and desire all good men’s love.

I hate it, and I want good men to love me.

First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,

And firstly, madam, I want peace with you

Which I will purchase with my duteous service;

Which I’ll achieve by acting at your service;

Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,

For you, my noble cousin Buckingham,

If ever any grudge were lodged between us;

Let’s park the grudges we have shared before;

Of you, and you, Lord Rivers, and of Dorset,

And you, Lord Rivers and Marquess of Dorset,

That all without desert have frowned on me;

I ask we park our grievances behind us;

Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen – indeed of all.

This is to each and every nobleman.

I do not know that Englishman alive

I don’t know any Englishman alive

With whom my soul is any jot at odds

With whom I am at odds with, any more than

More than the infant that is born tonight.

An infant who has just been born tonight.

I thank my God for my humility.

And thank you, God, for making me so humble.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

A holy day shall this be kept hereafter.

This day shall be a holiday from now on.

I would to God all strifes were well compounded.

I wish to God all feuds resolved this well.

My sovereign lord, I do beseech your Highness

And now, my gracious king, I ask of you

To take our brother Clarence to your grace.

To grant a pardon to our brother Clarence.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

Why, madam, have I off’red love for this,

Madam, have I just offered love to be

To be so flouted in this royal presence?

Made fun of in the presence of our king?

Who knows not that the gentle Duke is dead?

Who doesn’t know the gentle Duke is dead?

[They all start.]

You do him injury to scorn his corse.

It is obscene to make fun of his corpse.

KING EDWARD IV

Who knows not he is dead? Who knows he is?

Who doesn’t know he’s dead? Who knows he is dead?

QUEEN ELIZABETH

All-seeing heaven, what a world is this!

Oh God, this is a wretched world we live in!

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest?

Lord Dorset, am I pale like all the others?

MARQUESS OF DORSET

Ay, my good lord, and no man in the presence

You are, my lord, and no one else in here

But his red colour hath forsook his cheeks.

Has kept the rosy redness in their cheeks.

KING EDWARD IV

Is Clarence dead? The order was reversed.

Is Clarence dead? I had the order cancelled.

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

But he, poor man, by your first order died,

But poor old Clarence died from your first order

And that a winged Mercury did bear;

Which came as though flown in by Mercury;

Some tardy cripple bare the countermand,

Whilst some slow cripple brought the cancellation,

That came too lag to see him buried.

Which came so late, he was already buried.

God grant that some, less noble and less loyal,

It seems God’s let someone less loyal and noble –

Nearer in bloody thoughts, but not in blood,

Who’s bloody-minded, not a blood relation,

Deserve not worse than wretched Clarence did,

Who should receive the punishment of Clarence –

And yet go current from suspicion!

Who now just walks away without suspicion.

LORD STANLEY

A boon, my sovereign, for my service done!

My King, I ask a favour for my service!

[Kneels.]

KING EDWARD IV

I prithee peace, my soul is full of sorrow.

Be quiet, for I am overwhelmed with sorrow.

LORD STANLEY

I will not rise, unless your Highness hear me.

I won’t stand up until your Highness hears me.

KING EDWARD IV

Then say at once what is it thou requests.

Then tell me quickly what it is you want.

LORD STANLEY

The forfeit, sovereign, of my servant’s life,

That you will spare my servant’s life, dear King,

Who slew today a riotous gentleman

Who killed a violent gentleman today

Lately attendant on the Duke of Norfolk.

Who recently had served the Duke of Norfolk.

KING EDWARD IV

Have I a tongue to doom my brother’s death,

Would I instruct my brother to be killed

And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave?

And then order a pardon on a slave?

My brother killed no man, his fault was thought,

My brother didn’t kill a man; he thought wrong,

And yet his punishment was bitter death.

And due to that, his punishment was death.

Who sued to me for him? Who (in my wrath)

Who begged his case to me? Who, in my anger,

Kneeled at my feet and bid me be advised?

Kneeled down to ask that I should reconsider?

Who spoke of brotherhood? Who spoke of love?

Who spoke to me about my brotherly love?

Who told me how the poor soul did forsake

Who said the poor soul left his father-in-law,

The mighty Warwick and did fight for me?

The Earl of Warwick, just to fight for me?

Who told me, in the field at Tewksbury,

Who told me, in the battlefield of Tewksbury,

When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,

He saved me when the Earl of Oxford held me,

And said, “Dear brother, live, and be a king”?

And said, ‘Dear brother, live, and be a king’?

Who told me, when we both lay in the field

Who told me, when we both lay in a field

Frozen (almost) to death, how he did lap me

Freezing to death, how he had dressed me up

Even in his own garments, and did give himself

In his own clothes, and thereby left himself

(All thin and naked) to the numb cold night?

To brave the freezing night all weak and naked?

All this from my remembrance brutish wrath

All this I had forgotten, plucked by wrath

Sinfully plucked, and not a man of you

From my sick memory, whilst none of you

Had so much grace to put it in my mind.

Have had the decency to just remind me.

But when your carters or your waiting vassals

But when your horsemen or your slavish servants

Have done a drunken slaughter, and defaced

Have murdered someone, drunk, and then disgraced

The precious image of our dear Redeemer,

The image of our dear Redeemer, God,

You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon,

You’re quickly on your knees to beg for mercy,

And I (unjustly too) must grant it you.

And I, against my better judgement, grant it.

[STANLEY RISES.]

But for my brother not a man would speak,

But for my brother, nobody would speak up,

Nor I (ungracious) speak unto myself

Nor did I, to my shame, convince myself

For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all

On his behalf, poor soul. The proudest of you

Have been beholding to him in his life;

All owed him something whilst he was alive,

Yet none of you would once beg for his life.

Yet none of you would plead to save his life.

O God! I fear thy justice will take hold

Oh God! I fear you will inflict your justice

On me and you, and mine and yours, for this.

On me and you, and all our loved ones, for this.

Come, Hastings, help me to my closet.

Come, Hastings, help me to my private room.

Ah, poor Clarence!

Ah, poor Clarence!

RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

This is the fruits of rashness! Marked you not

Rash actions caused this! Didn’t you observe

How that the guilty kindred of the Queen

How all the Queen’s relations acted guilty

Looked pale when they did hear of Clarence’ death?

And all turned pale at news of Clarence’s death?

O, they did urge it still unto the King!

Yet they all urged the King himself to do it!

God will revenge it. Come, lords, will you go

God will revenge this. Come on, lords, let’s go

To comfort Edward with our company.

To cheer up Edward with our company.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

We wait upon your Grace.

We’ll follow you, your Grace.