King Richard III, with line numbers E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Seltzer Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 161

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Classic Shakespearean history play. According to Wikipedia: "Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England.[1]The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified as such. Occasionally, however, as in the quarto edition, it is termed a tragedy. Richard III concludes Shakespeare's first tetralogy (also containing Henry VI parts 1-3). After Hamlet, it is the longest play in the canon and is the longest of the First Folio, whose version of Hamlet is shorter than its Quarto counterpart. The play is rarely performed unabridged; often certain peripheral characters are removed entirely, most commonly Margaret. In such instances extra lines are often invented or added from elsewhere in the sequence in order to establish the nature of characters' relationships."

Leseprobe

King Richard III By William Shakespeare

published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

Other histories by William Shakespeare:

King John

King Richard II

King Henry IV Part 1

King Henry IV Part 2

King Henry V

King Henry VI Part 1

King Henry VI Part 2

King Henry VI Part 3

King Henry VIII

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Dramatis Personae

King Richard III

Act I

Scene I London. A Street.

Scene II The Same. Another Street.

Scene III The Palace.

Scene IV London. The Tower.

Act II

Scene I London. The Palace.

Scene II The Palace.

Scene III London. A Street.

Scene IV London. The Palace.

Act III

Scene I London. A Street.

Scene II Before Lord Hastings' House.

Scene III Pomfret Castle.

Scene IV The Tower Of London.

Scene V The Tower-Walls.

Scene VI The Same.

Scene VII Baynard's Castle.

Act IV

Scene I Before The Tower.

Scene II London. The Palace.

Scene III The Same.

Scene IV Before The Palace.

Scene V Lord Derby's House.

Act V

Scene I Salisbury. An Open Place.

Scene II The Camp Near Tamworth.

Scene III Bosworth Field.

Scene IV Another Part Of The Field.

Scene V Another Part Of The Field.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

King Edward, The Fourth (King Edward IV:)

Sons to the King

Edward, Prince Of Wales (Prince Edward:), Afterwards King Edward V

Richard, Duke Of York (York:)

Brothers to the King

George, Duke Of Clarence (Clarence:)

Richard, Duke Of Gloucester (Gloucester:), Afterwards King Richard III., (King Richard Iii:)

A Young Son Of Clarence. (Boy:)

Henry, Earl Of Richmond, (Richmond:), Afterwards King Henry Vii.

Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop Of Canterbury. (Cardinal:)

Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop Of York. (Archbishop Of York:)

John Morton, Bishop Of Ely. (Bishop Of Ely:)

Duke Of Buckingham (Buckingham:)

Duke Of Norfolk (Norfolk:)

Earl Of Surrey His Son. (Surrey:)

Earl Rivers Brother To Elizabeth. (Rivers:)

Sons To Elizabeth

Marquis Of Dorset (Dorset:)

Lord Grey (Grey:)

Earl Of Oxford (Oxford:)

Lord Hastings (Hastings:)

Lord Stanley (Stanley:), Called Also Earl Of Derby. (Derby:)

Lord Lovel (Lovel:)

Sir Thomas Vaughan (Vaughan:)

Sir Richard Ratcliff (Ratcliff:)

Sir WilliamCatesby (Catesby:)

Sir James Tyrrel (Tyrrel:)

Sir James Blount (Blount:)

Sir Walter Herbert (Herbert:)

Sir Robert Brakenbury, Lieutenant Of The Tower. (Brakenbury:)

Christopher Urswick, A Priest. (Christopher:)

Another Priest. (Priest:)

Gentlemen Attending On The Lady Anne

Tressel

Berkeley (Gentleman:)

Lord Mayor Of London. (Lord Mayor:)

Sheriff Of Wiltshire. (Sheriff:)

Elizabeth, Queen To King Edward IV. (Queen Elizabeth:)

Margaret, Widow Of King Henry VI. (Queen Margaret:)

Duchess Of York, Mother To King Edward IV.

Lady Anne Widow Of Edward Prince Of Wales, Son To King Henry Vi, Afterwards Married To Richard.

A Young Daughter Of Clarence [Margaret Plantagenet] (Girl:)

 Ghosts of those murdered by Richard III.,

 Lords and other Attendants; a Pursuivant

 Scrivener, Citizens, Murderers, Messengers

 Soldiers, &c.

 (Ghost of Prince Edward:)

 (Ghost of King Henry VI:)

 (Ghost Of Clarence:)

 (Ghost Of Rivers:)

 (Ghost Of Grey:)

 (Ghost Of Vaughan:)

 (Ghost Of Hasting:)

 (Ghosts Of Young Princes:)

 (Ghost Of Lady Anne:)

 (Ghost Of Buckingham:)

 (Pursuivant:)

 (Scrivener:)

 (First Citizen:)

 (Second Citizen:)

 (Third Citizen:)

 (First Murderer:)

 (Second Murderer:)

 (Messenger:)

 (Second Messenger:)

 (Third Messenger:)

 (Fourth Messenger:)

SCENE England.

KING RICHARD III

ACT I

SCENE I London. A street.

[Enter GLOUCESTER, solus]

(1) GLOUCESTER Now is the winter of our discontent

 Made glorious summer by this sun of York;

 And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house

 In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

 Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;

 Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;

 Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,

 Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.

 Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;

(10) And now, instead of mounting barded steeds

 To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,

 He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber

 To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

 But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,

 Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;

 I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty

 To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;

 I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,

 Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,

(20) Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time

 Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,

 And that so lamely and unfashionable

 That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;

 Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,

 Have no delight to pass away the time,

 Unless to spy my shadow in the sun

 And descant on mine own deformity:

 And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,

 To entertain these fair well-spoken days,

(30) I am determined to prove a villain

 And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

 Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,

 By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,

 To set my brother Clarence and the king

 In deadly hate the one against the other:

 And if King Edward be as true and just

 As I am subtle, false and treacherous,

 This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,

 About a prophecy, which says that 'G'

(40) Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.

 Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here

 Clarence comes.

[Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY]

 Brother, good day; what means this armed guard

 That waits upon your grace?

CLARENCE           His majesty

 Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed

 This conduct to convey me to the Tower.

GLOUCESTER Upon what cause?

CLARENCE                   Because my name is George.

GLOUCESTER Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;

 He should, for that, commit your godfathers:

 O, belike his majesty hath some intent

(50) That you shall be new-christen'd in the Tower.

 But what's the matter, Clarence? May I know?

CLARENCE Yea, Richard, when I know; for I protest

 As yet I do not: but, as I can learn,

 He hearkens after prophecies and dreams;

 And from the cross-row plucks the letter G.

 And says a wizard told him that by G

 His issue disinherited should be;

 And, for my name of George begins with G,

 It follows in his thought that I am he.

(60) These, as I learn, and such like toys as these

 Have moved his highness to commit me now.

GLOUCESTER Why, this it is, when men are ruled by women:

 'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower:

 My Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis she

 That tempers him to this extremity.

 Was it not she and that good man of worship,

 Anthony Woodville, her brother there,

 That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower,

 From whence this present day he is deliver'd?

(70) We are not safe, Clarence; we are not safe.

CLARENCE By heaven, I think there's no man is secure

 But the queen's kindred and night-walking heralds

 That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore.

 Heard ye not what an humble suppliant

 Lord hastings was to her for his delivery?

GLOUCESTER Humbly complaining to her deity

 Got my lord chamberlain his liberty.

 I'll tell you what; I think it is our way,

 If we will keep in favour with the king,

(80) To be her men and wear her livery:

 The jealous o'erworn widow and herself,

 Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen.

 Are mighty gossips in this monarchy.

BRAKENBURY I beseech your graces both to pardon me;

 His majesty hath straitly given in charge

 That no man shall have private conference,

 Of what degree soever, with his brother.

GLOUCESTER Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury,

 You may partake of any thing we say:

(90) We speak no treason, man: we say the king

 Is wise and virtuous, and his noble queen

 Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous;

 We say that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,

 A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue;

 And that the queen's kindred are made gentle-folks:

 How say you sir? Can you deny all this?

BRAKENBURY With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.

GLOUCESTER Naught to do with mistress Shore! I tell thee, fellow,

 He that doth naught with her, excepting one,

(100) Were best he do it secretly, alone.

BRAKENBURY What one, my lord?

GLOUCESTER Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me?

BRAKENBURY I beseech your grace to pardon me, and withal

 Forbear your conference with the noble duke.

CLARENCE We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.

GLOUCESTER We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.

 Brother, farewell: I will unto the king;

 And whatsoever you will employ me in,

 Were it to call King Edward's widow sister,

(110) I will perform it to enfranchise you.

 Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood

 Touches me deeper than you can imagine.

CLARENCE I know it pleaseth neither of us well.

GLOUCESTER Well, your imprisonment shall not be long;

 Meantime, have patience.

CLARENCE           I must perforce. Farewell.

[Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and GUARD]

GLOUCESTER Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return.

 Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so,

 That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,

(120) If heaven will take the present at our hands.

 But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings?

 [Enter HASTINGS]

HASTINGS Good time of day unto my gracious lord!

GLOUCESTER As much unto my good lord chamberlain!

 Well are you welcome to the open air.

 How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment?

HASTINGS With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must:

 But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks

 That were the cause of my imprisonment.

GLOUCESTER No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;

(130) For they that were your enemies are his,

 And have prevail'd as much on him as you.

HASTINGS More pity that the eagle should be mew'd,

 While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.

GLOUCESTER What news abroad?

HASTINGS No news so bad abroad as this at home;

 The King is sickly, weak and melancholy,

 And his physicians fear him mightily.

GLOUCESTER Now, by Saint Paul, this news is bad indeed.

 O, he hath kept an evil diet long,

(140) And overmuch consumed his royal person:

 'Tis very grievous to be thought upon.

 What, is he in his bed?

HASTINGS           He is.

GLOUCESTER Go you before, and I will follow you.

 [Exit HASTINGS]

 He cannot live, I hope; and must not die

 Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.

 I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,

 With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;

 And, if I fall not in my deep intent,

(150) Clarence hath not another day to live:

 Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,

 And leave the world for me to bustle in!

 For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter.

 What though I kill'd her husband and her father?

 The readiest way to make the wench amends

 Is to become her husband and her father:

 The which will I; not all so much for love

 As for another secret close intent,

 By marrying her which I must reach unto.

(160) But yet I run before my horse to market:

 Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns:

 When they are gone, then must I count my gains.

[Exit]

SCENE II The same. Another street.

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

(1) 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,

(10) 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,

(20) 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,

(30) 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.

[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:

(40) 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.

(50) 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,

 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;

(60) Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,

 Provokes this deluge most unnatural.

 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.

(70) 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,

(80) 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:

(90) 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;

 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.

(100) 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;

 For he was fitter for that place than earth.

LADY ANNE And thou unfit for any place but hell.

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

LADY ANNE Some dungeon.

GLOUCESTER                              Your bed-chamber.

LADY ANNE I'll 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?

(120) 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.

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,

(130) 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,

 Did it to help thee to a better husband.

(140) 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.

(150) 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;