KING RICHARD THE THIRD

Act 1 Scene 4

(Enter George Duke of Clarence and Sir Robert Brackenbury)
l1l	[Brackenbury]	 Why looks your grace so heavily today?
l2l	Clarence	O I have passed a miserable night,
l3l		So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights,
l4l		That as I am a Christian faithful man,
l5l		I would not spend another such a night
l6l		Though ’twere to buy a world of happy days,
l7l		So full of dismal terror was the time.
l8l	[Brackenbury]	What was your dream, my lord? I pray you, tell me.
l9l	Clarence	Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,
l10l		And was embarked to cross to Burgundy,
l11l		And in my company my brother Gloucester,
l12l		Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
l13l		Upon the hatches# there we looked toward England,
l14l		And cited up a thousand heavy times
l15l		During the wars of York and Lancaster
l16l		That had befall’n us. As we paced along
l17l		Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
l18l		Methought that Gloucester stumbled, and in falling
l19l		Struck me—that sought to stay him—overboard
l20l		Into the tumbling billows of the main.
l21l		O Lord! Methought what pain it was to drown,
l22l		What dreadful noise of waters in my ears,
l23l		What sights of ugly death within my eyes.
l24l		Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wrecks,
l25l		Ten thousand men that fishes gnawed upon,
l26l		Wedges of gold, great ouches, heaps of pearl,
l27l		Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
l28l		All scattered in the bottom of the sea.
l29l		Some lay in dead men’s skulls# and in those holes
l30l		Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept—
l31l		As ’twere in scorn of eyes—reflecting gems,
l32l		Which wooed the slimy bottom of the deep
l33l		And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by.
l34l	[Brackenbury]	Had you such leisure in the time of death,
l35l		To gaze upon these secrets of the deep?
l36l	Clarence	Methought I had, and often did I strive
l37l		To yield the ghost, but still the envious flood
l38l		Stopped-in my soul and would not let it forth
l39l		To find the empty, vast, and wand’ring air,
l40l		But smothered it within my panting bulk,
l41l		Who almost burst to belch it in the sea.
l42l	[Brackenbury]	Awaked you not in this sore agony?
l43l	Clarence	No, no, my dream was lengthened after life.
l44l		O then began the tempest to my soul!
l45l		I passed, methought, the melancholy flood,
l46l		With that sour ferryman which poets write of,
l47l		Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
l48l		The first that there did greet my stranger soul
l49l		Was my great father-in-law, renownèd Warwick,
l50l		Who cried aloud, “What scourge for perjury
l51l		Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?”
l52l		And so he vanished. Then came wand’ring by
l53l		A shadow like an angel, with bright hair,
l54l		Dabbled in blood, and he shrieked out aloud,
l55l		“Clarence is come: false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,
l56l		That stabbed me in the field by Tewkesbury.
l57l		Seize on him, furies! Take him unto torment!”
l58l		With that, methoughts a legion of foul fiends
l59l		Environed me, and howlèd in mine ears
l60l		Such hideous cries that with the very noise
l61l		I trembling waked, and for a season after
l62l		Could not believe but that I was in hell,
l63l		Such terrible impression made my dream.
l64l	[Brackenbury]	No marvel, lord, though it affrighted you#
l65l		I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.
l66l	Clarence	Ah, Brackenbury, I have done these things,
l67l		That now give evidence against my soul,
l68l		For Edward’s sake# and see how he requites me.
l69l		Keeper, I pray thee, sit by me awhile.
l70l		My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.
l71l	[Brackenbury]	I will, my lord. God give your grace good rest.
		( 71 Clarence sleeps)
l72l		Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours,
l73l		Makes the night morning and the noontide night.
l74l		Princes have but their titles for their glories,
l75l		An outward honour for an inward toil,
l76l		And for unfelt imaginations
l77l		They often feel a world of restless cares#
l78l		So that, between their titles and low name,
l79l		There’s nothing differs but the outward fame.
		(Enter two Murderers)
l80l	First Murderer	 Ho, who’s here?
l81l	Brackenbury	 What wouldst thou, fellow? And how cam’st thou hither?
l82l	Second Murderer	 I would speak with Clarence, and I
l83l		came hither on my legs.
l84l	Brackenbury	What, so brief?
l85l	First Murderer	’Tis better, sir, than to be tedious.
		(To)
l86l		Second Murderer) Let him see our commission, and talk
l87l		no more.
		(Brackenbury reads)
l88l	Brackenbury	 I am in this commanded to deliver
l89l		The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands.
l90l		I will not reason what is meant hereby,
l91l		Because I will be guiltless of the meaning.
l92l		There lies the Duke asleep, and there the keys.
		(He throws down the keys)
l93l		I’ll to the King and signify to him
l94l		That thus I have resigned to you my charge.
l95l	First Murderer	 You may, sir# ’tis a point of wisdom.
l96l		Fare you well.
		(Exit Brackenbury)
l97l	Second Murderer	 What, shall I stab him as he sleeps?
l98l	First Murderer	No. He’ll say ’twas done cowardly, when
l99l		he wakes.
l100l	Second Murderer	Why, he shall never wake until the
l101l		great judgement day.
l102l	First Murderer	Why, then he’ll say we stabbed him
l103l		sleeping.
l104l	Second Murderer	The urging of that word “judgement”
l105l		hath bred a kind of remorse in me.
l106l	First Murderer	What, art thou afraid?
l107l	Second Murderer	Not to kill him, having a warrant, but
l108l		to be damned for killing him, from the which no
l109l		warrant can defend me.
l110l	First Murderer	I thought thou hadst been resolute.
l111l	Second Murderer	So I am—to let him live.
l112l	First Murderer	I’ll back to the Duke of Gloucester and
l113l		tell him so.
l114l	Second Murderer	Nay, I pray thee. Stay a little. I hope
l115l		this passionate humour of mine will change. It was
l116l		wont to hold me but while one tells twenty.
		(He counts to twenty)
l117l	First Murderer	 How dost thou feel thyself now?
l118l	Second Murderer	Some certain dregs of conscience are
l119l		yet within me.
l120l	First Murderer	Remember our reward, when the deed’s
l121l		done.
l122l	Second Murderer	’Swounds, he dies. I had forgot the
l123l		reward.
l124l	First Murderer	Where’s thy conscience now?
l125l	Second Murderer	O, in the Duke of Gloucester’s purse.
l126l	First Murderer	When he opens his purse to give us our
l127l		reward, thy conscience flies out.
l128l	Second Murderer	’Tis no matter. Let it go. There’s few
l129l		or none will entertain it.
l130l	First Murderer	What if it come to thee again?
l131l	Second Murderer	I’ll not meddle with it. It makes a man
l132l		a coward. A man cannot steal but it accuseth him. A
l133l		man cannot swear but it checks him. A man cannot
l134l		lie with his neighbour’s wife but it detects him. ’Tis a
l135l		blushing, shamefaced spirit, that mutinies in a man’s
l136l		bosom. It fills a man full of obstacles. It made me once
l137l		restore a purse of gold that by chance I found. It
l138l		beggars any man that keeps it. It is turned out of towns
l139l		and cities for a dangerous thing, and every man that
l140l		means to live well endeavours to trust to himself and
l141l		live without it.
l142l	First Murderer	’Swounds, ’tis even now at my elbow,
l143l		persuading me not to kill the Duke.
l144l	Second Murderer	Take the devil in thy mind, and believe
l145l		him not: he would insinuate with thee but to make
l146l		thee sigh.
l147l	First Murderer	I am strong framed# he cannot prevail
l148l		with me.
l149l	Second Murderer	Spoke like a tall man that respects thy
l150l		reputation. Come, shall we fall to work?
l151l	First Murderer	Take him on the costard with the hilts
l152l		of thy sword, and then throw him into the malmsey
l153l		butt in the next room.
l154l	Second Murderer	O excellent device!—and make a sop
l155l		of him.
l156l	First Murderer	Soft, he wakes.
l157l	Second Murderer	Strike!
l158l	First Murderer	No, we’ll reason with him.
l159l	Clarence	 Where art thou, keeper? Give me a cup of wine.
l160l	Second Murderer	You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon.
l161l	Clarence	In God’s name, what art thou?
	First Murderer	A man, as you are.
l162l	Clarence	But not as I am, royal.
l163l	First Murderer	Nor you as we are, loyal.
l164l	Clarence	Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble.
l165l	First Murderer	My voice is now the King’s# my looks, mine own.
l166l	Clarence	How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak.
l167l		Your eyes do menace me. Why look you pale?
l168l		Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come?
l169l	Second Murderer	To, to, to—
	Clarence	To murder me. 
	Both Murderers	Ay, ay.
l170l	Clarence	You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so,
l171l		And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it.
l172l		Wherein, my friends, have I offended you?
l173l	First Murderer	Offended us you have not, but the King.
l174l	Clarence	I shall be reconciled to him again.
l175l	Second Murderer	Never, my lord# therefore prepare to die.
l176l	Clarence	Are you drawn forth among a world of men
l177l		To slay the innocent? What is my offence?
l178l		Where is the evidence that doth accuse me?
l179l		What lawful quest have given their verdict up
l180l		Unto the frowning judge, or who pronounced
l181l		The bitter sentence of poor Clarence’ death?
l182l		Before I be convict by course of law,
l183l		To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
l184l		I charge you, as you hope to have redemption
l185l		By Christ’s dear blood, shed for our grievous sins,
l186l		That you depart and lay no hands on me.
l187l		The deed you undertake is damnable.
l188l	First Murderer	What we will do, we do upon command.
l189l	Second Murderer	And he that hath commanded is our king.
l190l	Clarence	Erroneous vassals, the great King of Kings
l191l		Hath in the table of his law commanded
l192l		That thou shalt do no murder. Will you then
l193l		Spurn at his edict, and fulfil a man’s?
l194l		Take heed, for he holds vengeance in his hand
l195l		To hurl upon their heads that break his law.
l196l	Second Murderer	And that same vengeance doth he hurl on thee,
l197l		For false forswearing, and for murder too.
l198l		Thou didst receive the sacrament to fight
l199l		In quarrel of the house of Lancaster.
l200l	First Murderer	And, like a traitor to the name of God,
l201l		Didst break that vow, and with thy treacherous blade
l202l		Unripped’st the bowels of thy sov’reign’s son.
l203l	Second Murderer	Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend.
l204l	First Murderer	How canst thou urge God’s dreadful law to us,
l205l		When thou hast broke it in such dear degree?
l206l	Clarence	Alas, for whose sake did I that ill deed?
l207l		For Edward, for my brother, for his sake.
l208l		He sends ye not to murder me for this,
l209l		For in that sin he is as deep as I.
l210l		If God will be avengèd for the deed,
l211l		O know you yet, he doth it publicly.
l212l		Take not the quarrel from his pow’rful arm#
l213l		He needs no indirect or lawless course
l214l		To cut off those that have offended him.
l215l	First Murderer	Who made thee then a bloody minister
l216l		When gallant springing brave Plantagenet,
l217l		That princely novice, was struck dead by thee?
l218l	Clarence	My brother’s love, the devil, and my rage.
l219l	First Murderer	Thy brother’s love, our duty, and thy faults
l220l		Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee.
l221l	Clarence	If you do love my brother, hate not me.
l222l		I am his brother, and I love him well.
l223l		If you are hired for meed, go back again,
l224l		And I will send you to my brother Gloucester,
l225l		Who shall reward you better for my life
l226l		Than Edward will for tidings of my death.
l227l	Second Murderer	You are deceived. Your brother Gloucester hates you.
l228l	Clarence	O no, he loves me, and he holds me dear.
l229l		Go you to him from me.
	First Murderer	Ay, so we will.
l230l	Clarence	Tell him, when that our princely father York
l231l		Blessed his three sons with his victorious arm,
l232l		And charged us from his soul to love each other,
l233l		He little thought of this divided friendship.
l234l		Bid Gloucester think of this, and he will weep.
l235l	First Murderer	Ay, millstones, as he lessoned us to weep.
l236l	Clarence	O do not slander him, for he is kind.
l237l	First Murderer	As snow in harvest. Come, you deceive yourself.
l238l		’Tis he that sends us to destroy you here.
l239l	Clarence	It cannot be, for he bewept my fortune,
l240l		And hugged me in his arms, and swore with sobs
l241l		That he would labour my delivery.
l242l	First Murderer	Why, so he doth, when he delivers you
l243l		From this earth’s thraldom to the joys of heaven.
l244l	Second Murderer	Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord.
l245l	Clarence	Have you that holy feeling in your souls
l246l		To counsel me to make my peace with God,
l247l		And are you yet to your own souls so blind
l248l		That you will war with God by murd’ring me?
l249l		O sirs, consider: they that set you on
l250l		To do this deed will hate you for the deed.
l251l	Second Murderer	(to First)
		 What shall we do?
	Clarence	Relent, and save your souls.
l252l	First Murderer	Relent? No. ’Tis cowardly and womanish.
l253l	Clarence	Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish.—
l254l		My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks.
l255l		O if thine eye be not a flatterer,
l256l		Come thou on my side, and entreat for me.
l257l		A begging prince, what beggar pities not?
l258l		Which of you, if you were a prince’s son,
l259l		Being pent from liberty as I am now,
l260l		If two such murderers as yourselves came to you,
l261l		Would not entreat for life? As you would beg
l262l		Were you in my distress—
l263l	Second Murderer	 Look behind you, my lord!
l264l	First Murderer	(stabbing Clarence)
		 Take that, and that! If all this will not serve,
l265l		I’ll drown you in the malmsey butt within.
		(Exit with Clarence's body)
l266l	Second Murderer	 A bloody deed, and desperately dispatched!
l267l		How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands
l268l		Of this most grievous, guilty murder done.
		(Enter First Murderer)
l269l	First Murderer	 How now? What mean’st thou, that thou help’st me not?
l270l		By heaven, the Duke shall know how slack you have been.
l271l	Second Murderer	I would he knew that I had saved his brother.
l272l		Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say,
l273l		For I repent me that the Duke is slain.
		(Exit)
l274l	First Murderer	 So do not I. Go, coward as thou art.—
l275l		Well, I’ll go hide the body in some hole
l276l		Till that the Duke give order for his burial.
l277l		And, when I have my meed, I will away,
l278l		For this will out, and then I must not stay.
		(Exit)