RICHARD III (1595-6)

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;
ur bruised arms hung up for monuments;
ur stern alarums changed to merry meetings!
ur dreadful marches to delightful measures.
"rim#visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now! instead of mounting barded steeds
$o fright the souls of fearful adversaries!
%e capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
$o the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
&ut 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 ma'esty
$o strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I! that am curtail'd of this fair proportion!
(heated of feature by dissembling nature!
)eformed! unfinish'd! sent before my time
Into this breathing world! scarce half made up!
And that so lamely and unfashionable
$hat dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
*hy! I! in this weak piping time of peace!
%ave no delight to pass away the time!
+nless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity,
And therefore! since I cannot prove a lover!
$o entertain these fair well#spoken days!
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
-lots have I laid! inductions dangerous!
&y drunken prophecies! libels and dreams!
$o set my brother (larence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other,
And if .ing /dward be as true and 'ust
As I am subtle! false and treacherous!
$his day should (larence closely be mew'd up!
About a prophecy! which says that '"'
f /dward's heirs the murderer shall be.
)ive! thoughts! down to my soul, here
(larence comes. 0I! 12
KING RICHARD III "ive me another horse, bind up
my wounds.
%ave mercy! 3esu4##5oft4 I did but dream.
coward conscience! how dost thou afflict me4
$he lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.
(old fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
*hat do I fear6 myself6 there's none else by,
7ichard loves 7ichard; that is! I am I.
Is there a murderer here6 No. Yes! I am,
$hen fly. *hat! from myself6 "reat reason why,
8est I revenge. *hat! myself upon myself6
Alack. I love myself. *herefore6 for any good
$hat I myself have done unto myself6
! no4 alas! I rather hate myself
9or hateful deeds committed by myself4
I am a villain, yet I lie. I am not.
9ool! of thyself speak well, fool! do not flatter.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues!
And every tongue brings in a several tale!
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
-er'ury! per'ury! in the high'st degree
Murder! stem murder! in the direst degree;
All several sins! all used in each degree!
$hrong to the bar! crying all! "uilty4 guilty4
I shall despair. $here is no creature loves me;
And if I die! no soul shall pity me,
Nay! wherefore should they! since that I myself
9ind in myself no pity to myself6
Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd
(ame to my tent; and every one did threat
$o#morrow's vengeance on the head of 7ichard. 0:! ;2
RICHMOND Inter their bodies as becomes their births,
-roclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled
$hat in submission will return to us,
And then! as we have ta'en the sacrament!
*e will unite the white rose and the red,
5mile heaven upon this fair con'unction!
$hat long have frown'd upon their enmity4
*hat traitor hears me! and says not amen6
/ngland hath long been mad! and scarr'd herself;
$he brother blindly shed the brother's blood!
$he father rashly slaughter'd his own son!
$he son! compell'd! been butcher to the sire,
All this divided York and 8ancaster!
)ivided in their dire division!
! now! let 7ichmond and /li<abeth!
$he true succeeders of each royal house!
&y "od's fair ordinance con'oin together4
And let their heirs! "od! if thy will be so.
/nrich the time to come with smooth#faced peace!
*ith smiling plenty and fair prosperous days4
Abate the edge of traitors! gracious 8ord!
$hat would reduce these bloody days again!
And make poor /ngland weep in streams of blood4
8et them not live to taste this land's increase
$hat would with treason wound this fair land's peace4
Now civil wounds are stopp'd! peace lives again,
$hat she may long live here! "od say amen4 0:! =2
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MACBETH (1605-6)
LADY MACBETH
"ive him tending;
%e brings great news.
Exit Messenger
$he raven himself is hoarse
$hat croaks the fatal entrance of )uncan
+nder my battlements. (ome! you spirits
$hat tend on mortal thoughts! unse> me here!
And fill me from the crown to the toe top#full
f direst cruelty4 make thick my blood;
5top up the access and passage to remorse!
$hat no compunctious visitings of nature
5hake my fell purpose! nor keep peace between
$he effect and it4 (ome to my woman's breasts!
And take my milk for gall! you murdering ministers!
*herever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief4 (ome! thick night!
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell!
$hat my keen knife see not the wound it makes!
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark!
$o cry '%old! hold4'
0Act I! 5cene =2
MACBETH
"o bid thy mistress! when my drink is ready!
5he strike upon the bell. "et thee to bed.
Exit Servant
Is this a dagger which I see before me!
$he handle toward my hand6 (ome! let me clutch thee.
I have thee not! and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not! fatal vision! sensible
$o feeling as to sight6 or art thou but
A dagger of the mind! a false creation!
-roceeding from the heat#oppressed brain6
I see thee yet! in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
$hou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses!
r else worth all the rest; I see thee still!
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood!
*hich was not so before. $here's no such thing,
It is the bloody business which informs
$hus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead! and wicked dreams abuse
$he curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
-ale %ecate's offerings! and wither'd murder!
Alarum'd by his sentinel! the wolf!
*hose howl's his watch! thus with his stealthy pace.
*ith $ar?uin's ravishing strides! towards his design
Moves like a ghost. $hou sure and firm#set earth!
%ear not my steps! which way they walk! for fear
$hy very stones prate of my whereabout!
And take the present horror from the time!
*hich now suits with it. *hiles I threat! he lives,
*ords to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
A bell rings
I go! and it is done; the bell invites me.
%ear it not! )uncan; for it is a knell
$hat summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Exit 0Act II! 5cene @2
MACBETH
$his is a sorry sight.
Looking on his hands
LADY MACBETH
A foolish thought! to say a sorry sight.
MACBETH
$here's one did laugh in's sleep! and one cried
'Murder4'
$hat they did wake each other, I stood and heard them,
&ut they did say their prayers! and address'd them
Again to sleep.
LADY MACBETH
$here are two lodged together.
MACBETH
ne cried '"od bless us4' and 'Amen' the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.
8istening their fear! I could not say 'Amen!'
*hen they did say '"od bless us4'
LADY MACBETH
(onsider it not so deeply.
MACBETH
&ut wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'6
I had most need of blessing! and 'Amen'
5tuck in my throat.
LADY MACBETH
$hese deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so! it will make us mad.
MACBETH
Methought I heard a voice cry '5leep no more4
Macbeth does murder sleep'! the innocent sleep!
5leep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care!
$he death of each day's life! sore labour's bath!
&alm of hurt minds! great nature's second course!
(hief nourisher in life's feast!##
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LADY MACBETH
*hat do you mean6
MACBETH
5till it cried '5leep no more4' to all the house,
'"lamis hath murder'd sleep! and therefore (awdor
5hall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'
LADY MACBETH
*ho was it that thus cried6 *hy! worthy thane!
You do unbend your noble strength! to think
5o brainsickly of things. "o get some water!
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
*hy did you bring these daggers from the place6
$hey must lie there, go carry them; and smear
$he sleepy grooms with blood.
MACBETH
I'll go no more,
I am afraid to think what I have done;
8ook on't again I dare not.
LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose4
"ive me the daggers, the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures, 'tis the eye of childhood
$hat fears a painted devil. If he do bleed!
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
9or it must seem their guilt.
Exit. Knocking within
MACBETH
*hence is that knocking6
%ow is't with me! when every noise appals me6
*hat hands are here6 ha4 they pluck out mine eyes.
*ill all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
(lean from my hand6 No! this my hand will rather
$he multitudinous seas in incarnadine!
Making the green one red.
Re-enter LADY MACE!"
LADY MACBETH
My hands are of your colour; but I shame
$o wear a heart so white.
Knocking within
I hear a knocking
At the south entry, retire we to our chamber;
A little water clears us of this deed,
%ow easy is it! then4 Your constancy
%ath left you unattended.
Knocking within
%ark4 more knocking.
"et on your nightgown! lest occasion call us!
And show us to be watchers. &e not lost
5o poorly in your thoughts.
MACBETH
$o know my deed! 'twere best not know myself.
Knocking within
*ake )uncan with thy knocking4 I would thou couldst4
Exe#nt 0Act II! 5cene @2
MACBETH
I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
$he time has been! my senses would have cool'd
$o hear a night#shriek; and my fell of hair
*ould at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't, I have supp'd full with horrors;
)ireness! familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
(annot once start me.
Re-enter SEY!$%
*herefore was that cry6
SEYTON
$he ?ueen! my lord! is dead.
MACBETH
5he should have died hereafter;
$here would have been a time for such a word.
$o#morrow! and to#morrow! and to#morrow!
(reeps in this petty pace from day to day
$o the last syllable of recorded time!
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
$he way to dusty death. ut! out! brief candle4
8ife's but a walking shadow! a poor player
$hat struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more, it is a tale
$old by an idiot! full of sound and fury!
5ignifying nothing. 0At :! 5cene =2
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