Synopsis:
Richard’s agents murder the imprisoned Clarence.
From The Folger Shakespeare Library Edition of Richard III
Richard III
Act 1, scene 4
Richard IIIRichard III
Contents
Characters in the Play
Entire Play
As Richard III opens, Richard is Duke of Gloucester and his brother, Edward IV, is king. Richard is eager to clear his…
Act 1, scene 1
Richard, alone onstage, reveals his intention to play the villain. He then pretends to console Clarence, the first victim of…
Act 1, scene 2
Richard woos Lady Anne over the corpse of King Henry VI, Anne’s father-in-law, whom Richard murdered.
Act 1, scene 3
Queen Elizabeth bemoans her situation in the face of her husband’s serious illness; Richard quarrels with Queen Elizabeth, her brother,…
Act 1, scene 4
Richard’s agents murder the imprisoned Clarence.
Act 2, scene 1
The dying King Edward IV attempts to reconcile the quarreling factions in his royal court. Queen Elizabeth and her kindred,…
Act 2, scene 2
As the Duchess of York mourns Clarence’s death, Queen Elizabeth enters grieving for the death of King Edward IV. Richard…
Act 2, scene 3
Three citizens discuss the possibly tumultuous succession of Prince Edward.
Act 2, scene 4
As Queen Elizabeth awaits the coming of Prince Edward, news arrives that Richard has imprisoned her brother Rivers, her son…
Act 3, scene 1
Richard and Buckingham arrive in London with Prince Edward and order that Edward’s brother, the Duke of York, be taken…
Act 3, scene 2
Responding to Catesby, Hastings flatly refuses to support Richard’s bid for the throne, and takes great satisfaction in the news…
Act 3, scene 3
The Queen’s brother Rivers, her son Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan are led to execution. They recall Margaret’s curse, and…
Act 3, scene 4
A council of lords meets to plan the coronation of Edward V. Richard, learning from Buckingham of Hastings’ refusal to…
Act 3, scene 5
Richard and Buckingham excuse the summary execution of Hastings to the Mayor of London by staging an “uprising” that they…
Act 3, scene 6
The professional scribe who has just finished transcribing Hastings’ indictment shows how the charge against Hastings had been prepared and…
Act 3, scene 7
Richard and Buckingham, having failed to persuade London’s officials and citizens that Richard should be king, stage a scene of…
Act 4, scene 1
Queen Elizabeth, her son Dorset, and the Duchess of York meet Lady Anne and Clarence’s daughter as all approach the…
Act 4, scene 2
The newly crowned Richard asks Buckingham to arrange the deaths of Prince Edward and the Duke of York. When Buckingham…
Act 4, scene 3
Tyrrel reports the deaths of Edward IV’s sons. Richard then reveals that Anne is dead and that he will now…
Act 4, scene 4
Queen Margaret, Queen Elizabeth, and the Duchess of York grieve for their dead. Richard enters on his way to confront…
Act 4, scene 5
Lord Stanley sends news to Richmond, whose army is marching on London: Stanley will be unable to help because Richard…
Act 5, scene 1
Buckingham is led to execution.
Act 5, scene 2
Richmond and his army march against Richard.
Act 5, scene 3
Richard and Richmond and their supporters prepare for battle. Asleep, Richard and Richmond are each visited by the ghosts of…
Act 5, scene 4
In battle Richard has been unhorsed and faces defeat.
Act 5, scene 5
Richmond kills Richard and is given the crown that he will wear as King Henry VII. His coming marriage to…
Scene 4
Enter Clarence and Keeper.KEEPER
Why looks your Grace so heavily today?
CLARENCE
O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
5 I would not spend another such a night
Though ’twere to buy a world of happy days,
So full of dismal terror was the time.
KEEPER
What was your dream, my lord? I pray you tell me.
CLARENCE
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower
10 And was embarked to cross to Burgundy,
And in my company my brother Gloucester,
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches. ⟨Thence⟩ we looked toward
England
15 And cited up a thousand heavy times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster,
That had befall’n us. As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloucester stumbled, and in falling
20 Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of ⟨waters⟩ in ⟨my⟩ ears,
What sights of ugly death within ⟨my⟩ eyes.
25 Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks,
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon,
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.
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ACT 1. SC. 4
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept—
As ’twere in scorn of eyes—reflecting gems,
That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep
And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by.
KEEPER
35 Had you such leisure in the time of death
To gaze upon these secrets of the deep?
CLARENCE
Methought I had, and often did I strive
To yield the ghost, but still the envious flood
Stopped in my soul and would not let it forth
40 To find the empty, vast, and wand’ring air,
But smothered it within my panting bulk,
Who almost burst to belch it in the sea.
KEEPER
Awaked you not in this sore agony?
CLARENCE
No, no, my dream was lengthened after life.
45 O, then began the tempest to my soul.
I passed, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that sour ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
The first that there did greet my stranger-soul
50 Was my great father-in-law, renownèd Warwick,
Who spake aloud “What scourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?”
And so he vanished. Then came wand’ring by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
55 Dabbled in blood, and he shrieked out aloud
“Clarence is come—false, fleeting, perjured
Clarence,
That stabbed me in the field by Tewkesbury.
Seize on him, furies. Take him unto torment.”
60 With that, ⟨methoughts,⟩ a legion of foul fiends
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ACT 1. SC. 4
Such hideous cries that with the very noise
I trembling waked, and for a season after
Could not believe but that I was in hell,
65 Such terrible impression made my dream.
KEEPER
No marvel, lord, though it affrighted you.
I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.
CLARENCE
Ah keeper, keeper, I have done these things,
That now give evidence against my soul,
70 For Edward’s sake, and see how he requites me.—
O God, if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,
But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds,
Yet execute thy wrath in me alone!
O, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children!—
75 Keeper, I prithee sit by me awhile.
My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.
KEEPER
I will, my lord. God give your Grace good rest.
⌜Clarence sleeps.⌝
Enter Brakenbury the Lieutenant.
BRAKENBURY
Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours,
Makes the night morning, and the noontide night.
80 Princes have but their titles for their glories,
An outward honor for an inward toil,
And, for unfelt imaginations,
They often feel a world of restless cares,
So that between their titles and low name
85 There’s nothing differs but the outward fame.
Enter two Murderers.
FIRST MURDERER Ho, who’s here?
75
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ACT 1. SC. 4
What wouldst thou, fellow? And how cam’st thou
hither?
SECOND MURDERER I would speak with Clarence, and I
90 came hither on my legs.
BRAKENBURY What, so brief?
FIRST MURDERER ’Tis better, sir, than to be tedious.—
Let him see our commission, and talk no more.
⌜Brakenbury⌝ reads ⌜the commission.⌝
BRAKENBURY
I am in this commanded to deliver
95 The noble Duke of Clarence to your hands.
I will not reason what is meant hereby
Because I will be guiltless from the meaning.
There lies the Duke asleep, and there the keys.
⌜He hands them keys.⌝
I’ll to the King and signify to him
100 That thus I have resigned to you my charge.
FIRST MURDERER You may, sir. ’Tis a point of wisdom.
Fare you well.
⌜Brakenbury and the Keeper⌝ exit.
SECOND MURDERER What, shall ⟨I⟩ stab him as he
sleeps?
FIRST MURDERER 105No. He’ll say ’twas done cowardly,
when he wakes.
SECOND MURDERER Why, he shall never wake until the
great Judgment Day.
FIRST MURDERER Why, then he’ll say we stabbed him
110 sleeping.
SECOND MURDERER The urging of that word “judgment”
hath bred a kind of remorse in me.
FIRST MURDERER What, art thou afraid?
SECOND MURDERER Not to kill him, having a warrant,
115 but to be damned for killing him, from the which
no warrant can defend me.
FIRST MURDERER I thought thou hadst been resolute.
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ACT 1. SC. 4
FIRST MURDERER I’ll back to the Duke of Gloucester
120 and tell him so.
SECOND MURDERER Nay, I prithee stay a little. I hope
this passionate humor of mine will change. It was
wont to hold me but while one tells twenty.
FIRST MURDERER How dost thou feel thyself now?
SECOND MURDERER 125⟨Faith,⟩ some certain dregs of conscience
are yet within me.
FIRST MURDERER Remember our reward when the
deed’s done.
SECOND MURDERER ⟨Zounds,⟩ he dies! I had forgot the
130 reward.
FIRST MURDERER Where’s thy conscience now?
SECOND MURDERER O, in the Duke of Gloucester’s
purse.
FIRST MURDERER When he opens his purse to give us
135 our reward, thy conscience flies out.
SECOND MURDERER ’Tis no matter. Let it go. There’s
few or none will entertain it.
FIRST MURDERER What if it come to thee again?
SECOND MURDERER I’ll not meddle with it. It makes a
140 man a coward: a man cannot steal but it accuseth
him; a man cannot swear but it checks him; a man
cannot lie with his neighbor’s wife but it detects
him. ’Tis a blushing, shamefaced spirit that mutinies
in a man’s bosom. It fills a man full of
145 obstacles. It made me once restore a purse of gold
that by chance I found. It beggars any man that
keeps it. It is turned out of towns and cities for a
dangerous thing, and every man that means to live
well endeavors to trust to himself and live without it.
FIRST MURDERER 150⟨Zounds,⟩ ’tis even now at my elbow,
persuading me not to kill the Duke.
SECOND MURDERER Take the devil in thy mind, and
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ACT 1. SC. 4
to make thee sigh.
FIRST MURDERER 155I am strong-framed. He cannot prevail
with me.
SECOND MURDERER Spoke like a tall man that respects
thy reputation. Come, shall we fall to work?
FIRST MURDERER Take him on the costard with the
160 hilts of thy sword, and then throw him into the
malmsey butt in the next room.
SECOND MURDERER O, excellent device—and make a
sop of him!
FIRST MURDERER Soft, he wakes.
SECOND MURDERER 165Strike!
FIRST MURDERER No, we’ll reason with him.
⌜Clarence wakes.⌝
CLARENCE
Where art thou, keeper? Give me a cup of wine.
SECOND MURDERER
You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon.
CLARENCE
In God’s name, what art thou?
FIRST MURDERER 170 A man, as you are.
CLARENCE But not, as I am, royal.
FIRST MURDERER Nor you, as we are, loyal.
CLARENCE
Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks are humble.
FIRST MURDERER
My voice is now the King’s, my looks mine own.
CLARENCE
175 How darkly and how deadly dost thou speak!
Your eyes do menace me. Why look you pale?
Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come?
SECOND MURDERER To, to, to—
CLARENCE To murder me?
BOTH 180Ay, ay.
81
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ACT 1. SC. 4
You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so
And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it.
Wherein, my friends, have I offended you?
FIRST MURDERER
Offended us you have not, but the King.
CLARENCE
185 I shall be reconciled to him again.
SECOND MURDERER
Never, my lord. Therefore prepare to die.
CLARENCE
Are you drawn forth among a world of men
To slay the innocent? What is my offense?
Where is the evidence that doth accuse me?
190 What lawful quest have given their verdict up
Unto the frowning judge? Or who pronounced
The bitter sentence of poor Clarence’ death
Before I be convict by course of law?
To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
195 I charge you, as you hope ⟨to have redemption,
By Christ’s dear blood shed for our grievous sins,⟩
That you depart, and lay no hands on me.
The deed you undertake is damnable.
FIRST MURDERER
What we will do, we do upon command.
SECOND MURDERER
200 And he that hath commanded is our king.
CLARENCE
Erroneous vassals, the great King of kings
Hath in the table of His law commanded
That thou shalt do no murder. Will you then
Spurn at His edict and fulfill a man’s?
205 Take heed, for He holds vengeance in His hand
To hurl upon their heads that break His law.
SECOND MURDERER
And that same vengeance doth He hurl on thee
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ACT 1. SC. 4
Thou didst receive the sacrament to fight
210 In quarrel of the House of Lancaster.
FIRST MURDERER
And, like a traitor to the name of God,
Didst break that vow, and with thy treacherous
blade
⌜Unrippedst⌝ the bowels of thy sovereign’s son.
SECOND MURDERER
215 Whom thou wast sworn to cherish and defend.
FIRST MURDERER
How canst thou urge God’s dreadful law to us
When thou hast broke it in such dear degree?
CLARENCE
Alas! For whose sake did I that ill deed?
For Edward, for my brother, for his sake.
220 He sends you not to murder me for this,
For in that sin he is as deep as I.
If God will be avengèd for the deed,
O, know you yet He doth it publicly!
Take not the quarrel from His powerful arm;
225 He needs no indirect or lawless course
To cut off those that have offended Him.
FIRST MURDERER
Who made thee then a bloody minister
When gallant-springing, brave Plantagenet,
That princely novice, was struck dead by thee?
CLARENCE
230 My brother’s love, the devil, and my rage.
FIRST MURDERER
Thy brother’s love, our duty, and thy faults
Provoke us hither now to slaughter thee.
CLARENCE
If you do love my brother, hate not me.
I am his brother, and I love him well.
235 If you are hired for meed, go back again,
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ACT 1. SC. 4
Who shall reward you better for my life
Than Edward will for tidings of my death.
SECOND MURDERER
You are deceived. Your brother Gloucester hates
240 you.
CLARENCE
O no, he loves me, and he holds me dear.
Go you to him from me.
FIRST MURDERER Ay, so we will.
CLARENCE
Tell him, when that our princely father York
245 Blessed his three sons with his victorious arm,
He little thought of this divided friendship.
Bid Gloucester think ⟨of⟩ this, and he will weep.
FIRST MURDERER
Ay, millstones, as he lessoned us to weep.
CLARENCE
O, do not slander him, for he is kind.
FIRST MURDERER
250 Right, as snow in harvest. Come, you deceive
yourself.
’Tis he that sends us to destroy you here.
CLARENCE
It cannot be, for he bewept my fortune,
And hugged me in his arms, and swore with sobs
255 That he would labor my delivery.
FIRST MURDERER
Why, so he doth, when he delivers you
From this Earth’s thralldom to the joys of heaven.
SECOND MURDERER
Make peace with God, for you must die, my lord.
CLARENCE
Have you that holy feeling in your souls
260 To counsel me to make my peace with God,
And are you yet to your own souls so blind
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ACT 1. SC. 4
O sirs, consider: they that set you on
To do this deed will hate you for the deed.
SECOND MURDERER, ⌜to First Murderer⌝
265 What shall we do?
CLARENCE Relent, and save your souls.
Which of you—if you were a prince’s son
Being pent from liberty, as I am now—
If two such murderers as yourselves came to you,
270 Would not entreat for life? ⌜Ay,⌝ you would beg,
Were you in my distress.
FIRST MURDERER
Relent? No. ’Tis cowardly and womanish.
CLARENCE
Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish.
⌜To Second Murderer.⌝ My friend, I spy some pity
275 in thy looks.
O, if thine eye be not a flatterer,
Come thou on my side and entreat for me.
A begging prince what beggar pities not?
SECOND MURDERER Look behind you, my lord.
FIRST MURDERER
280 Take that, and that. (Stabs him.) If all this will not
do,
I’ll drown you in the malmsey butt within.
He exits ⌜with the body.⌝
SECOND MURDERER
A bloody deed, and desperately dispatched.
How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands
285 Of this most grievous murder.
Enter First Murderer.
FIRST MURDERER
How now? What mean’st thou that thou help’st me
not?
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ACT 1. SC. 4
have been.
SECOND MURDERER
290 I would he knew that I had saved his brother.
Take thou the fee, and tell him what I say,
For I repent me that the Duke is slain.He exits.
FIRST MURDERER
So do not I. Go, coward as thou art.
Well, I’ll go hide the body in some hole
295 Till that the Duke give order for his burial.
And when I have my meed, I will away,
For this will out, and then I must not stay.
He exits.