Act III scene 3 - Wales. Before Flint Castle.
Enter, with drum and colors, HENRY BOLINGBROKE, DUKE OF YORK, NORTHUMBERLAND, Attendants, and forces
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
So that by this intelligence we learn
The Welshmen are dispersed, and Bagot
Is gone to meet the King, who lately landed
With some few private friends upon this Coast.
NORTHUMBERLAND
The news is very fair and good, my Lord, 5
Richard not far from hence hath hid his head.
DUKE OF YORK
It would beseem the Lord Northumberland
To say 'King Richard:' alack the heavy day,
When such a sacred King should hide his head.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Your grace mistakes; only to be brief 10
Left I his Title out.
DUKE OF YORK
The time hath been,
Would you have been so brief with him, he would
Have been so brief with you, to shorten you,
For taking so the Head, your whole head's length.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Mistake not, Uncle, farther than you should. 15
DUKE OF YORK
Take not, good Cousin, farther than you should.
Lest you mistake the Heavens are o'er our heads.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
I know it, Uncle, and oppose not myself
Against their will. But who comes here?
Enter HENRY PERCY
Welcome,Harry: what, will not this Castle yield?
HENRY PERCY
The Castle royally is mann'd, my Lord,
Against thy entrance.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Royally
Why, it contains no King?
HENRY PERCY
Yes, my good Lord,
It doth contain a King: King Richard lies
Within the limits of yon Lime and Stone, 25
And with him, the Lord Aumerle, Sir Bagot,
Sir Stephen Scroop, besides a Clergyman
Of holy reverence; who, I cannot learn.
NORTHUMBERLAND
O, belike it is the Bishop of Carlisle.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Noble Lord, 30
Go to the rude Ribs of that ancient Castle,
Through Brazen Trumpet send the breath of Parle
Into his ruin'd Ears, and thus deliver:
Henry Bolingbroke upon his knees doth kiss
King Richard's hand, and sends allegiance 35
And true faith of heart to his Royal Person: hither come
Even at his feet, to lay my Arms and Power,
Provided that my Banishment repeal'd
And Lands restored again, be freely granted:
If not, I'll use the advantage of my Power 40
And lay the Summer's dust with showers of blood,
Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd Englishmen;
The which, how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke
It is, such Crimson Tempest should bedrench
The fresh green Lap of fair King Richard's Land, 45
My stooping duty tenderly shall show.
Go, signify as much.
Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror than the Elements
Of Fire and Water, when their thundering smoke 50
At meeting tears the cloudy Cheeks of Heaven:
Be he the fire, I'll be the Yielding Water;
The Rage be his, while on the Earth I rain
My Waters on the Earth, and not on him.
March on, and mark King Richard how he looks.
Parle without, and answer within. Then a flourish. Enter on the walls, KING
RICHARD II, the BISHOP OF CARLISLE, DUKE OF AUMERLE,
SIR STEPHEN SCROOP, and BAGOT
See, see, King Richard doth himself appear
As doth the blushing discontented Sun
From out the fiery Portal of the East,
When he perceives the envious Clouds are bent
To dim his glory and to stain the track 60
Of his bright passage to the Occident.
DUKE OF YORK
Yet looks he like a King.
KING RICHARD II
We are amazed, and thus long have we stood
To watch the fearful bending of thy knee,
Because we thought ourself thy lawful King: 65
And if we be, how dare thy joints forget
To pay their awful duty to our presence?
If we be not, show us the Hand of God
That hath dismissed us from our Stewardship;
For well we know, no Hand of Blood and Bone 70
Can gripe the sacred Handle of our Sceptre,
Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp.
Tell Bolingbroke, for yond methinks he stands,
That every stride he makes upon my Land
Is dangerous Treason: He is come to ope 75
The purple Testament of bleeding War;
But ere the Crown he looks for live in peace,
Ten thousand bloody crowns of Mothers' Sons
Shall ill become the flower of England's face,
Change the complexion of her Maid-pale Peace 80
To Scarlet Indignation, and bedew
Her Pastures' Grass with faithful English Blood.
NORTHUMBERLAND
The King of Heaven forbid our Lord the King
Should so with civil and uncivil Arms
Be rush'd upon: Thy thrice noble Cousin, 85
Harry Bolingbroke, doth humbly kiss thy hand,
And by the Honorable Tomb he swears,
That stands upon your Royal Grandsire's Bones,
And by the Royalties of both your Bloods,
And by the Worth and Honor of himself, 90
Comprising all that may be sworn, or said,
His coming hither hath no further scope
Than for his Lineal Royalties, and to beg
Enfranchisement immediate on his knees:
Which on thy Royal party granted once, 95
His glittering Arms he will commend to Rust,
His barbed Steeds to Stables, and his heart
To faithful service of your Majesty:
This swears he, as he is a Prince, is just,
And as I am a Gentleman, I credit him. 100
KING RICHARD II
Northumberland, say thus: The King returns,
His Noble Cousin is right welcome hither,
And all the number of his fair demands
Shall be accomplish'd without contradiction:
With all the gracious utterance thou hast, 105
Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends.
To DUKE OF AUMERLE
We do debase ourselves, Cousin, do we not,
To look so poorly, and to speak so fair?
Shall we call back Northumberland, and send
Defiance to the Traitor, and so die? 110
DUKE OF AUMERLE
No, good my Lord, let's fight with gentle words,
Till time lend friends and friends their helpful Swords.
KING RICHARD II
Oh God, oh God, that e'er this tongue of mine,
That laid the Sentence of dread Banishment
On yon proud man, should take it off again 115
With words of sooth: Oh that I were as great
As is my Grief, or lesser than my Name,
Or that I could forget what I have been,
Or not remember what I must be now:
Swell'st thou, proud heart? I'll give thee scope to beat, 120
Since Foes have scope to beat both thee and me.
DUKE OF AUMERLE
Northumberland comes back from Bolingbroke.
KING RICHARD II
What must the King do now? must he submit?
The King shall do it: Must he be deposed?
The King shall be contented: Must he loose 125
The Name of King? o' God's Name, let it go.
I'll give my Jewels for a set of Beads,
My gorgeous Palace for a Hermitage,
My gay Apparel for an Almsman's Gown,
My Subjects for a pair of carved Saints 130
And my large Kingdom for a little Grave,
A little little Grave, an obscure Grave.
Or I'll be buried in the King's highway,
Some way of common Trade, where Subjects' feet
May hourly trample on their Sovereign's Head: 135
For on my heart they tread now, whilst I live;
And buried once, why not upon my Head?
Aumerle, thou weep'st, my tender-hearted Cousin;
We'll make foul Weather with despised Tears.
Or shall we play the Wantons with our Woes, 140
And make some pretty Match with shedding Tears?
As thus: to drop them still upon one place,
Till they have fretted us a pair of Graves
Within the Earth: and, therein laid, there lies
Two Kinsmen digg'd their Graves with weeping Eyes. 145
Would not this ill do well? Well, well, I see
I talk but idly, and you mock at me.
Most mighty Prince, my Lord Northumberland,
What says King Bolingbroke? Will his Majesty
Give Richard leave to live, till Richard die? 150
You make a Leg, and Bolingbroke says ay.
NORTHUMBERLAND
My lord, in the base Court he doth attend
To speak with you, may it please you to come down.
KING RICHARD II
Down, down I come, like glistering Phaethon,
Wanting the manage of unruly Jades. 155
In the base Court? base Court, where Kings grow base,
To come at Traitors' Calls, and do them Grace.
In the base Court come down: down Court, down King,
For night-Owls shriek, where mounting Larks should sing.
Exeunt from above
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
What says his Majesty?
NORTHUMBERLAND
Sorrow, and grief of heart 160
Makes him speak fondly, like a frantic man:
Yet he is come.
Enter KING RICHARD and his attendants below
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Stand all apart,
And show fair duty to his Majesty.
He kneels down
My gracious Lord.
KING RICHARD II
Fair Cousin,
You debase your Princely Knee, 165
To make the base Earth proud with kissing it.
Up Cousin, up, your Heart is up, I know,
Thus high at least, although your Knee be low.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
My gracious Lord, I come but for mine own.
KING RICHARD II
Your own is yours, and I am yours, and all. 170
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
So far be mine, my most redoubted Lord,
As my true service shall deserve your love.
KING RICHARD II
Well you deserved:
They well deserve to have,
That know the strong'st, and surest way to get. 175
Uncle give me your Hand: nay, dry your Eyes,
Tears show their Love, but want their Remedies.
Cousin, I am too young to be your Father,
Though you are old enough to be my Heir.
What you will have, I'll give, and willing too, 180
For do we must, what force will have us do.
Set on towards London:
Cousin, is it so?
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Yea, my good lord.
KING RICHARD II
Then I must not say no.
Flourish. Exeunt
We start in the middle of the conversation, Bolingbroke and Northumberland plotting the next move. It's like Shakespeare is writing cut-shots in the film of the play.
York and Northumberland clearly don't get along. York is slow to fully accept Bolingbroke's rule, and it is clear at the beginning of this scene that he does not support overthrowing Richard. That will change very soon. It's as though York's journey is the same as the audience's, slowly being won to Bolingbroke's cause.
This little section is irritating for the fact that it's just Shakespeare setting the scene. But Percy and Northie found ways to infuse the exchange with the mother-son relationship, which resulted in her smacking him upside the head because he's being cocky and disrespectful.
This is the crux of Bolingbroke's argument, and even now he swears he is only coming for his inheritance and nothing more. Is he a brilliant tactician, concealing his true motives and quest for the throne in order to win easily? Or is he an opportunist who only accepts the throne when Richard capitulates?
We explored both options, and I suspect the history is more complicated. But Shakespeare has Bolingbroke already on his way back to England with an army within minutes of Gaunt's death, and as soon as Richard leaves for Ireland. It seems Bolingbroke was planning on overthrowing Richard for once and all, and the inheritance question was merely a good excuse.
But with Richard well-defended in Flint Castle and York upholding titles and decorum, Bolingbroke continues down the party line - "Give me my inheritance, and we're done here." And with the lines describing Richard's entrance, the audience is left to wonder what truly is going on in Bolingbroke's mind.
As Northumberland turns back towards Bolingbroke and York, Richard and Aumerle released from their formal stiffness. They sat on the upper platform, taking a moment to themselves, while the others present went into soft focus. Had we gotten through tech, the lights would've helped us focus on their conversation.
Rose Blume, playing Northumberland, tried to get Richard's attention. When he declined to notice her, she pulled out her dagger and used it as a mirror to reapply her lipstick. It was brilliant.
This interaction is brief and easy to overlook. The RSC production starring David Tennant as Richard highlighted some of the potential for me. This exchange demonstrates how significant Aumerle is to Richard, that he's the one person with whom Richard feels comfortable enough to be vulnerable and to admit his fears. When it happens in 3.2, it's a reaction to shocking news. Here, it's deliberate. Richard discloses his heart's worries to the only person he feels he can.
We explored some intimacy in rehearsal and settled on small, subtle movements that could be equally read between cousins, friends, or lovers. Richard placed a hand on Aumerle's knee; they each placed hands on each other's necks, foreheads together; the moment ended with an embrace. For us, it wasn't about defining the relationship but about finding honesty in the moment.
Richard used the breadth of these lines to descend from the top platform to the middle, gather his followers, then descend to the stage floor.
Our set meant there was no need for Shakespeare's direction for Richard to exit. Instead, Bolingbroke and his followers slowly turned, moving with intention, so that they were facing Richard by the time he hit the stage floor.
They then moved to immediately capture Richard's party; Bolingbroke, however, enforces the courtly decorum Richard has always demanded. It is a sign of good will that also demonstrates Bolingbroke's complete control of the situation.
York stood behind Bolingbroke until called forward by Richard; at Richard's reproof, York paused as he was about to kiss Richard's hand, then chose not to and instead returned to Bolingbroke's side, also ignoring the pleading gesture from his son, Aumerle. It is a blow to Richard.
Richard gives the order to leave for London, but no one moves, prompting his question to Bolingbroke. It is utterly clear now who has the power, despite what words have been bandied about.