The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (66 page)

So you have cursed yourself.

QUEEN MARGARET.

Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my

fortune!

Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider

Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?

Fool, fool! thou whet'st a knife to kill thyself.

The day will come that thou shalt wish for me

To help thee curse this poisonous bunch-back'd toad.

Poor fake Queen, false copy of my destiny!

Why are you being kind to that hunchbacked spider

whose deadly web surrounds you?

Fool, fool! You are sharpening the knife which will kill you.

The day will come when you will want me

to help you curse this poisonous hunchbacked toad.

HASTINGS.

False-boding woman, end thy frantic curse,

Lest to thy harm thou move our patience.

False prophesying woman, stop your frantic cursing,

in case you provoke us to lose our temper.

QUEEN MARGARET.

Foul shame upon you! you have all

mov'd mine.

Foul shame on you! You have made me

lose mine.

RIVERS.

Were you well serv'd, you would be taught your

duty.

If you were well advised, you would learn your place.

QUEEN MARGARET.

To serve me well you all should do me

duty,

Teach me to be your queen and you my subjects.

O, serve me well, and teach yourselves that duty!

You should properly all serve me,

and teach me to be your Queen and learn to be my subjects.

Oh, serve me well, and learn to do that!

DORSET.

Dispute not with her; she is lunatic.

Don't argue with her; she's mad.

QUEEN MARGARET.

Peace, Master Marquis, you are malapert;

Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current.

O, that your young nobility could judge

What 'twere to lose it and be miserable!

They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,

And if they fall they dash themselves to pieces.

Peace, Master Marquis, you are impudent;

you have only just got your title, you hardly have authority.

I wish that with your new title you could understand

what it means to lose it and be miserable!

Those who have a high position are shaken by many events,

and if they fall they are smashed to pieces.

RICHARD.

Good counsel, marry; learn it, learn it, Marquis.

Good advice indeed; learn it, learn it, Marquis.

DORSET.

It touches you, my lord, as much as me.

It applies just as much to you, my lord, as me.

RICHARD.

Ay, and much more; but I was born so high,

Our aery buildeth in the cedar's top,

And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun.

Yes, and more so; but I was so highborn

that our home is at the top of the cedar tree,

it plays with the wind, and ignores the sun.

QUEEN MARGARET.

And turns the sun to shade-alas! alas!

Witness my son, now in the shade of death,

Whose bright out-shining beams thy cloudy wrath

Hath in eternal darkness folded up.

Your aery buildeth in our aery's nest.

O God that seest it, do not suffer it;

As it is won with blood, lost be it so!

And covers up the sun–alas! Alas!

Look at my son, now in the shadow of death,

whose brightness has all been covered up

by the eternal darkness of your cloudy anger.

You have built your home in our nest.

Oh God who sees it, do not tolerate it;

as it was won through blood, may it be lost in the same way!

BUCKINGHAM.

Peace, peace, for shame, if not for charity!

Peace, peace, for shame, if not for kindness!

QUEEN MARGARET.

Urge neither charity nor shame to me.

Uncharitably with me have you dealt,

And shamefully my hopes by you are butcher'd.

My charity is outrage, life my shame;

And in that shame still live my sorrow's rage!

Don't tell me to be either kind or ashamed.

You have dealt with me unkindly,

and you have shamefully kills all my hopes.

My kindness is horror, my life is my shame;

and in that shame, my sorrow still rages.

BUCKINGHAM.

Have done, have done.

Enough, enough.

QUEEN MARGARET.

O princely Buckingham, I'll kiss thy

hand

In sign of league and amity with thee.

Now fair befall thee and thy noble house!

Thy garments are not spotted with our blood,

Nor thou within the compass of my curse.

Oh princely Buckingham, I shall kiss your hand

as a sign of alliance and friendship with you.

May good things come to you and your noble house!

Your clothes are not stained with my family's blood,

and you don't come within the remit of my curse.

BUCKINGHAM.

Nor no one here; for curses never pass

The lips of those that breathe them in the air.

Nor does anyone here; all curses ever do

are curse the one who utters them.

QUEEN MARGARET.

I will not think but they ascend the sky

And there awake God's gentle-sleeping peace.

O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog!

Look when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites,

His venom tooth will rankle to the death:

Have not to do with him, beware of him;

Sin, death, and hell, have set their marks on him,

And all their ministers attend on him.

I believe that they will climb into the sky

and awake God from his peaceful sleep.

Oh Buckingham, look out for that dog there!

When he falls on you, he will bite you; and when he bites,

his poisonous teeth will give you a deadly infection:

have nothing to do with him, watch out for him;

sin, death, and hell, have all taken him for their own,

and all their ministers serve him.

RICHARD.

What doth she say, my Lord of Buckingham?

What is she saying, my Lord Buckingham?

BUCKINGHAM.

Nothing that I respect, my gracious lord.

Nothing I give any attention to, my gracious lord.

QUEEN MARGARET.

What, dost thou scorn me for my gentle

counsel,

And soothe the devil that I warn thee from?

O, but remember this another day,

When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow,

And say poor Margaret was a prophetess!

Live each of you the subjects to his hate,

And he to yours, and all of you to God's!

What, are you scorning my kind advice,

and soothing the devil I have warned you about?

Just remember this on another day,

when he will split your heart in two with sorrow,

and you will say poor Margaret was a prophetess!

May each of you suffer from his fate,

and may he suffer yours, and may all of you suffer God's!

Exit

BUCKINGHAM.

My hair doth stand an end to hear her curses.

Her curses make my hair stand on end.

RIVERS.

And so doth mine. I muse why she's at liberty.

Mine too. I and wondering why she is free.

RICHARD.

I cannot blame her; by God's holy Mother,

She hath had too much wrong; and I repent

My part thereof that I have done to her.

I can't blame her; by God's holy mother,

too many bad things have happened to her; and I am sorry

for the part I have played in that.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

I never did her any to my knowledge.

As far as I know I never did her any wrong.

RICHARD.

Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong.

I was too hot to do somebody good

That is too cold in thinking of it now.

Marry, as for Clarence, he is well repaid;

He is frank'd up to fatting for his pains;

God pardon them that are the cause thereof!

But you have all the advantages from it.

I was too eager to help a certain person

who now is not at all eager to remember it.

Well, as for Clarence, he has been well paid;

he has been shut up in a pen to fatten for his trouble;

May God forgive those who are responsible!

RIVERS.

A virtuous and a Christian-like conclusion,

To pray for them that have done scathe to us!

A virtuous and Christian conclusion,

praying for those who have done us harm!

RICHARD.

So do I ever-[Aside]being well advis'd;

For had I curs'd now, I had curs'd myself.

I always do–[aside] it's the best thing;

for if I cursed those people, I would be cursing myself.

Enter CATESBY

CATESBY.

Madam, his Majesty doth call for you,

And for your Grace, and you, my gracious lords.

Madam, his Majesty is calling for you,

and for your grace, and you, my gracious lords.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Catesby, I come. Lords, will you go

with me?

Catesby, I'm coming. Lords, will you come

with me?

RIVERS.

We wait upon your Grace.

We will attend your Grace.

Exeunt all but RICHARD

RICHARD.

I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.

The secret mischiefs that I set abroach

I lay unto the grievous charge of others.

Clarence, who I indeed have cast in darkness,

I do beweep to many simple gulls;

Namely, to Derby, Hastings, Buckingham;

And tell them 'tis the Queen and her allies

That stir the King against the Duke my brother.

Now they believe it, and withal whet me

To be reveng'd on Rivers, Dorset, Grey;

But then I sigh and, with a piece of Scripture,

Tell them that God bids us do good for evil.

And thus I clothe my naked villainy

With odd old ends stol'n forth of holy writ,

And seem a saint when most I play the devil.

Enter two MURDERERS

But, soft, here come my executioners.

How now, my hardy stout resolved mates!

Are you now going to dispatch this thing?

I'm doing wrong, I'm starting the fight.

The secret mischiefs that I begin

I shall make sure others are blamed for.