Текст книги "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition"

Автор книги: William Shakespeare

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2.2 Enter Lady Constance, Arthur Duke of Brittaine, and the Earl of Salisbury

CONSTANCE (to Salisbury)

Gone to be married? Gone to swear a peace?

False blood to false blood joined! Gone to be friends?

Shall Louis have Blanche, and Blanche those

provinces?

It is not so, thou hast misspoke, misheard.

Be well advised, tell o‘er thy tale again.

It cannot be, thou dost but say ’tis so.

I trust I may not trust thee, for thy word

Is but the vain breath of a common man.

Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;

I have a king’s oath to the contrary. 10

Thou shalt be punished for thus frighting me;

For I am sick and capable of fears;

Oppressed with wrongs, and therefore full of fears;

A widow husbandless, subject to fears;

A woman naturally born to fears;

And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,

With my vexed spirits I cannot take a truce,

But they will quake and tremble all this day.

What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?

Why dost thou look so sadly on my son? 20

What means that hand upon that breast of thine?

Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,

Like a proud river peering o’er his bounds?

Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?

Then speak again—not all thy former tale,

But this one word: whether thy tale be true.

SALISBURY

As true as I believe you think them false

That give you cause to prove my saying true.

CONSTANCE

O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,

Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die;

And let belief and life encounter so

As doth the fury of two desperate men

Which in the very meeting fall and die.

Louis marry Blanche! (To Arthur) O boy, then where

art thou?

France friend with England!—What becomes of me?

(To Salisbury) Fellow, be gone, I cannot brook thy

sight; 36

This news hath made thee a most ugly man.

SALISBURY

What other harm have I, good lady, done,

But spoke the harm that is by others done?

CONSTANCE

Which harm within itself so heinous is 40

As it makes harmful all that speak of it.

ARTHUR

I do beseech you, madam, be content.

CONSTANCE

If thou that bidd‘st me be content wert grim,

Ugly and sland’rous to thy mother’s womb,

Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,

Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,

Patched with foul moles and eye-offending marks,

I would not care, I then would be content,

For then I should not love thee, no, nor thou

Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown.

But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,

Nature and Fortune joined to make thee great.

Of Nature’s gifts thou mayst with lilies boast,

And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,

She is corrupted, changed, and won from thee;

Sh’adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,

And with her golden hand hath plucked on France

To tread down fair respect of sovereignty,

And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.

France is a bawd to Fortune and King John,

That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John.

(To Salisbury) Tell me, thou fellow, is not France

forsworn ?

Envenom him with words, or get thee gone

And leave those woes alone, which I alone

Am bound to underbear.

SALISBURY Pardon me, madam,

I may not go without you to the Kings.

CONSTANCE

Thou mayst, thou shalt; I will not go with thee.

I will instruct my sorrows to be proud,

For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop.

⌈She sits upon the ground⌉

To me and to the state of my great grief 70

Let kings assemble, for my grief’s so great

That no supporter but the huge firm earth

Can hold it up. Here I and sorrows sit;

Here is my throne; bid kings come bow to it.

⌈Exeunt Salisbury and Arthur⌉

3.1 ⌈Flourish.⌉ Enter King John and King Philip ⌈hand in hand⌉; Louis the Dauphin and Lady Blanche, ⌈married⌉; Queen Eleanor, the Bastard, and the Duke of Austria

KING PHILIP (to Blanche)

’Tis true, fair daughter, and this blessèd day

Ever in France shall be kept festival.

To solemnize this day, the glorious sun

Stays in his course and plays the alchemist,

Turning with splendour of his precious eye 5

The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold.

The yearly course that brings this day about

Shall never see it but a holy day.

CONSTANCE (rising)

A wicked day, and not a holy day!

What hath this day deserved? What hath it done,

That it in golden letters should be set

Among the high tides in the calendar?

Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,

This day of shame, oppression, perjury.

Or if it must stand still, let wives with child 15

Pray that their burdens may not fall this day,

Lest that their hopes prodigiously be crossed;

But on this day let seamen fear no wreck;

No bargains break that are not this day made;

This day all things begun come to ill end, 20

Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change.

KING PHILIP

By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause

To curse the fair proceedings of this day.

Have I not pawned to you my majesty?

CONSTANCE

You have beguiled me with a counterfeit 25

Resembling majesty, which being touched and tried

Proves valueless. You are forsworn, forsworn.

You came in arms to spill mine enemies’ blood,

But now in arms you strengthen it with yours.

The grappling vigour and rough frown of war 30

Is cold in amity and painted peace,

And our oppression hath made up this league.

Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjured Kings!

A widow cries, be husband to me, God!

Let not the hours of this ungodly day 35

Wear out the day in peace, but ere sun set

Set armed discord ’twixt these perjured Kings.

Hear me, O hear me!

AUSTRIA Lady Constance, peace.

CONSTANCE

War, war, no peace! Peace is to me a war.

O Limoges, O Austria, thou dost shame 40

That bloody spoil. Thou slave, thou wretch, thou

coward!

Thou little valiant, great in villainy;

Thou ever strong upon the stronger side;

Thou Fortune’s champion, that dost never fight

But when her humorous ladyship is by 45

To teach thee safety. Thou art perjured too,

And sooth‘st up greatness. What a fool art thou,

A ramping fool, to brag and stamp, and swear

Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,

Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side, 50

Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend

Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength?

And dost thou now fall over to my foes?

Thou wear a lion’s hide! Doff it, for shame,

And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs. 55

AUSTRIA

O, that a man should speak those words to me!

BASTARD

And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.

AUSTRIA

Thou dar’st not say so, villain, for thy life.

BASTARD

And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.

KING JOHN (to the Bastard)

We like not this. Thou dost forget thyself. 60

Enter Cardinal Pandolf

KING PHILIP

Here comes the holy legate of the Pope.

PANDOLF

Hail, you anointed deputies of God.—

To thee, King John, my holy errand is.

I Pandolf, of fair Milan Cardinal,

And from Pope Innocent the legate here, 65

Do in his name religiously demand

Why thou against the Church, our Holy Mother,

So wilfully dost spurn, and force perforce

Keep Stephen Langton, chosen Archbishop

Of Canterbury, from that holy see. 70

This, in our foresaid Holy Father’s name,

Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

KING JOHN

What earthy name to interrogatories

Can task the free breath of a sacred king?

Thou canst not, Cardinal, devise a name 75

So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous

To charge me to an answer, as the Pope.

Tell him this tale, and from the mouth of England

Add thus much more: that no Italian priest

Shall tithe or toll in our dominions; 80

But as we, under God, are supreme head,

So, under him, that great supremacy

Where we do reign we will alone uphold

Without th’assistance of a mortal hand.

So tell the Pope, all reverence set apart

To him and his usurped authority.

KING PHILIP

Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.

KING JOHN

Though you and all the kings of Christendom

Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,

Dreading the curse that money may buy out, 90

And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,

Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,

Who in that sale sells pardon from himself;

Though you and all the rest so grossly led

This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish; 95

Yet I alone, alone do me oppose

Against the Pope, and count his friends my foes.

PANDOLF

Then by the lawful power that I have

Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate;

And blessed shall he be that doth revolt 100

From his allegiance to an heretic;

And meritorious shall that hand be called,

Canonized and worshipped as a saint,

That takes away by any secret course

Thy hateful life.

CONSTANCE O lawful let it be 105

That I have room with Rome to curse awhile.

Good Father Cardinal, cry thou ’Amen’

To my keen curses, for without my wrong

There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.

PANDOLF

There’s law and warrant, lady, for my curse. 110

CONSTANCE

And for mine too. When law can do no right,

Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong.

Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,

For he that holds his kingdom holds the law.

Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,

How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?

PANDOLF

Philip of France, on peril of a curse,

Let go the hand of that arch-heretic,

And raise the power of France upon his head,

Unless he do submit himself to Rome. 120

QUEEN ELEANOR

Look’st thou pale, France? Do not let go thy hand.

CONSTANCE ⌈to King John⌉

Look to it, devil, lest that France repent,

And by disjoining hands hell lose a soul.

AUSTRIA

King Philip, listen to the Cardinal.

BASTARD

And hang a calf’s-skin on his recreant limbs. 125

AUSTRIA

Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs,

Because—

BASTARD Your breeches best may carry them.

KING JOHN

Philip, what sayst thou to the Cardinal?

CONSTANCE

What should he say, but as the Cardinal?

LOUIS THE DAUPHIN

Bethink you, Father, for the difference 130

Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome,

Or the light loss of England for a friend.

Forgo the easier.

BLANCHE That’s the curse of Rome.

CONSTANCE

O Louis, stand fast; the devil tempts thee here

In likeness of a new untrimmèd bride. 135

BLANCHE

The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,

But from her need.

CONSTANCE ⌈to King Philip⌉ O if thou grant my need,

Which only lives but by the death of faith,

That need must needs infer this principle:

That faith would live again by death of need. 140

O, then tread down my need, and faith mounts up;

Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down.

KING JOHN

The King is moved, and answers not to this.

CONSTANCE (to King Philip)

O, be removed from him, and answer well.

AUSTRIA

Do so, King Philip, hang no more in doubt. 145

BASTARD

Hang nothing but a calf’s-skin, most sweet lout.

KING PHILIP

I am perplexed, and know not what to say.

PANDOLF

What canst thou say but will perplex thee more,

If thou stand excommunicate and cursed?

KING PHILIP

Good Reverend Father, make my person yours, 150

And tell me how you would bestow yourself.

This royal hand and mine are newly knit,

And the conjunction of our inward souls

Married in league, coupled and linked together

With all religious strength of sacred vows; 155

The latest breath that gave the sound of words

Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love,

Between our kingdoms and our royal selves;

And even before this truce, but new before,

No longer than we well could wash our hands 160

To clap this royal bargain up of peace,

God knows, they were besmeared and over-stained

With slaughter’s pencil, where Revenge did paint

The fearful difference of incensed kings;

And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood, 165

So newly joined in love, so strong in both,

Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet,

Play fast and loose with faith, so jest with heaven,

Make such unconstant children of ourselves,

As now again to snatch our palm from palm, 170

Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed

Of smiling peace to march a bloody host,

And make a riot on the gentle brow

Of true sincerity? O holy sir,

My Reverend Father, let it not be so. 175

Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose

Some gentle order, and then we shall be blessed

To do your pleasure and continue friends.

PANDOLF

All form is formless, order orderless,

Save what is opposite to England’s love.

Therefore to arms, be champion of our Church,

Or let the Church, our mother, breathe her curse,

A mother’s curse, on her revolting son.

France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,

A crazed lion by the mortal paw, 185

A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,

Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.

KING PHILIP

I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.

PANDOLF

So mak‘st thou faith an enemy to faith,

And like a civil war, sett’st oath to oath, 190

Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow,

First made to heaven, first be to heaven performed;

That is, to be the champion of our Church.

What since thou swor‘st is sworn against thyself,

And may not be performèd by thyself; 195

For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss

Is not amiss when it is truly done;

And being not done where doing tends to ill,

The truth is then most done not doing it.

The better act of purposes mistook 200

Is to mistake again; though indirect,

Yet indirection thereby grows direct,

And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire

Within the scorchèd veins of one new burned.

It is religion that doth make vows kept;

But thou hast sworn against religion;

By what thou swear’st, against the thing thou

swear‘st;

And mak’st an oath the surety for thy troth:

Against an oath, the truth. Thou art unsure

To swear: swear’st only not to be forsworn—210

Else what a mockery should it be to swear!—

But thou dost swear only to be forsworn,

And most forsworn to keep what thou dost swear;

Therefore thy later vows against thy first

Is in thyself rebellion to thyself, 215

And better conquest never canst thou make

Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts

Against these giddy loose suggestions;

Upon which better part our prayers come in

If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know 220

The peril of our curses light on thee

So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,

But in despair die under their black weight.

AUSTRIA

Rebellion, flat rebellion!

BASTARD Wilt not be?

Will not a calf’s-skin stop that mouth of thine? 225

LOUIS THE DAUPHIN

Father, to arms!

BLANCHE Upon thy wedding day?

Against the blood that thou hast married ?

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men?

Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,

Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp? 230

She kneels

O husband, hear me ! Ay, alack, how new

Is ‘husband’ in my mouth! Even for that name

Which till this time my tongue did ne’er pronounce,

Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms

Against mine uncle.

CONSTANCE (kneeling) O, upon my knee 235

Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,

Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom

Forethought by heaven.

BLANCHE (to Louis the Dauphin)

Now shall I see thy love: what motive may

Be stronger with thee than the name of wife? 240

CONSTANCE

That which upholdeth him that thee upholds:

His honour.—O thine honour, Louis, thine honour!

LOUIS THE DAUPHIN (to King Philip)

I muse your majesty doth seem so cold

When such profound respects do pull you on.

PANDOLF

I will denounce a curse upon his head. 245

KING PHILIP

Thou shalt not need.—England, I will fall from thee.

⌈He takes his hand from King John’s hand. Blanche and Constance rise⌉

CONSTANCE

O, fair return of banished majesty!

QUEEN ELEANOR

O, foul revolt of French inconstancy I

KING JOHN

France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour.

BASTARD

Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time, 250

Is it as he will?—Well then, France shall rue.

BLANCHE

The sun’s o’ercast with blood; fair day, adieu!

Which is the side that I must go withal?

I am with both, each army hath a hand,

And in their rage, I having hold of both, 255

They whirl asunder and dismember me.

Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win.—

Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose.—

Father, I may not wish the fortune thine.—

Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive.

Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose,

Assured loss before the match be played.

LOUIS THE DAUPHIN

Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies.

BLANCHE

There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.

KING JOHN (to the Bastard)

Cousin, go draw our puissance together.—

⌈Exit the Bastard⌉

France, I am burned up with inflaming wrath,

A rage whose heat hath this condition:

That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,

The blood, and dearest-valued blood, of France.

KING PHILIP

Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn 270

To ashes ere our blood shall quench that fire.

Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.

KING JOHN

No more than he that threats.—To arms let’s hie!

Exeunt ⌈severally⌉

3.2 Alarum; excursions. Enter the Bastard, with the Duke of Austria’s head

BASTARD

Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;

Some airy devil hovers in the sky

And pours down mischief. Austria’s head lie there,

While Philip breathes.

Enter King John, Arthur Duke of Brittaine, and Hubert

KING JOHN

Hubert, keep this boy.—Philip, make up! 5

My mother is assailed in our tent,

And ta’en I fear.

BASTARD My lord, I rescued her;

Her highness is in safety; fear you not.

But on, my liege, for very little pains

Will bring this labour to an happy end. 10

Exeunt ⌈King John and the Bastard at one door, Hubert and Arthur at another door⌉

3.3 Alarum; excursions; retreat. Enter King John, Queen Eleanor, Arthur Duke of Brittaine, the Bastard, Hubert, lords, ⌈with soldiers⌉

KING JOHN (to Queen Eleanor)

So shall it be; your grace shall stay behind

So strongly guarded. (To Arthur) Cousin, look not sad;

Thy grandam loves thee, and thy uncle will

As dear be to thee as thy father was.

ARTHUR

O, this will make my mother die with grief. 5

KING JOHN (to the Bastard)

Cousin, away for England! Haste before,

And ere our coming, see thou shake the bags

Of hoarding abbots. The fat ribs of peace

Must by the hungry now be fed upon.

Imprisoned angels set at liberty. 10

Use our commission in his utmost force.

BASTARD

Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back

When gold and silver becks me to come on.

I leave your highness.—Grandam, I will pray,

If ever I remember to be holy,

For your fair safety. So I kiss your hand.

QUEEN ELEANOR

Farewell, gentle cousin.

KING JOHN Coz, farewell. Exit the Bastard

QUEEN ELEANOR

Come hither, little kinsman. Hark, a word.

She takes Arthur aside

KING JOHN

Come hither, Hubert.

He takes Hubert aside

O my gentle Hubert,

We owe thee much. Within this wall of flesh 20

There is a soul counts thee her creditor,

And with advantage means to pay thy love;

And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath

Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished.

Give me thy hand.

He takes Hubert’s hand

I had a thing to say, 25

But I will fit it with some better tune.

By heaven, Hubert, I am almost ashamed

To say what good respect I have of thee.

HUBERT

I am much bounden to your majesty.

KING JOHN

Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet, 30

But thou shalt have; and creep time ne‘er so slow,

Yet it shall come for me to do thee good.

I had a thing to say—but let it go.

The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day,

Attended with the pleasures of the world, 35

Is all too wanton and too full of gauds

To give me audience. If the midnight bell

Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth

Sound on into the drowsy race of night;

If this same were a churchyard where we stand, 40

And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs;

Or if that surly spirit, melancholy,

Had baked thy blood and made it heavy, thick,

Which else runs tickling up and down the veins,

Making that idiot, laughter, keep men’s eyes 45

And strain their cheeks to idle merriment—

A passion hateful to my purposes—

Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes,

Hear me without thine ears, and make reply

Without a tongue, using conceit alone,

Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words;

Then in despite of broad-eyed watchful day

I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts.

But, ah, I will not. Yet I love thee well,

And by my troth, I think thou lov’st me well.

HUBERT

So well that what you bid me undertake,

Though that my death were adjunct to my act,

By heaven, I would do it.

KING JOHN Do not I know thou wouldst?

Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

On yon young boy. I’ll tell thee what, my friend,

He is a very serpent in my way,

And wheresoe’er this foot of mine doth tread,

He lies before me. Dost thou understand me?

Thou art his keeper.

HUBERT And I’ll keep him so

That he shall not offend your majesty. 65

KING JOHN

Death.

HUBERT My lord.

KING JOHN A grave.

HUBERT He shall not live.

KING JOHN Enough.

I could be merry now. Hubert, I love thee.

Well, I’ll not say what I intend for thee.

Remember. (To Queen Eleanor) Madam, fare you well.

I’ll send those powers o’er to your majesty. 70

QUEEN ELEANOR

My blessing go with thee.

KING JOHN (to Arthur) For England, cousin, go.

Hubert shall be your man, attend on you

With all true duty.—On toward Calais, ho!

Exeunt ⌈Queen Eleanor, attended, at one door, the rest at another door⌉