| ACT V SCENE VI | London. The Tower. | |
| [
Enter KING HENRY VI and GLOUCESTER, with the
Lieutenant, on the walls
] |
| GLOUCESTER | Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard? |
| KING HENRY VI | Ay, my good lord:--my lord, I should say rather; |
| 'Tis sin to flatter; 'good' was little better: |
| 'Good Gloucester' and 'good devil' were alike, |
| And both preposterous; therefore, not 'good lord.' | 5 |
| GLOUCESTER | Sirrah, leave us to ourselves: we must confer. |
| [Exit Lieutenant] |
| KING HENRY VI | So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf; |
| So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece |
| And next his throat unto the butcher's knife. |
| What scene of death hath Roscius now to act? | 10 |
| GLOUCESTER | Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; |
| The thief doth fear each bush an officer. |
| KING HENRY VI | The bird that hath been limed in a bush, |
| With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush; |
| And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird, | 15 |
| Have now the fatal object in my eye |
| Where my poor young was limed, was caught and kill'd. |
| GLOUCESTER | Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete, |
| That taught his son the office of a fowl! |
| An yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown'd. | 20 |
| KING HENRY VI | I, Daedalus; my poor boy, Icarus; |
| Thy father, Minos, that denied our course; |
| The sun that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy |
| Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea |
| Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life. | 25 |
| Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words! |
| My breast can better brook thy dagger's point |
| Than can my ears that tragic history. |
| But wherefore dost thou come? is't for my life? |
| GLOUCESTER | Think'st thou I am an executioner? | 30 |
| KING HENRY VI | A persecutor, I am sure, thou art: |
| If murdering innocents be executing, |
| Why, then thou art an executioner. |
| GLOUCESTER | Thy son I kill'd for his presumption. |
| KING HENRY VI | Hadst thou been kill'd when first thou didst presume, | 35 |
| Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine. |
| And thus I prophesy, that many a thousand, |
| Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear, |
| And many an old man's sigh and many a widow's, |
| And many an orphan's water-standing eye-- | 40 |
| Men for their sons, wives for their husbands, |
| And orphans for their parents timeless death-- |
| Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born. |
| The owl shriek'd at thy birth,--an evil sign; |
| The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time; | 45 |
| Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempest shook down trees; |
| The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top, |
| And chattering pies in dismal discords sung. |
| Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain, |
| And, yet brought forth less than a mother's hope, | 50 |
| To wit, an indigested and deformed lump, |
| Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree. |
| Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born, |
| To signify thou camest to bite the world: |
| And, if the rest be true which I have heard, | 55 |
| Thou camest-- |
| GLOUCESTER | I'll hear no more: die, prophet in thy speech: |
[Stabs him] |
| For this amongst the rest, was I ordain'd. |
| KING HENRY VI | Ay, and for much more slaughter after this. |
| God forgive my sins, and pardon thee! | 60 |
| [Dies] |
| GLOUCESTER | What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster |
| Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted. |
| See how my sword weeps for the poor king's death! |
| O, may such purple tears be alway shed |
| From those that wish the downfall of our house! | 65 |
| If any spark of life be yet remaining, |
| Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither: |
[Stabs him again] |
| I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear. |
| Indeed, 'tis true that Henry told me of; |
| For I have often heard my mother say | 70 |
| I came into the world with my legs forward: |
| Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste, |
| And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right? |
| The midwife wonder'd and the women cried |
| 'O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!' | 75 |
| And so I was; which plainly signified |
| That I should snarl and bite and play the dog. |
| Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so, |
| Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it. |
| I have no brother, I am like no brother; | 80 |
| And this word 'love,' which graybeards call divine, |
| Be resident in men like one another |
| And not in me: I am myself alone. |
| Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light: |
| But I will sort a pitchy day for thee; | 85 |
| For I will buz abroad such prophecies |
| That Edward shall be fearful of his life, |
| And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death. |
| King Henry and the prince his son are gone: |
| Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest, | 90 |
| Counting myself but bad till I be best. |
| I'll throw thy body in another room |
| And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom. |
[Exit, with the body] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)