Excerpt from Henry VI - anthology. Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III, chronicle the troubled reign of Henry VI, during which time England is reduced from a position of influence and status within Western Europe, earned by his father, Henry V, to a state that is all but torn apart by civil war. A pious man but not a gifted ruler, Henry VI was beset by opposition from the House of York, culminating in the Wars of the Roses, which disturbed English soil for 30 years. In Part III, Act 2, Scene v, Shakespeare poignantly illustrates the personal torment that inevitably arises from the public conflict of civil war: the upsetting of the order of the state has upset the natural order of kinship, so that father is set against son, and son against father, in a war that "profits nobody". The despairing Henry is powerless to do anything but sit by and lament as he observes the tragic grief of men whom, as king, he should have had the authority and ability to lead and protect, as a shepherd does his flock. Henry VI, Part III Act 2, Scene v Alarum. Enter King Henry alone KING. This battle fares like to the morning's war, When dying clouds contend with growing light, What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails, Can neither call it perfect day nor night. Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea Forced by the tide to combat with the wind; Now sways it that way, like the self-same sea Forced to retire by fury of the wind. Sometime the flood prevails, and then the wind; Now one the better, then another best; Both tugging to be victors, breast to breast, Yet neither conqueror nor conquerèd; So is the equal poise of this fell war. Here on this molehill will I sit me down. To whom God will, there be the victory! For Margaret my Queen, and Clifford too, Have chid me from the battle, swearing both They prosper best of all when I am thence. Would I were dead, if God's good will were so! For what is in this world but grief and woe? O God! Methinks it were a happy life To be no better than a homely swain; To sit upon a hill, as I do now; To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, Thereby to see the minutes how they run: How many makes the hour full complete, How many hours brings about the day, How many days will finish up the year, How many years a mortal man may live. When this is known, then to divide the times: So many hours must I tend my flock, So many hours must I take my rest, So many hours must I contemplate, So many hours must I sport myself, So many days my ewes have been with young, So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean, So many years ere I shall shear the fleece. So minutes, hours, days, months, and years, Passed over to the end they were created, Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave. Ah, what a life were this! How sweet! How lovely! Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade To shepherds looking on their silly sheep Than doth a rich embroidered canopy To kings that fear their subjects' treachery? O yes, it doth; a thousand-fold it doth. And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds, His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle, His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, Is far beyond a prince's delicates, His viands sparkling in a golden cup, His body couchèd in a curious bed, When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him. Alarum. Enter at one door a Son that hath killed his father, with the dead body in his arms SON. Ill blows the wind that profits nobody. This man whom hand to hand I slew in fight May be possessèd with some store of crowns; And I, that haply take them from him now, May yet ere night yield both my life and them To some man else, as this dead man doth me.-- Who's this? O God! It is my father's face, Whom in this conflict I, unwares, have killed. O, heavy times, begetting such events! From London by the King was I pressed forth; My father, being the Earl of Warwick's man, Came on the part of York, pressed by his master; And I, who at his hands received my life, Have by my hands of life bereavèd him. Pardon me, God, I knew not what I did! And pardon, father, for I knew not thee! My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks; And no more words till they have flowed their fill. KING. O, piteous spectacle! O, bloody times! Whiles lions war and battle for their dens, Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity. Weep, wretched man; I'll aid thee tear for tear; And let our hearts and eyes, like civil war, Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharged with grief. Enter at another door a Father that hath killed his son, with the dead body in his arms FATHER. Thou that so stoutly hath resisted me, Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold; For I have bought it with an hundred blows. But let me see: is this our foeman's face? Ah, no, no, no, it is mine only son! Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee, Throw up thine eye! See, see what showers arise, Blown with the windy tempest of my heart, Upon thy wounds, that kills mine eye and heart! O, pity, God, this miserable age! What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly, Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural, This deadly quarrel daily doth beget! O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon, And hath bereft thee of thy life too late! KING. Woe above woe! Grief more than common grief! O that my death would stay these ruthful deeds! O, pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity! The red rose and the white are on his face, The fatal colours of our striving houses; The one his purple blood right well resembles; The other his pale cheeks, methinks, presenteth. Wither one rose, and let the other flourish; If you contend, a thousand lives must wither. SON. How will my mother for a father's death Take on with me and ne'er be satisfied! FATHER. How will my wife for slaughter of my son Shed seas of tears and ne'er be satisfied! KING. How will the country for these woeful chances Misthink the King and not be satisfied! SON. Was ever son so rued a father's death? FATHER. Was ever father so bemoaned his son? KING. Was ever king so grieved for subjects' woe? Much is your sorrow; mine ten times so much. SON. I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep my fill. Exit with the body of his father FATHER. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet; My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre, For from my heart thine image ne'er shall go; My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell, And so obsequious will thy father be, Even for the loss of thee, having no more, As Priam was for all his valiant sons. I'll bear thee hence; and let them fight that will, For I have murdered where I should not kill. Exit with the body of his son KING. Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care, Here sits a king more woeful than you are. Alarums. Excursions. Enter the Queen, Prince, and Exeter PRINCE. Fly, father, fly! For all your friends are fled, And Warwick rages like a chafèd bull. Away! For death doth hold us in pursuit. QUEEN. Mount you, my lord; towards Berwick post amain. Edward and Richard, like a brace of greyhounds Having the fearful flying hare in sight, With fiery eyes sparkling for very wrath, And bloody steel grasped in their ireful hands, Are at our backs; and therefore hence amain. EXETER. Away! For vengeance comes along with them; Nay, stay not to expostulate, make speed; Or else come after; I'll away before. KING. Nay, take me with thee, good sweet Exeter; Not that I fear to stay, but love to go Whither the Queen intends. Forward! Away! Exeunt
