The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (91 page)

will be repaired with a double helping of happiness.

What! There are many happy days ahead.

The liquid drops of tears that you have shared

will be returned, changed into Oriental pearls,

the loan being repaid with interest

of ten times a double sum of happiness.

Go then, my mother; go to your daughter:

make her coy youth strong through your experience;

tell her how to listen to a wooer;

make her tender heart aspire to

golden monarchy; tell the Princess

about the sweet silent hours of joy marriage will bring,

and when I have beaten

the petty rebel, the dullard Buckingham,

I shall return in triumph

and take your daughter to a conqueror's bed;

I shall tell her of how I won my victory

and she will triumph, winning over the greatest.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

What were I best to say? Her father's

brother

Would be her lord? Or shall I say her uncle?

Or he that slew her brothers and her uncles?

Under what title shall I woo for thee

That God, the law, my honour, and her love

Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?

What would be the best thing for me to say? That her father's brother

wants to marry her? Or should I say her uncle?

Or the one who killed her brothers and her uncles?

What title shall I use to speak for you

so that God, the law, my honour and her love

can make this business seem pleasant to her youth?

KING RICHARD.

Infer fair England's peace by this alliance.

Tell her that this marriage will bring peace to fair England.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Which she shall purchase with

still-lasting war.

Which will be bought with this ongoing war.

KING RICHARD.

Tell her the King, that may command,

entreats.

Tell her that the King, who could order her, begs her.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

That at her hands which the King's

King forbids.

For something which the law of God forbids.

KING RICHARD.

Say she shall be a high and mighty queen.

Say that she will be a high and mighty Queen.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

To wail the title, as her mother doth.

To wish she never had the title, like her mother.

KING RICHARD.

Say I will love her everlastingly.

Say I will love her for ever.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

But how long shall that title 'ever' last?

But for how long will ‘forever’ last?

KING RICHARD.

Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.

It will last as long as her sweet life does.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

But how long fairly shall her sweet life

last?

But how long will her sweet life last?

KING RICHARD.

As long as heaven and nature lengthens it.

As long as heaven and nature allows it.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

As long as hell and Richard likes of it.

As long as hell and Richard still like her.

KING RICHARD.

Say I, her sovereign, am her subject low.

Tell her that I, her monarch, am her low subject.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

But she, your subject, loathes such

sovereignty.

But she, your subject, loathes your monarchy.

KING RICHARD.

Be eloquent in my behalf to her.

Speak eloquently to her on my behalf.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

An honest tale speeds best being plainly

told.

The best thing to do with honest tale is to speak plainly.

KING RICHARD.

Then plainly to her tell my loving tale.

Then tell her plainly about my love.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.

To be plain when you're not honest would sound too harsh.

KING RICHARD.

Your reasons are too shallow and too quick.

Your reasoning is to shallow and too quick.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

O, no, my reasons are too deep and

dead-

Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves.

Oh no, it's too deep and dead–

deep and dead, like the poor infants in their graves.

KING RICHARD.

Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.

Don't keep playing that old tune, madam; that’s in the past.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Harp on it still shall I till heartstrings

break.

I shall play that tune until my heartstrings break.

KING RICHARD.

Now, by my George, my garter, and my

crown-

Now, by my decorations and my crown–

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Profan'd, dishonour'd, and the third

usurp'd.

Stained, dishonoured, and the third one stolen.

KING RICHARD.

I swear-

I swear–

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

By nothing; for this is no oath:

Thy George, profan'd, hath lost his lordly honour;

Thy garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue;

Thy crown, usurp'd, disgrac'd his kingly glory.

If something thou wouldst swear to be believ'd,

Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd.

By nothing; this is no promise:

your title of St George, blasphemed, has lost its lordly honour;

your garter, stained, has sold its knightly virtue;

your crown, stolen, has lost its kingly glory.

If you want to have your oaths believed,

then swear by something you have not insulted.

KING RICHARD.

Then, by my self-

Then, by myself–

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Thy self is self-misus'd.

You have abused yourself.

KING RICHARD.

Now, by the world-

Now, by the world–

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

'Tis full of thy foul wrongs.

Which is full of your foul misdeeds.

KING RICHARD.

My father's death-

By my father's death–

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Thy life hath it dishonour'd.

Your life has dishonoured it.

KING RICHARD.

Why, then, by God-

Why then, by God–

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

God's wrong is most of all.

If thou didst fear to break an oath with Him,

The unity the King my husband made

Thou hadst not broken, nor my brothers died.

If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by Him,

Th' imperial metal, circling now thy head,

Had grac'd the tender temples of my child;

And both the Princes had been breathing here,

Which now, two tender bedfellows for dust,

Thy broken faith hath made the prey for worms.

What canst thou swear by now?

The wrong done to God is worst of all.

If you were afraid to break an oath with God,

you would not have broken the unity

my husband the King made, and my brothers would not have died.

If you had feared to break an oath to God

then the crown which is now on your head

would be on the tender head of my child;

both princes would still be alive instead

of lying side-by-side in their graves,

made worm food by your broken promises.

What can you swear by now?

KING RICHARD.

The time to come.

The future.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

That thou hast wronged in the time

o'erpast;

For I myself have many tears to wash

Hereafter time, for time past wrong'd by thee.

The children live whose fathers thou hast slaughter'd,

Ungovern'd youth, to wail it in their age;

The parents live whose children thou hast butchered,

Old barren plants, to wail it with their age.

Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast

Misus'd ere us'd, by times ill-us'd o'erpast.

You have wronged that by your behaviour in the past;

I have many tears to be cried

in the future, for your wrongs in the past.

There are children alive whose fathers you have slaughtered,

leaderless youths, who will mourn it when they are older;

there are parents alive whose children you have butchered,

old barren plants, who will mourn it when they're older.

Don't swear by the future; you have already

abused it, by your behaviour in the past.

KING RICHARD.

As I intend to prosper and repent,

So thrive I in my dangerous affairs

Of hostile arms! Myself myself confound!

Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours!

Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest!

Be opposite all planets of good luck

To my proceeding!-if, with dear heart's love,

Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,

I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter.

In her consists my happiness and thine;

Without her, follows to myself and thee,

Herself, the land, and many a Christian soul,

Death, desolation, ruin, and decay.

It cannot be avoided but by this;

It will not be avoided but by this.

Therefore, dear mother-I must call you so-

Be the attorney of my love to her;

Plead what I will be, not what I have been;

Not my deserts, but what I will deserve.

Urge the necessity and state of times,

And be not peevish-fond in great designs.

Only let me prosper in the dangerous affairs

of this war if I intend to repent! May I damn myself!

May heaven and fate keep me from happiness!

Day, do not give me your light; night do not give me rest!

May all planets which bring good luck be opposed

to my business! –if, with the love of a sweet heart,

perfect devotion, holy thoughts,

I do not win your beautiful princely daughter.

My happiness and yours rests in her;

without her death, desolation, ruin and decay

will come to you and to me, to her,

the country, and many Christian souls.

This is the only way it can be avoided;

nothing else will do.

Therefore, dear mother–that's what I must call you–