The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 27.038  Thursday, 4 February 2016

 

From:        Gerald E. Downs <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

Date:         February 3, 2016 at 6:02:36 PM EST

Subject:    Last R3 1.4 

 

Speech headings in this part of R3 1.4 vary so much as to call the authority of either text into question. If F reprints Q1 the variants are merely editorial in nature and the mystery extends only to the F redactors. Twenty-first Century scholarship insists that Q1 derives from an authoritative F—by analysis, Strangely enough, of minor speech heading variance, the most untrustworthy evidence of authorship; how can that be, unless the general mix-ups are ignored?

 

                          (Q1)  

1 Harke he stirs, shall I strike.                    990

2 No, first lets reason with him.

Cla. Where art thou keeper, giue me a cup of wine.

1 You shall haue wine enough my Lo: anon.

Cla. In Gods name what art thou.             995

2 A man as you are.

Cla. But not as I am, royall.

2 Nor you as we are, loyall.

Cla. Thy voice is thunder, but thy lookes are humble.

2 My voice is now the Kings, my lookes mine owne.

Cla. How darkly, and how deadly doest thou speake:

Tell me who are you, wherefore come you hither?

Am. To, to, to.

Cla. To murther me. Am. I.       1005

Cla. You scarcely haue the hearts to tell me so,

And therefore cannot haue the hearts to doe it.

Wherein my friends haue I offended you?

1 Offended vs you haue not, but the King.  1010

Cla. I shal be reconcild to him againe.

2 Neuer my Lo: therfore prepare to die.

 

 

                                  (F)

1 Soft, he wakes.

2 (1*) Strike.

1 (2*) No, wee'l reason with him.

Cla. Where art thou Keeper? Giue me a cup of wine.

2 (1*) You shall haue Wine enough my Lord anon.

Cla. In Gods name, what art thou?

1 (2*) A man, as you are.

Cla. But not as I am Royall.

1 Nor you as we are, Loyall.

Cla. Thy voice is Thunder, but thy looks are humble.

1 My voice is now the Kings, my lookes mine owne.

Cla. How darkly, and how deadly dost thou speake?

Your eyes do menace me: why looke you pale?

Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come?

2 To, to, to---

Cla. To murther me?

Both. I, I.

Cla. You scarsely haue the hearts to tell me so,

And therefore cannot haue the hearts to do it.

Wherein my Friends haue I offended you?

1 (2*) Offended vs you haue not, but the King.

Cla. I shall be reconcil'd to him againe.

2 (1*?)  Neuer my Lord, therefore prepare to dye.

 

By the simple splitting of Q1 990, F reverses a number of prefixes but they need renumbering anyway; 1 is anxious to strike; 2 wants to talk (as Richard advised not to do); 1 predicts the Duke will be floating in wine—he’s hung up on the malmsey barrel. Contra Q1, F gets the ‘loyal’ remark right—1’s animosity is apparent throughout. But when it’s 1 or 2, getting it right is fifty-fifty unless Shakespeare gets in the Act.

 

Clarence responds with ‘thou’ to 1’s threatening voice and looks. ‘Your eyes . . . you pale’ is not in Q. F is not sensitive to ‘thou’/’you’ distinction (here and elsewhere) and F may have altered a legitimate line to agree with Q1’s ‘who are you,’ which likely repeats a ‘keeper’ line (but the Duke may have used a plural ‘you’ here). Otherwise, the dialogue reflects Clarence’s nobility: he uses ‘thou’; both killers respectfully say ‘you’ and ‘my lord.’ That soon changes.

 

2 is more likely to have ‘to, to, tooed’; ‘Aye, aye’ is a good response for ‘Both’ (an ‘i’ apiece), though I’m opposed to “altogether” as too corny for Shakespeare (but OK for “Airplane”). 2 is more apt to say they weren’t personally offended; and 1 sticks to his guns all the way to the butt. The texts don’t agree but agreeably take turns being wrong; the “hired men,” though individual creatures, become inconsistent in their speeches. The patterns are missed, and that pattern continues:

 

                                         (Q1) 

Cla. Are you cald foorth from out a world of men

To slay the innocent? what is my offence. . . .     1014

The deede you vndertake is damnable.  1023

1 What we will doe, we doe vpon command.

2 And he that hath commanded, is the King.

Clar. Erronious Vassaile, the great King of Kings,

Hath in the tables of his law commanded,

That thou shalt doe no murder, and wilt thou then

 

Clarence hath already 0’d in on 2; the Biblical ‘thou’ carries over to ‘wilt thou’ (F’s ‘will you’ misses the transition). The suggestion is that 2 serves the wrong King. From their first acquaintance, 2 intends to ‘reason’—not to convince the Duke why he’s a goner, but to ‘prepare’ his going hence. Clarence aims to talk them out of it: he gets to 2, but 1 is a tougher, bitterer, and ornerier nut to crack. 

 

Spurne at his edict, and fulfill a mans?

Take heede, for he holds vengeance in his hands, 1030

To hurle vpon their heads that breake his law.

2 (1*) And that same vengeance doth he throw on thee,

For false forswearing, and for murder too:

Thou didst receiue the holy sacrament,

To fight in quarell of the house of Lancaster.

1 And like a traitor to the name of God,

Didst breake that vowe, and with thy trecherous blade,

Vnript the bowels of thy soueraignes sonne.

2 (1*) Whom thou wert sworne to cherish and defend.

 

The counter-argument and accusatory history surely all belongs to the partisan 1 (now he’s talking!) There’s no Mutt & Mutt or Jeff & Jeff alternating here. Royal protocol aside, Clarence’s crime warrants 1’s Godly ‘thee,’ ‘thou,’ and ‘thy’; ‘like a traitor to the name of God,’ Clarence murdered the anointed King’s son). He’s got the Duke over a butt; but he doesn’t know that Clarence has even now expressed his remorse to the keeper.

 

1 How canst thou vrge Gods dreadfull Law to vs,

When thou hast broke it in so deare degree?

Cla. Alas, for whose sake did I that ill deede,

For Edward, for my brother, for his sake:

Why sirs, he sends ye not to murder me for this,

For in this sinne he is as deepe as I:     1045

 

Chastised, Clarence addresses both with a contrite ‘ye’; F again substitutes ‘you’. How much can be made of Q1’s slight variant, I don’t know; but I like it. I also like the idea that 1, who scorns conscience, now echoes the Duke’s own conscience well enough to elicit both confession and lame excuse: “Look guys, my brother made me do it.”

 

If God will be reuenged for this deede,

Take not the quarrell from his powerfull arme,

He needes no indirect, nor lawlesse course,

To cut off those that haue offended him.

1 Who made thee then a bloudy minister,

When gallant springing braue Plantagenet,

That Princely Nouice was stroke dead by thee?

Cla. My brothers loue, the diuell, and my rage.

1 Thy brothers loue, the diuell and thy fault  1055

Haue brought vs hither now to murder thee.

Cla. Oh if you loue my brother, hate not me,

I am his brother, and I loue him well:

 

Now that the tables are turned, Clarence reverts to the plural to try a new tactic—brotherly love—which lays another egg. At 1055 1 refers (in part, at least) to Richard’s “tough love.” F alters 1’s ‘the devil’ to a weak ‘our duty,’ in keeping with its editorial abhorrence of repetition. If Clarence is the devil’s minister, 1 can also leave God out of the formula: “The devil makes us do it” is a good comeback.   

 

If you be hirde for meede, go backe againe,

And I will send you to my brother Glocester,

Who will reward you better for my life,

Then Edward will for tydings of my death.

2 You are deceiu'd, your brother Glocester hates you.

 

2 is the correct speaker, prefix- and rank-wise; he doesn’t use ‘thou.’

 

Cla. Oh no, he loues me, and he holds me deare,  1065

Go you to him from me.

Am. 1* I, so we will.

 

F rightly assigns the reply to 1, who cynically refers to their ‘meede.’ That isn’t 2’s character; 1 cracks the private jokes and they wouldn’t speak together.

 

Cla. Tell him, when that our princely father Yorke,

Blest his three sonnes with his victorious arme:

And chargd vs from his soule, to loue each other,

He little thought of this deuided friendship.   1070

Bid Glocester thinke of this, and he will weepe.

Am. 1*  I, milstones as he lessond vs to weepe.

 

Again, F’s 1 is right. It’s not credible that the two characters would express the same thought.

 

Cla. O doe not slaunder him for he is kind.

1 Right as snow in haruest, thou deceiu'st thy selfe, 1074

Tis he hath sent vs hither now to slaughter thee.

Cla. It cannot be, for when I parted with him,

He hugd me in his armes, and swore with sobs,

That he would labour my deliuery.

2 1* Why so he doth, now he deliuers thee,  1079

From this worlds thraldome, to the ioies of heauen,

1 2* Makes peace with God, for you must die my Lo:

 

At 1074, 1 is identified by his cynicism and ‘thou,’ ‘thy,’ and ‘thee.’ F arbitrarily alters to ‘you,’ ‘yourself,’ and ‘you,’ as at 1079—as yousual, but F rightly gives both lines to the harsh 1; 2’s ‘you are deceived’ becomes ‘thou deceiv’st thyself.’ 1081 should be 2 (as F) because the speaker is still respectful (‘you . . . my lord’) and merciful, though he has not abandoned the mission; it will be an “accomplishment” for everyone if George wheedles a “Get out of Hell Free” card.

 

1 (‘thee’) only jokingly assumes that redemption is at the ready and that landing in heaven makes up for all the turbulence en route. 2 eases his own conscience while 1, Richard, and Will yuk it up. Meanwhile, Clarence pleads for his life; like the young lady whose wooden whistle wooden whistle, he can’t spare a breath for prayers likely to be answered by ye olde Old Sparky.

 

Cla. Hast thou that holy feeling in thy soule,

To counsell me to make my peace with God;

And art thou yet to thy owne soule so blinde,  1085

That thou wilt war with God, by murdring me?

Ah sirs, consider, he that set you on

To doe this deede, will hate you for this deede.

2 What shall we doe?

 

Clarence again appeals to 2 with ‘thou’ and God’s help, before switching to the plural. For what it’s worth, he is wrong again: Richard won’t be sorry anytime soon.

 

In these lines F alters ten speech headings, often arbitrarily and at times while changing ‘thou’ to ‘you’ even though 1 is newly identified as the speaker. Taken from the top of the scene, the pronouns help to tell a ‘desperate’ (from despair; finally hopeless) tale of rank, religion, remorse, indignation, courtesy, anger, and so on (a list I remember from the Boy Scouts!). Q1’s and F’s haphazard prefixes (repeated throughout the texts) disguise Shakespeare’s natural, nuanced command of grammar and meaning in the use of the pronouns. While Q’s dialogue is more trustworthy (because it was caught on a “tablet”), neither text can lay claim to “unbroken” authority. If it’s broken it ought to be fixed.

 

Gerald E. Downs

 

 

 

Subscribe to Our Feeds

Search

Make a Gift to SHAKSPER

Consider making a gift to support SHAKSPER.