Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
|
Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Lord Mortimer, and Owen
Glendower. MORTIMER
These promises are fair, the parties sure,
And our induction full of prosperous hope. HOTSPUR
Lord Mortimer and cousin Glendower,
Will you sit down? And uncle Worcester—
A plague upon it, I have forgot the map. 5 GLENDOWER
No, here it is. Sit, cousin Percy,
Sit, good cousin Hotspur, for by that name
As oft as Lancaster doth speak of you
His cheek looks pale, and with a rising sigh
He wisheth you in heaven. 10 HOTSPUR And you in hell,
As oft as he hears Owen Glendower spoke of. | Glendower hosts Mortimer, Hotspur, and Worcester at his castle in Wales, where the rebels gather to strategize. Before we know it, Hotspur and Glendower start talking smack. Trash talk, as we know, is an Olympic sport in this play. Hotspur swears and says he can't find his map but Glendower finds it and tells the young Percy to chill. Then Glendower tells Hotspur that King Henry wishes he were dead. Hotspur replies by saying that Henry wishes Glendower was in hell. |
GLENDOWER
I cannot blame him. At my nativity
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets, and at my birth 15
The frame and huge foundation of the Earth
Shaked like a coward. | Glendower claims that Henry is afraid of him because, when he was born, the earth shook and the night sky was lit up by comets and lights. |
HOTSPUR Why, so it would have done
At the same season if your mother’s cat
Had but kittened, though yourself had never been 20
born. | Hotspur scoffs and says the same thing would have happened if Glendower's mother's cat had had a litter of kittens instead of Glendower being born. |
GLENDOWER
I say the Earth did shake when I was born. HOTSPUR
And I say the Earth was not of my mind,
If you suppose as fearing you it shook. GLENDOWER
The heavens were all on fire; the Earth did tremble. 25 HOTSPUR
O, then the Earth shook to see the heavens on fire,
And not in fear of your nativity.
Diseasèd nature oftentimes breaks forth
In strange eruptions; oft the teeming Earth
Is with a kind of colic pinched and vexed 30
By the imprisoning of unruly wind
Within her womb, which, for enlargement striving,
Shakes the old beldam Earth and topples down
Steeples and moss-grown towers. At your birth
Our grandam Earth, having this distemp’rature, 35
In passion shook. | When Glendower insists again that the heavens were on fire and the earth shook at his "nativity," Hotspur says the earth shook alright, but not because it was afraid of Glendower's birth. At the exact moment Glendower was born, says Hotspur, the earth let out a huge fart. |
GLENDOWER Cousin, of many men
I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave
To tell you once again that at my birth
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, 40
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds
Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields.
These signs have marked me extraordinary,
And all the courses of my life do show
I am not in the roll of common men. 45
Where is he living, clipped in with the sea
That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales,
Which calls me pupil or hath read to me?
And bring him out that is but woman’s son
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art 50
And hold me pace in deep experiments. HOTSPUR
I think there’s no man speaks better Welsh.
I’ll to dinner. MORTIMER
Peace, cousin Percy. You will make him mad. GLENDOWER
I can call spirits from the vasty deep. 55 HOTSPUR
Why, so can I, or so can any man,
But will they come when you do call for them? GLENDOWER
Why, I can teach you, cousin, to command the
devil. HOTSPUR
And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil 60
By telling truth. Tell truth and shame the devil.
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither,
And I’ll be sworn I have power to shame him
hence.
O, while you live, tell truth and shame the devil! 65 MORTIMER
Come, come, no more of this unprofitable chat. GLENDOWER
Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head
Against my power; thrice from the banks of Wye
And sandy-bottomed Severn have I sent him
Bootless home and weather-beaten back. 70 HOTSPUR
Home without boots, and in foul weather too!
How ’scapes he agues, in the devil’s name? | Mortimer tells Hotspur to knock it off and Glendower blows off Hotspur's insult – the Welshman insists that all kinds of strange things happened in nature at the moment of his birth. He claims to be able to summons spirits from the ocean and says he can teach Hotspur how to command the devil, which is why he, Glendower, has been able to withstand King Henry's armies three times. |
GLENDOWER
Come, here is the map. Shall we divide our right
According to our threefold order ta’en? MORTIMER
The Archdeacon hath divided it 75
Into three limits very equally:
England, from Trent and Severn hitherto,
By south and east is to my part assigned;
All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore,
And all the fertile land within that bound 80
To Owen Glendower; and, dear coz, to you
The remnant northward lying off from Trent.
And our indentures tripartite are drawn,
Which being sealèd interchangeably—
A business that this night may execute— 85
Tomorrow, cousin Percy, you and I
And my good Lord of Worcester will set forth
To meet your father and the Scottish power,
As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury.
My father Glendower is not ready yet, 90
Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days.
To Glendower. Within that space you may have
drawn together
Your tenants, friends, and neighboring gentlemen. | Hotspur says Glendower is full of it before the men look at a map of Britain and decide how they'll divide it into three territories. Mortimer explains the rebels' plan of attack: tomorrow, he, Worcester, and Hotspur will ride to meet Northumberland and the Scotch rebels at Shrewsbury. He says his father-in-law, Glendower, won't join them just yet because he's still getting his forces together. |
GLENDOWER
A shorter time shall send me to you, lords, 95
And in my conduct shall your ladies come,
From whom you now must steal and take no leave,
For there will be a world of water shed
Upon the parting of your wives and you. HOTSPUR, looking at the map
Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here, 100
In quantity equals not one of yours.
See how this river comes me cranking in
And cuts me from the best of all my land
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out.
I’ll have the current in this place dammed up, 105
And here the smug and silver Trent shall run
In a new channel, fair and evenly.
It shall not wind with such a deep indent
To rob me of so rich a bottom here. GLENDOWER
Not wind? It shall, it must. You see it doth. 110 MORTIMER, to Hotspur
Yea, but mark how he bears his course, and runs
me up
With like advantage on the other side,
Gelding the opposèd continent as much
As on the other side it takes from you. 115 WORCESTER
Yea, but a little charge will trench him here
And on this north side win this cape of land,
And then he runs straight and even. HOTSPUR
I’ll have it so. A little charge will do it. GLENDOWER I’ll not have it altered. 120 HOTSPUR Will not you? GLENDOWER No, nor you shall not. HOTSPUR Who shall say me nay? GLENDOWER Why, that will I. HOTSPUR
Let me not understand you, then; speak it in Welsh. 125 GLENDOWER
I can speak English, lord, as well as you,
For I was trained up in the English court,
Where being but young I framèd to the harp
Many an English ditty lovely well
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament— 130
A virtue that was never seen in you. HOTSPUR
Marry, and I am glad of it with all my heart.
I had rather be a kitten and cry “mew”
Than one of these same meter balladmongers.
I had rather hear a brazen can’stick turned, 135
Or a dry wheel grate on the axletree,
And that would set my teeth nothing an edge,
Nothing so much as mincing poetry.
’Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag. GLENDOWER Come, you shall have Trent turned. 140 HOTSPUR
I do not care. I’ll give thrice so much land
To any well-deserving friend;
But in the way of bargain, mark you me,
I’ll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.
Are the indentures drawn? Shall we be gone? 145 GLENDOWER
The moon shines fair. You may away by night.
I’ll haste the writer, and withal
Break with your wives of your departure hence.
I am afraid my daughter will run mad,
So much she doteth on her Mortimer. He exits. 150 | Glendower promises to meet up with them shortly and says he'll escort their wives too, since the women will be upset when their husbands leave to fight. Hotspur, who has been looking at the map and thinking about the plans to divide the land, complains that his slice of the pie isn't as good as Glendower's. Bickering ensues. Hotspur bags on Glendower by insulting the sound of the Welsh language. |
MORTIMER
Fie, cousin Percy, how you cross my father! HOTSPUR
I cannot choose. Sometime he angers me
With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,
Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies,
And of a dragon and a finless fish, 155
A clip-winged griffin and a moulten raven,
A couching lion and a ramping cat,
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith. I tell you what—
He held me last night at least nine hours 160
In reckoning up the several devils’ names
That were his lackeys. I cried “Hum,” and “Well, go
to,”
But marked him not a word. O, he is as tedious
As a tired horse, a railing wife, 165
Worse than a smoky house. I had rather live
With cheese and garlic in a windmill, far,
Than feed on cates and have him talk to me
In any summer house in Christendom. MORTIMER
In faith, he is a worthy gentleman, 170
Exceedingly well read and profited
In strange concealments, valiant as a lion,
And wondrous affable, and as bountiful
As mines of India. Shall I tell you, cousin?
He holds your temper in a high respect 175
And curbs himself even of his natural scope
When you come cross his humor. Faith, he does.
I warrant you that man is not alive
Might so have tempted him as you have done
Without the taste of danger and reproof. 180
But do not use it oft, let me entreat you. WORCESTER, to Hotspur
In faith, my lord, you are too willful-blame,
And, since your coming hither, have done enough
To put him quite besides his patience.
You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault. 185
Though sometimes it show greatness, courage,
blood—
And that’s the dearest grace it renders you—
Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage,
Defect of manners, want of government, 190
Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain,
The least of which, haunting a nobleman,
Loseth men’s hearts and leaves behind a stain
Upon the beauty of all parts besides,
Beguiling them of commendation. 195 HOTSPUR
Well, I am schooled. Good manners be your speed!
Here come our wives, and let us take our leave. | When Mortimer yells at Hotspur for being a jerk to his father-in-law, Hotspur complains that the old man talks too much – like a "tired horse, a railing wife."
Mortimer warns Hotspur that Glendower tolerates his rudeness only because he respects him. Worcester chimes in and tells the young Percy that his "pride" and "haughtiness" are ugly traits – he's going to lose the allegiance of his colleagues if he keeps it up. |
Enter Glendower with the Ladies. MORTIMER
This is the deadly spite that angers me:
My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh. GLENDOWER
My daughter weeps; she’ll not part with you. 200
She’ll be a soldier too, she’ll to the wars. MORTIMER
Good father, tell her that she and my aunt Percy
Shall follow in your conduct speedily. Glendower speaks to her in Welsh,
and she answers him in the same. GLENDOWER
She is desperate here, a peevish self-willed harlotry,
One that no persuasion can do good upon. 205
The Lady speaks in Welsh. | Glendower trots out Lady Percy and Lady Mortimer so they can say goodbye to their husbands. Mortimer says he's bummed because his wife can't speak English and he can't speak Welsh.
Glendower says his daughter doesn't want Mortimer to leave – she wants to go to war with him. Note: Lady Mortimer doesn't get any lines of dialogue. Instead, the text gives stage directions like "The Lady speaks in Welsh" and then her father translates for her. |
| Mortimer says he understands her "kisses" and vows to learn Welsh so he can speak with his wife, who makes the language sound as sweet as music. Mortimer lays his head in his wife's lap while she sings (accompanied by musicians). |
HOTSPUR
Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down.
Come, quick, quick, that I may lay my head in thy 235
lap. LADY PERCY Go, you giddy goose.
The music plays. HOTSPUR
Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh,
And ’tis no marvel he is so humorous.
By ’r Lady, he is a good musician. 240 LADY PERCY Then should you be nothing but musical,
for you are altogether governed by humors. Lie
still, you thief, and hear the lady sing in Welsh. HOTSPUR I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in
Irish. 245 | The competitive Hotspur orders Kate to sit so he can put his head in her lap too. Hotspur says the devil speaks Welsh and he'd rather hear his dog howl in Irish than listen to Lady Mortimer's singing. |
LADY PERCY Wouldst thou have thy head broken? HOTSPUR No. LADY PERCY Then be still. HOTSPUR Neither; ’tis a woman’s fault. LADY PERCY Now God help thee! 250 HOTSPUR To the Welsh lady’s bed. LADY PERCY What’s that? HOTSPUR Peace, she sings. Here the Lady sings a Welsh song. | Kate threatens to break Hotspur's "head" and Hotspur makes a naughty joke about sleeping with Mortimer's wife. |
HOTSPUR Come, Kate, I’ll have your song too. LADY PERCY Not mine, in good sooth. 255 HOTSPUR Not yours, in good sooth! Heart, you swear
like a comfit-maker’s wife! “Not you, in good
sooth,” and “as true as I live,” and “as God shall
mend me,” and “as sure as day”—
And givest such sarcenet surety for thy oaths 260
As if thou never walk’st further than Finsbury.
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art,
A good mouth-filling oath, and leave “in sooth,”
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread
To velvet-guards and Sunday citizens. 265
Come, sing. LADY PERCY I will not sing. HOTSPUR ’Tis the next way to turn tailor, or be redbreast
teacher. An the indentures be drawn, I’ll
away within these two hours, and so come in when 270
you will. He exits. GLENDOWER
Come, come, Lord Mortimer, you are as slow
As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go.
By this our book is drawn. We’ll but seal,
And then to horse immediately. 275 MORTIMER With all my heart. They exit. | Hotspur then insists that Kate sing a song, too. When Kate refuses, he insults her by making fun of the way she talks – he says she talks more like a low-class woman than a lady. Glendower and the wives stay behind while everyone else departs for Shrewsbury. |