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The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] cover

The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9]

Chapter 216: fcc SCENE III. Pomfret Castle.
By William Shakespeare
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About This Book

The volume presents a connected sequence of historical dramas that dramatize the disintegration of centralized power and the violent struggle among rival claimants for the crown. Through scenes of political intrigue, popular unrest, pitched battles, and calculated betrayals, it shows how shifting alliances and personal ambition accelerate dynastic collapse and reshape leadership. The plays interweave public spectacle with intimate moments of downfall and remorse, exploring themes of legitimacy, governance, and the human cost of civil war. Scholarly apparatus accompanies the texts, offering prefatory and editorial commentary, variant readings, and notes on publication history.

fcc SCENE III. Pomfret Castle.

Enter SIR RICHARD RATCLIFF, with halberds, carrying RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN to death.
♦ Rat. Come, bring forth the prisoners.
Riv. Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this:
To-day shalt thou behold a subject die
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.
5 Grey. God keep the prince from all the pack of you!
A knot you are of damned blood-suckers.
♦ Vaug. You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter.
Rat. Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out.
Riv. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
10 Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
Richard the second here was hack’d to death;
♦ And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
♦ We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.
15 Grey. Now Margaret’s curse is fall’n upon our heads,
For standing by when Richard stabb’d her son.
♦ Riv. Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Buckingham,
♦ Then cursed she Richard. O, remember, God,
♦ To hear her prayers for them, as now for us!
20 And for my sister and her princely sons,
♦ Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
Which, as thou know’st, unjustly must be spilt.
♦ Rat. Make haste; the hour of death is expiate.
♦ Riv. Come, Grey, come, Vaughan, let us all embrace:
25 And take our leave, until we meet in heaven. [Exeunt.