Sirrah, thou know’st how Orleans is besieged,
And how the English have the suburbs won.
My boy, you know Orleans is under siege. The English have surrounded the town and blockade every gate. For days we have held them off with artillery.
You know Orleans is trapped, right? The English are all around us. We've been shooting at them for days.
Orleans surrounded English everywhere we shoot they shoot back
Father, I know; and oft have shot at them,
Howe’er unfortunate I miss’d my aim.
Father, I know. I have shot at them many times. I am a good marksman and never miss.
I know. I've shot at them before. I'm a good shot. I don't miss.
I shoot good aim I don't miss let me do it
But now thou shalt not. Be thou ruled by me.
Chief master-gunner am I of this town;
Something I must do to procure me grace.
The Prince’s espials have informed me
How the English, in the suburbs close intrench’d,
Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars
In yonder tower, to overpeer the city,
And thence discover how with most advantage
They may vex us with shot or with assault.
To intercept this inconvenience,
A piece of ordnance ’gainst it I have placed
And even these three days have I watch’d,
If I could see them.
Now do thou watch, for I can stay no longer.
If thou spy’st any, run and bring me word;
And thou shalt find me at the Governor’s.
But now you will not. You will obey me. Stay inside and keep silent.
Not today. You stay inside. Don't say anything.
no stay in stay quiet obey me
Father, I warrant you; take you no care;
I’ll never trouble you if I may spy them.
Father, I promise you, do not worry. I will be careful and do exactly as you say.
Yes, father. I'll be careful.
yes don't worry I'll obey
Salisbury enters only to die — but his silent gestures and single gasped prayer are among the scene's most affecting moments. He can't speak, but his hand signals communicate to Talbot what his voice cannot. Watch for how his death motivates Talbot for the rest of the play.
Talbot, my life, my joy, again return’d!
How wert thou handled, being prisoner?
Or by what means got’st thou to be releas’d?
Discourse, I prithee, on this turret’s top.
Talbot! My life, my joy—you have returned! We thought you dead or prisoner.
Talbot! You're alive! Thank God. We heard you were captured.
Talbot alive you made it thank God back
Talbot is the play's English military hero — his speech is formal, military, full of oaths and promises of vengeance. But watch for the tenderness in his scenes with Salisbury and later with his son: beneath the warrior rhetoric is a man who cares deeply about the people he fights alongside.
The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner
Call’d the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles;
For him was I exchanged and ransomed.
But with a baser man of arms by far
Once in contempt they would have barter’d me,
Which I disdaining scorn’d, and craved death
Rather than I would be so vile-esteem’d.
In fine, redeem’d I was as I desired.
But O, the treacherous Fastolf wounds my heart,
Whom with my bare fists I would execute
If I now had him brought into my power.
The Duke of Bedford ransomed me for gold and political advantage. The French held me hard but Bedford paid my price.
Bedford paid for my freedom. The French had me but he negotiated my release.
Bedford paid for me French let me go
Yet tell’st thou not how thou wert entertain’d.
But you do not tell us how you were treated while imprisoned. What did the French do to you?
What did they do to you? How were you treated?
what happened in prison how'd they treat you
With scoffs and scorns and contumelious taunts.
In open market-place produced they me
To be a public spectacle to all.
Here, said they, is the terror of the French,
The scarecrow that affrights our children so.
Then broke I from the officers that led me,
And with my nails digg’d stones out of the ground
To hurl at the beholders of my shame.
My grisly countenance made others fly;
None durst come near for fear of sudden death.
In iron walls they deem’d me not secure;
So great fear of my name ’mongst them were spread
That they supposed I could rend bars of steel
And spurn in pieces posts of adamant.
Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had,
That walk’d about me every minute while;
And if I did but stir out of my bed,
Ready they were to shoot me to the heart.
With mockery, insults, and contemptuous jeers. They called me coward and boasted of their victory over me.
They mocked me. Insulted me. Said they beat me.
mocked insulted said they won I was nothing
I grieve to hear what torments you endured,
But we will be revenged sufficiently.
Now it is supper-time in Orleans.
Here, through this grate, I count each one
And view the Frenchmen how they fortify.
Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee.
Sir Thomas Gargrave and Sir William Glansdale,
Let me have your express opinions
Where is best place to make our battery next.
I grieve to hear of such torments you endured. English heroes should be honored, not shamed.
That's wrong. You should be honored, not humiliated.
wrong you deserve honor not shame I'm sorry
I think, at the north gate, for there stand lords.
I believe the French command is positioned at the north gate. That is where their strength gathers.
I think their main force is at the north gate.
north gate that's where they are their main force
And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge.
And I see defenders at the bridge bulwark. They hold that position strongly.
And their forces hold the bridge.
bridge bulwark strong position defended
For aught I see, this city must be famish’d,
Or with light skirmishes enfeebled.
Here they shoot, and Salisbury and Gargrave fall down.
From what I see, this city must be starved into submission. Food runs short and their people weaken.
They're running out of food. We can starve them out.
starving no food they'll surrender wait
O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners!
O Lord, have mercy on us wretched sinners! Forgive our sins and save us from destruction.
God, help us. Forgive us. Save us.
God mercy forgive save us help
Salisbury is shot by a boy through an iron grate — not in honorable single combat, not by a worthy enemy, but by a child's lucky aim through a window. This is Shakespeare making a point about the new kind of war. Talbot's heroism — his enormous personal courage, his ferocity in combat, his almost supernatural presence on the battlefield — is the heroism of an older world. Gunpowder doesn't care. The same anonymous technology that lets the French boy take down one of England's greatest commanders will eventually make the entire Talbot mythos obsolete. The scene uses Salisbury's ignoble death to quietly introduce the play's darkest theme: the world is changing, and the old warrior codes are being obsoleted.
O Lord, have mercy on me, woeful man!
O Lord, have mercy on me, wretched man! Take my life in thy mercy.
God, help me. I'm dying.
God mercy I'm dying help me
What chance is this that suddenly hath cross’d us?
Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak!
How far’st thou, mirror of all martial men?
One of thy eyes and thy cheek’s side struck off!
Accursed tower, accursed fatal hand
That hath contrived this woeful tragedy!
In thirteen battles Salisbury o’ercame;
Henry the Fifth he first train’d to the wars;
Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up,
His sword did ne’er leave striking in the field.
Yet liv’st thou, Salisbury? Though thy speech doth fail,
One eye thou hast to look to heaven for grace.
The sun with one eye vieweth all the world.
Heaven, be thou gracious to none alive,
If Salisbury wants mercy at thy hands!
Sir Thomas Gargrave, hast thou any life?
Speak unto Talbot; nay, look up to him.
Bear hence his body; I will help to bury it.
What sudden misfortune is this? What has happened to strike us down?
What just happened? What hit us?
what happened what was that attack ambush
My lord, my lord, the French have gather’d head.
The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelle join’d,
A holy prophetess new risen up,
Is come with a great power to raise the siege.
My lord, the French have gathered their forces and march toward us in full strength.
The French army is coming. They're moving toward us.
French coming army moving toward us full force
Hear, hear how dying Salisbury doth groan;
It irks his heart he cannot be revenged.
Frenchmen, I’ll be a Salisbury to you.
Pucelle or puzel, dolphin or dogfish,
Your hearts I’ll stamp out with my horse’s heels
And make a quagmire of your mingled brains.
Convey we Salisbury into his tent,
And then we’ll try what these dastard Frenchmen dare.
Hear how the dying Salisbury groans in agony. A great English general passes from this world.
Listen to Salisbury dying. He's gone.
Salisbury dying gone he's lost
The Reckoning
The scene's violence is sudden and mechanical — a boy pulls a trigger and one of England's great warriors is felled not in honorable combat but by a lucky shot through a grate. Talbot's elegy over the dying Salisbury is one of the play's most genuinely moving passages: the hero can only watch as his old commander groans and gestures, unable to speak. The arrival of news about Joan immediately turns grief into fury.
If this happened today…
A legendary general, just released from captivity, reunites with his old commander at the front. They're surveying the enemy position through an observation window when a sniper gets lucky. The commander goes down — one eye gone, barely conscious. The general can only hold him and talk at him, not sure if he can hear. Then someone runs in with intel that a new enemy weapon has appeared on the field. The general's grief becomes immediate rage.