Up Fish Street! Down Saint Magnus’ Corner! Kill and knock down! Throw
them into Thames! [_Sound a parley_.] What noise is this I hear? Dare
any be so bold to sound retreat or parley when I command them kill?
Up Fish Street! Down Saint Magnus’ Corner! Kill and knock down! Throw them into Thames! [_Sound a pa...
Up Fish Street! Down Saint Magnus’ Corner! Kill and knock down! Throw them into Thames! [_Sound a pa...
[core emotion]
Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee.
Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the King
Unto the commons, whom thou hast misled,
And here pronounce free pardon to them all
That will forsake thee and go home in peace.
Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee. Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the King Unto...
Ay, here they be that dare and will disturb thee. Know, Cade, we come ambassadors from the King Unto...
[core emotion]
What say ye, countrymen? Will ye relent
And yield to mercy whilst ’tis offered you,
Or let a rebel lead you to your deaths?
Who loves the King and will embrace his pardon,
Fling up his cap, and say “God save his Majesty!”
Who hateth him and honours not his father,
Henry the Fifth, that made all France to quake,
Shake he his weapon at us and pass by.
What say ye, countrymen? Will ye relent And yield to mercy whilst ’tis offered you, Or let a rebel l...
What say ye, countrymen? Will ye relent And yield to mercy whilst ’tis offered you, Or let a rebel l...
[core emotion]
The rapid swing of Cade's followers — from 'We'll follow Cade!' to 'A Clifford! A Clifford!' in less than twenty lines — is Shakespeare's most direct demonstration of the instability of mob politics. Clifford doesn't offer anything Cade didn't: both make promises about the future, both appeal to emotion, both invoke English identity. The difference is that Clifford invokes Henry V — the most potent symbol of English military glory — while Cade can only offer plunder and personal loyalty. The crowd chooses the larger story over the smaller one. Shakespeare is not being cynical about this; the followers are making a reasonable calculation. What he is showing is that charismatic leaders who rise quickly on crowd enthusiasm can fall just as quickly when a more compelling charisma arrives. Cade built his movement on performance; Clifford out-performs him.
God save the King! God save the King!
God save the King! God save the King!...
God save the King! God save the King!...
[core emotion]
What, Buckingham and Clifford, are ye so brave? And you, base peasants,
do ye believe him? Will you needs be hanged with your pardons about
your necks? Hath my sword therefore broke through London gates, that
you should leave me at the White Hart in Southwark? I thought ye would
never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient
freedom; but you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in
slavery to the nobility. Let them break your backs with burdens, take
your houses over your heads, ravish your wives and daughters before
your faces. For me, I will make shift for one, and so God’s curse light
upon you all!
What, Buckingham and Clifford, are ye so brave? And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? Will you ...
What, Buckingham and Clifford, are ye so brave? And you, base peasants, do ye believe him? Will you ...
[core emotion]
We’ll follow Cade! We’ll follow Cade!
We’ll follow Cade! We’ll follow Cade!...
We’ll follow Cade! We’ll follow Cade!...
[core emotion]
Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth,
That thus you do exclaim you’ll go with him?
Will he conduct you through the heart of France
And make the meanest of you earls and dukes?
Alas, he hath no home, no place to fly to,
Nor knows he how to live but by the spoil,
Unless by robbing of your friends and us.
Were ’t not a shame that whilst you live at jar
The fearful French, whom you late vanquished,
Should make a start o’er seas and vanquish you?
Methinks already in this civil broil
I see them lording it in London streets,
Crying “_Villiago!_” unto all they meet.
Better ten thousand base-born Cades miscarry
Than you should stoop unto a Frenchman’s mercy.
To France, to France, and get what you have lost!
Spare England, for it is your native coast.
Henry hath money, you are strong and manly;
God on our side, doubt not of victory.
Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth, That thus you do exclaim you’ll go with him? Will he conduct you...
Is Cade the son of Henry the Fifth, That thus you do exclaim you’ll go with him? Will he conduct you...
[core emotion]
A Clifford! A Clifford! We’ll follow the King and Clifford.
A Clifford! A Clifford! We’ll follow the King and Clifford....
A Clifford! A Clifford! We’ll follow the King and Clifford....
[core emotion]
Henry V appears in 2 Henry VI only as a name — but it's one of the most powerful names in the play's world. Clifford invokes him as the king who 'made all France to quake.' Cade himself invoked him in 4-2 to justify his claim to protect Henry VI ('for his father's sake, Henry the Fifth'). The commons in 4-9 will invoke him again. Henry V is the measure against which every subsequent king is found wanting — and particularly Henry VI, the pious, weak son of the great warrior. The rebellion collapses not because the government offers genuine reform but because Clifford offers the crowds access to Henry V's legacy (through national military glory) while Cade offers only himself. The absent great king haunts the scene, and his ghost is more powerful than anything living.
Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude? The
name of Henry the Fifth hales them to an hundred mischiefs and makes
them leave me desolate. I see them lay their heads together to surprise
me. My sword make way for me, for here is no staying.—In despite of the
devils and hell, have through the very middest of you! And heavens and
honour be witness that no want of resolution in me, but only my
followers’ base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my
heels.
Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude? The name of Henry the Fifth hales th...
Was ever feather so lightly blown to and fro as this multitude? The name of Henry the Fifth hales th...
[core emotion]
What, is he fled? Go some, and follow him;
And he that brings his head unto the King
Shall have a thousand crowns for his reward.
What, is he fled? Go some, and follow him; And he that brings his head unto the King Shall have a th...
What, is he fled? Go some, and follow him; And he that brings his head unto the King Shall have a th...
[core emotion]
The Reckoning
The rebellion ends not with military defeat but with rhetoric — specifically, with the invocation of Henry V, the great English warrior king. Clifford's appeal to national pride and the memory of past glory pulls the crowd away from Cade in thirty seconds. Cade's final speech is a masterpiece of self-deception: he calls his followers' rational choice 'recreants and dastards' and insists he retreats by his own will, not by defeat. The rebel who seemed unstoppable is gone, alone, in the time it takes to name a dead king.
If this happened today…
The protest leader is mid-speech when a popular general walks in, plays a thirty-second clip of the founding moment everyone remembers, and asks if they'd rather follow a local agitator or actually win something real. The crowd shifts before the speaker can finish. He shouts 'traitors! cowards!' at their retreating backs, then slips out the side door insisting he left because he chose to.