Act 5, Scene 6 — Henry VI, Part 3

The argument Richard visits Henry in the Tower, dismisses the Lieutenant, receives Henry's dying prophecy about the suffering Richard will cause, murders Henry, and delivers a chilling soliloquy ending with 'I am myself alone.'

Enter King Henry and Richard, with the Lieutenant on the walls.

RICHARD resolute

Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard?

KING HENRY ≋ verse resolute

Ay, my good lord—my lord, I should say rather.

’Tis sin to flatter; “good” was little better:

“Good Gloucester” and “good devil” were alike,

And both preposterous; therefore, not “good lord”.

Ay, my good lord—my lord, I should say rather. ’Tis sin to flatter; “good” was little better: “Good Gloucester” and “good devil” were alike, And both preposterous; therefore, not “good lord”.

yeah brutal

""Good Gloucester" and "good devil" were alike, / And both preposterous" Henry uses Richard's title as Duke of Gloucester — but 'Gloucester' sounds like 'gloss' or 'glouster' (to deceive). Henry refuses to attach 'good' to a man whose very name suggests falsity.

RICHARD resolute

Sirrah, leave us to ourselves; we must confer.

sir, leave us to ourselves; we must confer.

[_Exit Lieutenant._]

KING HENRY ≋ verse resolute

So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf;

So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece,

And next his throat unto the butcher’s knife.

What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?

So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf; So first the harmless sheep does yield his fleece, And next his throat unto the butcher’s knife. What scene of death has Roscius now to act?

they are dead

RICHARD ≋ verse worried, anxious

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;

The thief doth fear each bush an officer.

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief does fear each bush an officer.

KING HENRY ≋ verse grieving, angry

The bird that hath been limed in a bush

With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush;

And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,

Have now the fatal object in my eye

Where my poor young was limed, was caught, and killed.

The bird that has been limed in a bush With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush; And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird, Have now the fatal object in my eye Where my poor young was limed, was caught, and killed.

The bird that 's been limed in a bush With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush; And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird, Have now the fatal object in my eye Where my poor young was limed, was caught, and killed.

they are dead

RICHARD ≋ verse resolute

Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete

That taught his son the office of a fowl!

And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drowned.

Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete That taught his son the office of a fowl! And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drowned.

yeah brutal

KING HENRY ≋ verse resolute

I, Daedalus; my poor boy, Icarus;

Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;

The sun that seared the wings of my sweet boy,

Thy brother Edward; and thyself, the sea

Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.

Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!

My breast can better brook thy dagger’s point

Than can my ears that tragic history.

But wherefore dost thou come? Is ’t for my life?

I, Daedalus; my poor boy, Icarus; your father, Minos, that denied our course; The sun that seared the wings of my sweet boy, your brother Edward; and thyself, the sea Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life. Ah, kill me with your weapon, not with words! My breast can better tolerate your dagger’s point Than can my ears that tragic history. But wherefore do you come? Is ’t for my life?

war blood death everything is chaos

"I, Daedalus; my poor boy, Icarus; / Thy father, Minos, that denied our course" Henry maps the entire myth onto the House of York with stunning precision: York was the authority who trapped them, Edward the sun that burned the Lancaster heir, Richard the sea that drowned him. The myth was about flying too high; Henry applies it to being destroyed from every direction.

RICHARD resolute

Think’st thou I am an executioner?

Think’st you I am an executioner?

KING HENRY ≋ verse resolute

A persecutor I am sure thou art.

If murdering innocents be executing,

Why, then thou art an executioner.

A persecutor I am sure you are. If murdering innocents be executing, Why, then you are an executioner.

yeah brutal

RICHARD grieving, angry

Thy son I killed for his presumption.

your son I killed for his presumption.

they are dead

KING HENRY ≋ verse grieving, angry

Hadst thou been killed when first thou didst presume,

Thou hadst not lived to kill a son of mine.

And thus I prophesy: that many a thousand

Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear,

And many an old man’s sigh, and many a widow’s,

And many an orphan’s water-standing eye,

Men for their sons’, wives for their husbands’,

Orphans for their parents’ timeless death,

Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.

The owl shrieked at thy birth, an evil sign;

The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;

Dogs howled, and hideous tempest shook down trees;

The raven rooked her on the chimney’s top,

And chatt’ring pies in dismal discord sung;

Thy mother felt more than a mother’s pain,

And yet brought forth less than a mother’s hope,

To wit, an indigested and deformed lump,

Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.

Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born,

To signify thou cam’st to bite the world;

And, if the rest be true which I have heard,

Thou cam’st—

Hadst you been killed when first you did presume, you hadst not lived to kill a son of mine. And thus I prophesy: that many a thousand Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear, And many an old man’s sigh, and many a widow’s, And many an orphan’s water-standing eye, Men for their sons’, wives for their husbands’, Orphans for their parents’ timeless death, Shall rue the hour that ever you were born. The owl shrieked at your birth, an evil sign; The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time; Dogs howled, and hideous tempest shook down trees; The raven rooked her on the chimney’s top, And chatt’ring pies in dismal discord sung; your mother felt more than a mother’s pain, And yet brought forth less than a mother’s hope, To wit, an indigested and deformed lump, Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree. Teeth hadst you in your head when you were born, To signify you cam’st to bite the world; And, if the rest be true which I have heard, you cam’st—

they are dead how did that even happen

"The owl shrieked at thy birth, an evil sign; / The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time" The catalogue of evil omens at Richard's birth is one of the play's most theatrically powerful passages — and it is confirmed in Richard's own soliloquy immediately after. Owls, ravens, and night-crows were all considered harbingers of death in Elizabethan superstition.

Why it matters Henry's prophecy is the moral center of the scene — delivered with absolute composure by a man who knows he is about to be killed for saying it. Every word of it comes true in Richard III.

🎭 Dramatic irony Henry's prophecy is delivered to the man it is about — and Richard kills him specifically to stop it, which is the best possible proof that Richard knows it is true.

RICHARD resolute

I’ll hear no more. Die, prophet, in thy speech.

I’ll hear no more. Die, prophet, in your speech.

[_Stabs him._]

For this, amongst the rest, was I ordained.

KING HENRY ≋ verse resolute

Ay, and for much more slaughter after this.

O God, forgive my sins, and pardon thee!

Ay, and for much more slaughter after this. O God, forgive my sins, and pardon you!

Why it matters Henry's last words — forgiving his murderer — are the most morally elevated exit in the play. The contrast with what immediately follows is absolute.

[_Dies._]

RICHARD ≋ verse resolute

What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster

Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted.

See how my sword weeps for the poor King’s death.

O, may such purple tears be always shed

From those that wish the downfall of our house!

If any spark of life be yet remaining,

Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither—

What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted. See how my sword weeps for the poor King’s death. O, may such purple tears be always shed From those that wish the downfall of our house! If any spark of life be yet remaining, Down, down to hell; and say I sent you thither—

they are dead look at the blood proof right here how did that even happen

"See how my sword weeps for the poor King's death" Richard's mock-elegy: his sword is 'weeping' blood — he is performing a lament while committing the murder. The aesthetic distance is chilling.

[_Stabs him again._]

I that have neither pity, love, nor fear.

Indeed, ’tis true that Henry told me of,

For I have often heard my mother say

I came into the world with my legs forward.

Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste

And seek their ruin that usurped our right?

The midwife wondered, and the women cried

“O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!”

And so I was, which plainly signified

That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.

Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so,

Let hell make crooked my mind to answer it.

I have no brother, I am like no brother;

And this word “love,” which greybeards call divine,

Be resident in men like one another,

And not in me. I am myself alone.

Clarence, beware; thou keep’st me from the light,

But I will sort a pitchy day for thee;

For I will buzz abroad such prophecies

That Edward shall be fearful of his life;

And then, to purge his fear, I’ll be thy death.

King Henry and the Prince his son are gone;

Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest,

Counting myself but bad till I be best.

I’ll throw thy body in another room,

And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.

[_Exit with the body._]

The Reckoning

The scene that turns a history play into something else. Henry VI is murdered not on a battlefield or in a formal execution but alone in a room with Richard, their conversation a duet of two men who understand each other completely. Henry prophesies with absolute accuracy. Richard kills him mid-sentence, then kills him again. And then he turns to the audience and explains himself — not apologizing, not justifying, but presenting. 'I am myself alone' is the declaration of a new kind of dramatic character: a man who has opted entirely out of the human network of love, loyalty, and guilt. Richard III begins in this moment.

If this happened today…

A late-stage startup founder — deformed, brilliant, impatient — walks into the room where the company's elderly original visionary has been kept comfortable but isolated. Sends the assistant out. They talk. The old man says, with complete calm: 'You were always going to destroy everything. Your birth was a warning. You have no love in you.' The founder says: 'You're right.' Then he ends the old man's involvement permanently. In the parking lot afterward, he calls no one. He sits in his car and says, out loud, to himself: 'I have no brother. I am like no brother. I am myself alone. Clarence — you're next.'

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