The First Part of Henry the Sixth: ACT IV
Introduction ACT I ACT II ACT III ACT IV SCENE I. Paris. A hall of state. SCENE II. Before Bourdeaux. SCENE III. Plains in Gascony. SCENE IV. Other plains in Gascony. SCENE V. The English camp near Bourdeaux. SCENE VI. A field of battle. SCENE VII. Another part of the field. ACT V About the Play Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: SCENE V. The English camp near Bourdeaux. Enter TALBOT and JOHN his son TALBOT       O young John Talbot! I did send for thee       To tutor thee in stratagems of war,       That Talbot's name might be in thee revived       When sapless age and weak unable limbs 5     Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.       But, O malignant and ill-boding stars!       Now thou art come unto a feast of death,       A terrible and unavoided danger:       Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse; 10    And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape       By sudden flight: come, dally not, be gone. JOHN TALBOT       Is my name Talbot? and am I your son?       And shall I fly? O if you love my mother,       Dishonour not her honourable name, 15    To make a bastard and a slave of me!       The world will say, he is not Talbot's blood,       That basely fled when noble Talbot stood. TALBOT       Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain. JOHN TALBOT       He that flies so will ne'er return again. TALBOT 20    If we both stay, we both are sure to die. JOHN TALBOT       Then let me stay; and, father, do you fly:       Your loss is great, so your regard should be;       My worth unknown, no loss is known in me.       Upon my death the French can little boast; 25    In yours they will, in you all hopes are lost.       Flight cannot stain the honour you have won;       But mine it will, that no exploit have done:       You fled for vantage, everyone will swear;       But, if I bow, they'll say it was for fear. 30    There is no hope that ever I will stay,       If the first hour I shrink and run away.       Here on my knee I beg mortality,       Rather than life preserved with infamy. TALBOT       Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb? JOHN TALBOT 35    Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb. TALBOT       Upon my blessing, I command thee go. JOHN TALBOT       To fight I will, but not to fly the foe. TALBOT       Part of thy father may be saved in thee. JOHN TALBOT       No part of him but will be shame in me. TALBOT 40    Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it. JOHN TALBOT       Yes, your renowned name: shall flight abuse it? TALBOT       Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain. JOHN TALBOT       You cannot witness for me, being slain.       If death be so apparent, then both fly. TALBOT 45    And leave my followers here to fight and die?       My age was never tainted with such shame. JOHN TALBOT       And shall my youth be guilty of such blame?       No more can I be sever'd from your side,       Than can yourself yourself in twain divide: 50    Stay, go, do what you will, the like do I;       For live I will not, if my father die. TALBOT       Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son,       Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon.       Come, side by side together live and die. 55    And soul with soul from France to heaven fly. Exeunt Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene