TPTT The Life and Death of King John: ACT III
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
SCENE I. The French King's pavilion.
SCENE II. The same. Plains near Angiers.
SCENE III. The same.
SCENE IV. The same. KING PHILIP'S tent.
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE I. The French King's pavilion.
Enter CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and SALISBURY
CONSTANCE
      Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace!
      False blood to false blood join'd! gone to be friends!
      Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those provinces?
      It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard:
5     Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again:
      It cannot be; thou dost but say 'tis so:
      I trust I may not trust thee; for thy word
      Is but the vain breath of a common man:
      Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;
10    I have a king's oath to the contrary.
      Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me,
      For I am sick and capable of fears,
      Oppress'd with wrongs and therefore full of fears,
      A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,
15    A woman, naturally born to fears;
      And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,
      With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce,
      But they will quake and tremble all this day.
      What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?
20    Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?
      What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
      Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
      Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?
      Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?
25    Then speak again; not all thy former tale,
      But this one word, whether thy tale be true.
SALISBURY
      As true as I believe you think them false
      That give you cause to prove my saying true.
CONSTANCE
      O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,
30    Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die,
      And let belief and life encounter so
      As doth the fury of two desperate men
      Which in the very meeting fall and die.
      Lewis marry Blanch! O boy, then where art thou?
35    France friend with England, what becomes of me?
      Fellow, be gone: I cannot brook thy sight:
      This news hath made thee a most ugly man.
SALISBURY
      What other harm have I, good lady, done,
      But spoke the harm that is by others done?
CONSTANCE
40    Which harm within itself so heinous is
      As it makes harmful all that speak of it.
ARTHUR
      I do beseech you, madam, be content.
CONSTANCE
      If thou, that bid'st me be content, wert grim,
      Ugly and slanderous to thy mother's womb,
45    Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,
      Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,
      Patch'd with foul moles and eye-offending marks,
      I would not care, I then would be content,
      For then I should not love thee, no, nor thou
50    Become thy great birth nor deserve a crown.
      But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,
      Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great:
      Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with lilies boast,
      And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,
55    She is corrupted, changed and won from thee;
      She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,
      And with her golden hand hath pluck'd on France
      To tread down fair respect of sovereignty,
      And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.
60    France is a bawd to Fortune and King John,
      That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John!
      Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn?
      Envenom him with words, or get thee gone
      And leave those woes alone which I alone
65    Am bound to under-bear.
SALISBURY
      Pardon me, madam,
      I may not go without you to the kings.
CONSTANCE
      Thou mayst, thou shalt; I will not go with thee:
      I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;
70    For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop.
      To me and to the state of my great grief
      Let kings assemble; for my grief's so great
      That no supporter but the huge firm earth
      Can hold it up: here I and sorrows sit;
75    Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.
Seats herself on the ground
Enter KING JOHN, KING PHILLIP, LEWIS, BLANCH, QUEEN ELINOR, the BASTARD, AUSTRIA, and Attendants
KING PHILIP
      'Tis true, fair daughter; and this blessed day
      Ever in France shall be kept festival:
      To solemnize this day the glorious sun
      Stays in his course and plays the alchemist,
80    Turning with splendor of his precious eye
      The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold:
      The yearly course that brings this day about
      Shall never see it but a holiday.
CONSTANCE
      A wicked day, and not a holy day!

Rising

85    What hath this day deserved? what hath it done,
      That it in golden letters should be set
      Among the high tides in the calendar?
      Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,
      This day of shame, oppression, perjury.
90    Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child
      Pray that their burthens may not fall this day,
      Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross'd:
      But on this day let seamen fear no wreck;
      No bargains break that are not this day made:
95    This day, all things begun come to ill end,
      Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change!
KING PHILIP
      By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause
      To curse the fair proceedings of this day:
      Have I not pawn'd to you my majesty?
CONSTANCE
100   You have beguiled me with a counterfeit
      Resembling majesty, which, being touch'd and tried,
      Proves valueless: you are forsworn, forsworn;
      You came in arms to spill mine enemies' blood,
      But now in arms you strengthen it with yours:
105   The grappling vigour and rough frown of war
      Is cold in amity and painted peace,
      And our oppression hath made up this league.
      Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjured kings!
      A widow cries; be husband to me, heavens!
110   Let not the hours of this ungodly day
      Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,
      Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings!
      Hear me, O, hear me!
AUSTRIA
      Lady Constance, peace!
CONSTANCE
115   War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war
      O Lymoges! O Austria! thou dost shame
      That bloody spoil: thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!
      Thou little valiant, great in villany!
      Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
120   Thou Fortune's champion that dost never fight
      But when her humorous ladyship is by
      To teach thee safety! thou art perjured too,
      And soothest up greatness. What a fool art thou,
      A ramping fool, to brag and stamp and swear
125   Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
      Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side,
      Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend
      Upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength,
      And dost thou now fall over to my fores?
130   Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
      And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA
      O, that a man should speak those words to me!
BASTARD
      And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA
      Thou darest not say so, villain, for thy life.
BASTARD
135   And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
KING JOHN
      We like not this; thou dost forget thyself.
Enter CARDINAL PANDULPH
KING PHILIP
      Here comes the holy legate of the pope.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!
      To thee, King John, my holy errand is.
140   I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,
      And from Pope Innocent the legate here,
      Do in his name religiously demand
      Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
      So wilfully dost spurn; and force perforce
145   Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop
      Of Canterbury, from that holy see?
      This, in our foresaid holy father's name,
      Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.
KING JOHN
      What earthy name to interrogatories
150   Can task the free breath of a sacred king?
      Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
      So slight, unworthy and ridiculous,
      To charge me to an answer, as the pope.
      Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England
155   Add thus much more, that no Italian priest
      Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;
      But as we, under heaven, are supreme head,
      So under Him that great supremacy,
      Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
160   Without the assistance of a mortal hand:
      So tell the pope, all reverence set apart
      To him and his usurp'd authority.
KING PHILIP
      Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
KING JOHN
      Though you and all the kings of Christendom
165   Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
      Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
      And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
      Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
      Who in that sale sells pardon from himself,
170   Though you and all the rest so grossly led
      This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,
      Yet I alone, alone do me oppose
      Against the pope and count his friends my foes.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      Then, by the lawful power that I have,
175   Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate.
      And blessed shall he be that doth revolt
      From his allegiance to an heretic;
      And meritorious shall that hand be call'd,
      Canonized and worshipped as a saint,
180   That takes away by any secret course
      Thy hateful life.
CONSTANCE
      O, lawful let it be
      That I have room with Rome to curse awhile!
      Good father cardinal, cry thou amen
185   To my keen curses; for without my wrong
      There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
CONSTANCE
      And for mine too: when law can do no right,
      Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong:
190   Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
      For he that holds his kingdom holds the law;
      Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
      How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
195   Let go the hand of that arch-heretic;
      And raise the power of France upon his head,
      Unless he do submit himself to Rome.
QUEEN ELINOR
      Look'st thou pale, France? do not let go thy hand.
CONSTANCE
      Look to that, devil; lest that France repent,
200   And by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul.
AUSTRIA
      King Philip, listen to the cardinal.
BASTARD
      And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA
      Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, Because--
BASTARD
      Your breeches best may carry them.
KING JOHN
205   Philip, what say'st thou to the cardinal?
CONSTANCE
      What should he say, but as the cardinal?
LEWIS
      Bethink you, father; for the difference
      Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome,
      Or the light loss of England for a friend:
210   Forego the easier.
BLANCH
      That's the curse of Rome.
CONSTANCE
      O Lewis, stand fast! the devil tempts thee here
      In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.
BLANCH
      The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,
215   But from her need.
CONSTANCE
      O, if thou grant my need,
      Which only lives but by the death of faith,
      That need must needs infer this principle,
      That faith would live again by death of need.
220   O then, tread down my need, and faith mounts up;
      Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down!
KING JOHN
      The king is moved, and answers not to this.
CONSTANCE
      O, be removed from him, and answer well!
AUSTRIA
      Do so, King Philip; hang no more in doubt.
BASTARD
225   Hang nothing but a calf's-skin, most sweet lout.
KING PHILIP
      I am perplex'd, and know not what to say.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      What canst thou say but will perplex thee more,
      If thou stand excommunicate and cursed?
KING PHILIP
      Good reverend father, make my person yours,
230   And tell me how you would bestow yourself.
      This royal hand and mine are newly knit,
      And the conjunction of our inward souls
      Married in league, coupled and linked together
      With all religious strength of sacred vows;
235   The latest breath that gave the sound of words
      Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love
      Between our kingdoms and our royal selves,
      And even before this truce, but new before,
      No longer than we well could wash our hands
240   To clap this royal bargain up of peace,
      Heaven knows, they were besmear'd and over-stain'd
      With slaughter's pencil, where revenge did paint
      The fearful difference of incensed kings:
      And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood,
245   So newly join'd in love, so strong in both,
      Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet?
      Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven,
      Make such unconstant children of ourselves,
      As now again to snatch our palm from palm,
250   Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed
      Of smiling peace to march a bloody host,
      And make a riot on the gentle brow
      Of true sincerity? O, holy sir,
      My reverend father, let it not be so!
255   Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose
      Some gentle order; and then we shall be blest
      To do your pleasure and continue friends.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      All form is formless, order orderless,
      Save what is opposite to England's love.
260   Therefore to arms! be champion of our church,
      Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse,
      A mother's curse, on her revolting son.
      France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,
      A chafed lion by the mortal paw,
265   A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,
      Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
KING PHILIP
      I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      So makest thou faith an enemy to faith;
      And like a civil war set'st oath to oath,
270   Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow
      First made to heaven, first be to heaven perform'd,
      That is, to be the champion of our church!
      What since thou sworest is sworn against thyself
      And may not be performed by thyself,
275   For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss
      Is not amiss when it is truly done,
      And being not done, where doing tends to ill,
      The truth is then most done not doing it:
      The better act of purposes mistook
280   Is to mistake again; though indirect,
      Yet indirection thereby grows direct,
      And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire
      Within the scorched veins of one new-burn'd.
      It is religion that doth make vows kept;
285   But thou hast sworn against religion,
      By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st,
      And makest an oath the surety for thy truth
      Against an oath: the truth thou art unsure
      To swear, swears only not to be forsworn;
290   Else what a mockery should it be to swear!
      But thou dost swear only to be forsworn;
      And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.
      Therefore thy later vows against thy first
      Is in thyself rebellion to thyself;
295   And better conquest never canst thou make
      Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts
      Against these giddy loose suggestions:
      Upon which better part our prayers come in,
      If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know
300   The peril of our curses light on thee
      So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,
      But in despair die under their black weight.
AUSTRIA
      Rebellion, flat rebellion!
BASTARD
      Will't not be?
305   Will not a calfs-skin stop that mouth of thine?
LEWIS
      Father, to arms!
BLANCH
      Upon thy wedding-day?
      Against the blood that thou hast married?
      What, shall our feast be kept with slaughter'd men?
310   Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,
      Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp?
      O husband, hear me! ay, alack, how new
      Is husband in my mouth! even for that name,
      Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce,
315   Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms
      Against mine uncle.
CONSTANCE
      O, upon my knee,
      Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,
      Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom
320   Forethought by heaven!
BLANCH
      Now shall I see thy love: what motive may
      Be stronger with thee than the name of wife?
CONSTANCE
      That which upholdeth him that thee upholds,
      His honour: O, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour!
LEWIS
325   I muse your majesty doth seem so cold,
      When such profound respects do pull you on.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
      I will denounce a curse upon his head.
KING PHILIP
      Thou shalt not need. England, I will fall from thee.
CONSTANCE
      O fair return of banish'd majesty!
QUEEN ELINOR
330   O foul revolt of French inconstancy!
KING JOHN
      France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour.
BASTARD
      Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time,
      Is it as he will? well then, France shall rue.
BLANCH
      The sun's o'ercast with blood: fair day, adieu!
335   Which is the side that I must go withal?
      I am with both: each army hath a hand;
      And in their rage, I having hold of both,
      They swirl asunder and dismember me.
      Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win;
340   Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose;
      Father, I may not wish the fortune thine;
      Grandam, I will not wish thy fortunes thrive:
      Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose
      Assured loss before the match be play'd.
LEWIS
345   Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies.
BLANCH
      There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.
KING JOHN
      Cousin, go draw our puissance together.

Exit BASTARD

      France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath;
      A rage whose heat hath this condition,
350   That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,
      The blood, and dearest-valued blood, of France.
KING PHILIP
      Thy rage sham burn thee up, and thou shalt turn
      To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire:
      Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.
KING JOHN
355   No more than he that threats. To arms let's hie!
Exeunt
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