Shakespeare's Kings (117 page)

There
follows
the
short
scene
of
the
three
citizens,
illustrative
of public
concern
at
the
King's
death.
The
First
Citizen's
history
proves shaky;
Henry
VI
had
not
been
'crown'd
in
Paris
but
at
nine
months old*.
His
Westminster
coronation
took
place
when
he
was
eight,
its repetition
in
Paris
two
years
later.
¹
Scene
iv
begins
with
the
announcement
by
the
Archbishop
of
York
that
Edward
V
and
his
train
are approaching
Northampton,
and
continues
with
a
short
conversation during
which
the
King's
younger
brother
the
Duke
of
York
is
revealed as
an
unusually
tiresome
child.
At
this
point
a
messenger
brings
news of
the
arrest
of
Rivers
and
Grey
and
their
imprisonment
at
Tomfret'. In
fact
they
were
first
sent
to
Richard's
castle
of
Sheriff
Hutton,
being moved
to
Pontefiract
only
for
their
executions
the
following
month; but
this
hardly
matters.
Far
more
important
-
and
of
course
true
-
is the
Queen's
decision
to
take
sanctuary
with
her
son.
(No
mention
is made
of
the
five
daughters
who
also
accompanied
her.)

It
seems
mildly
surprising
that
Shakespeare
should
make
so
little
of Richard's
first
coup
against
the
Woodvilles.
Here,
one
might
have thought,
was
a
superb
opportunity
for
a
playwright.
He
could
have imagined
the
night
at
Northampton,
with
Richard
and
Buckingham plying
Rivers
and
Grey
with
wine
before,
the
following
morning, showing
themselves
in
their
true
colours;
another
fine
scene
might have
covered
their
subsequent
meeting
with
the
young
King
at
Stony Stratford,
when
they
accused
the
Woodvilles
of
treason
and
brushed aside
all
his
attempts
to
defend
them.
Instead
the
whole
story
is
told, briefly
and
undramatically,
by
a
messenger.
Doubtless
Shakespeare
had his
reasons;
but
these
incidents
are
wonderfully
illustrative
of
Richard's character
-
his
quickness,
his
deviousness
and
his
total
lack
of
scruple -
and
it
is
difficult
to
pass
on
to
Act
III
without
some
slight
feeling
of disappointment,
and
regret
at
a
fine
chance
missed.

This
act
opens
with
the
arrival
in
London,
on
4
May,
of
the
young
King; and
in
his
short
dialogue
with
his
uncle
we
are
given
at
least
a
taste
of
what that
scene
at
Stony
Stratford
might
have
been.
In
the
play
-
which
here is
very
probably
accurate
enough
-
Edward
shows
unwillingness
to
reside at
the
Tower:
not
because
of
its
grim
reputation
(which
it
was
to
acquire only
in
later
centuries)
but,
we
may
assume,
because
it
had
all
too
recently

1. It is only fair to point out that Shakespeare's King Henry labours under the same delusion: see Chapter 16, p. 308.

seen
the
deaths
of
a
King
and
a
Prince
of
the
Blood.
¹
This
is
certainly
the response
of
the
young
Duke
of
York,
when
he
joins
his
brother
later in
the
scene
and
they
go
off
to
the
Tower
together.
(Historically,
as
we know,
they
did
no
such
thing,
Cardinal
Bourchier
having
taken
several days
to
persuade
Queen
Elizabeth
to
release
her
son
from
sanctuary.) The
scene
ends
with
Richard
and
Buckingham
instructing
their
henchman,
Sir
William
Catesby,
to
sound
out
Hastings
on
his
probable reaction
to
Richard's
seizure
of
the
throne
and
to
tell
him
of
the execution,
on
the
following
day
at
Pontefract,
of
'his
ancient
knot
of dangerous
adversaries':
Fivers,
Grey
and
two
of
their
followers,
Sir Thomas
Vaughan
and
Sir
Richard
Haute.

In
scene
ii
Catesby
carries
out
his
orders.
Hastings,
replying
to
his question,
does
not
mince
his
words:

I'll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders

Before I'll see the crown so foul misplac'd.

He
remains,
none
the
less,
confident
of
Richard's
and
Buckingham's goodwill
towards
him,
and
mocks
the
anxious
Lord
Stanley
who
tries to
persuade
him
to
flee.
His
confidence
is
still
undiminished
two
scenes later
—
scene
iii,
in
which
the
condemned
men
at
Pontefract
bid
each other
farewell,
being
little
more
than
a
brief
parenthesis
-
when
we come
to
the
Council
meeting
which
ends
with
his
arrest.
Here
Shakespeare
sticks
closely
to
More
and
Hall
(who
incorporates
More's
history in
his
own
chronicle),
using
indeed
their
very
words
whenever
possible: the
reference
to
the
Bishop's
strawberries,
the
sudden
accusations,
the revealing
of
the
withered
arm
—
all
these
details
are
faithfully
retained. Once
again
the
only
confusion
-
and
this
is
to
a
large
extent
inevitable -
is
in
the
chronology.
Edward
V
entered
London,
as
we
know,
on
4 May;
the
Council
meeting
was
held
on
13
June;
and
the
beheadings
at Pontefract
took
place
on
25
June,
nearly
a
fortnight
after
Hastings's execution.
²
Historically,
then,
Hastings
would
never
have
had
the