A monologue from the play "Richard III" by William Shakespeare
About this Monologue
- Character: Lady Anne
- Gender: Female
- Age Range(s): Young Adult (20-35)
- Type of monologue / Character is: Lamenting, Afraid
- Type: Dramatic
- Period: Renaissance
- Genre: Historical, Drama
- Description: Lady Anne regrets having married Richard
- Location: ACT IV, Scene 1
Summary
Richard plots against noblemen and even his own family to become the future king. He spreads false rumors about his brother Clarence and marries Lady Anne, the young widow of Henry VI's son, Prince Edward. After King Edward IV dies, Richard eliminates noblemen who are loyal to the king's sons, among which Lord Hastings. He arrests Queen Elizabeth's ...
Written by Administrator
Excerpt
LADY ANNE
No! why? When he that is my husband now
Came to me, as I follow'd Henry's corse,
When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his hands
Which issued from my other angel husband
And that dead saint which then I weeping follow'd;
O, when, I say, I look'd on Richard's face,
This was my wish: 'Be thou,' quoth I, ' accursed,
For making me, so young, so old a widow!
And, when thou wed'st, let sorrow haunt thy bed;
And be thy wife--if any be so mad--
As miserable by the life of thee
As thou hast made me by my dear lord's death!
Lo, ere I can repeat this curse again,
Even in so short a space, my woman's heart
Grossly grew captive to his honey words
And proved the subject of my own soul's curse,
Which ever since hath kept my eyes from rest;
For never yet one hour in his bed
Have I enjoy'd the golden dew of sleep,
But have been waked by his timorous dreams.
Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick;
And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.