Cuts for Act 4, Scene 1

Rules for cuts:
If possible, we will provide the entire speech that contains the cuts.  If a
cut goes across speeches, we will provide enough before and after to show
how it fits in context.  We will provide the page number and the line # where
we start the current speech (not the line where the cuts begin).  If a speech contains
several cuts, we will indicate them in the same section and not one at a time.  If
a whole section of the scene contains suts, we will not break it up, but keep
the section intact and indicate cuts throughout the section.

Cuts are preceded by a '[' and end with a ']'.  If multiple speeches are cut, each
speech will be bracketed separately.
 

Page 95 - Top of scene.

DUCHESS OF YORK

[Who meets us here? my niece Plantagenet
Led in the hand of her kind aunt of Gloucester?
Now, for my life, she's wandering to the Tower,
On pure heart's love to greet the tender princes.]
Daughter, well met.
 
Page 96 - after line 37.

QUEEN ELIZABETH

O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee gone!
[Death and destruction dog thee at the heels;
Thy mother's name is ominous to children.]
If thou wilt outstrip death, go cross the seas,
And live with Richmond, from the reach of hell
Go, hie thee, hie thee from this slaughter-house,
Lest thou increase the number of the dead;
And make me die the thrall of Margaret's curse,
Nor mother, wife, nor England's counted queen.
STANLEY
Full of wise care is this your counsel, madam.
Take all the swift advantage of the hours;
You shall have letters from me to my son
In your behalf, to meet you on the way..
Be not ta'en tardy by unwise delay.
DUCHESS OF YORK
O ill-dispersing wind of misery!
O my accursed womb, the bed of death!
[A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world,
Whose unavoidedeye is murderous.]
STANLEY
Come, madam, come; I in all haste was sent.
LADY ANNE
And I in all unwillingness will go.
[I would to God that the inclusive verge
Of golden metal that must round my brow
Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain!]
Anointed let me be with deadly venom,
And die, ere men can say, God save the queen!
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Go, go, poor soul, I envy not thy glory
To feed my humour, wish thyself no harm.
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,
Within so small a time, my woman's heart
Grossly grew captive to his honey words
And proved the subject of my own soul's curse,
Which hitherto hath held mine eyes from rest;
For never yet one hour in his bed
Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep,
But with his timorous dreams was still awaked.
[Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick;
And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.]
 
Page 98 - after line 90.

DUCHESS OF YORK

To DORSET
Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune guide thee!
To LADY ANNE
Go thou to Richard, and good angels tend thee!
To QUEEN ELIZABETH
Go thou to sanctuary, and good thoughts possess thee!
I to my grave, where peace and rest lie with me!
[Eighty odd years of sorrow have I seen,
And each hour's joy wrecked with a week of teen.]