Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Queen and her Women, as at work. QUEEN KATHERINE
Take thy lute, wench. My soul grows sad with troubles.
Sing, and disperse ’em if thou canst. Leave working. WOMAN sings song. Orpheus with his lute made trees
And the mountaintops that freeze
Bow themselves when he did sing. 5
To his music plants and flowers
Ever sprung, as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring. Everything that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea, 10
Hung their heads and then lay by.
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart
Fall asleep or, hearing, die. Enter a Gentleman. QUEEN KATHERINE How now? 15 GENTLEMAN
An ’t please your Grace, the two great cardinals
Wait in the presence. QUEEN KATHERINE Would they speak with me? GENTLEMAN
They willed me say so, madam. QUEEN KATHERINE Pray their Graces 20
To come near. Gentleman exits. What can be their business
With me, a poor weak woman, fall’n from favor?
I do not like their coming, now I think on ’t.
They should be good men, their affairs as righteous. 25
But all hoods make not monks. Enter the two Cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius. WOLSEY Peace to your Highness. QUEEN KATHERINE
Your Graces find me here part of a housewife;
I would be all, against the worst may happen.
What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords? 30 WOLSEY
May it please you, noble madam, to withdraw
Into your private chamber, we shall give you
The full cause of our coming. | Katherine is in her room listening to music when Wolsey arrives with Campeius and asks to speak with her in private. |
QUEEN KATHERINE Speak it here.
There’s nothing I have done yet, o’ my conscience, 35
Deserves a corner. Would all other women
Could speak this with as free a soul as I do.
My lords, I care not, so much I am happy
Above a number, if my actions
Were tried by ev’ry tongue, ev’ry eye saw ’em, 40
Envy and base opinion set against ’em,
I know my life so even. If your business
Seek me out, and that way I am wife in,
Out with it boldly. Truth loves open dealing. WOLSEY Tanta est erga te mentis integritas, regina 45
serenissima— QUEEN KATHERINE O, good my lord, no Latin!
I am not such a truant since my coming
As not to know the language I have lived in.
A strange tongue makes my cause more strange, 50
suspicious.
Pray speak in English. Here are some will thank you,
If you speak truth, for their poor mistress’ sake.
Believe me, she has had much wrong. Lord Cardinal,
The willing’st sin I ever yet committed 55
May be absolved in English. | No thanks, Katherine replies. She says she's got nothing to hide, so she's happy to talk there, in front of her servants. |
WOLSEY Noble lady,
I am sorry my integrity should breed—
And service to his Majesty and you—
So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant. 60
We come not by the way of accusation,
To taint that honor every good tongue blesses,
Nor to betray you any way to sorrow—
You have too much, good lady—but to know
How you stand minded in the weighty difference 65
Between the King and you, and to deliver,
Like free and honest men, our just opinions
And comforts to your cause. CAMPEIUS Most honored madam,
My Lord of York, out of his noble nature, 70
Zeal, and obedience he still bore your Grace,
Forgetting, like a good man, your late censure
Both of his truth and him—which was too far—
Offers, as I do, in a sign of peace,
His service and his counsel. 75 | Wolsey assures Katherine that they're just there to get her thoughts on her split with Henry, and to give her some advice. |
QUEEN KATHERINE, aside To betray me.—
My lords, I thank you both for your good wills.
You speak like honest men; pray God you prove so.
But how to make you suddenly an answer
In such a point of weight, so near mine honor— 80
More near my life, I fear—with my weak wit,
And to such men of gravity and learning,
In truth I know not. I was set at work
Among my maids, full little, God knows, looking
Either for such men or such business. 85
For her sake that I have been—for I feel
The last fit of my greatness—good your Graces,
Let me have time and counsel for my cause.
Alas, I am a woman friendless, hopeless. | Katherine knows better. She tells the audience that the cardinals are there to betray her, but she tells them that she appreciates their kindness toward her. Katherine thinks of herself as "a woman friendless" because once the king gets rid of her, no one will want anything to do with her. |
WOLSEY
Madam, you wrong the King’s love with these fears; 90
Your hopes and friends are infinite. QUEEN KATHERINE In England
But little for my profit. Can you think, lords,
That any Englishman dare give me counsel,
Or be a known friend, ’gainst his Highness’ pleasure, 95
Though he be grown so desperate to be honest,
And live a subject? Nay, forsooth. My friends,
They that must weigh out my afflictions,
They that my trust must grow to, live not here.
They are, as all my other comforts, far hence 100
In mine own country, lords. CAMPEIUS I would your Grace
Would leave your griefs and take my counsel. QUEEN KATHERINE How, sir? CAMPEIUS
Put your main cause into the King’s protection. 105
He’s loving and most gracious. ’Twill be much
Both for your honor better and your cause,
For if the trial of the law o’ertake you,
You’ll part away disgraced. WOLSEY He tells you rightly. 110 | Wolsey and Campeius comfort her: there's no way that will happen, they
say. The king will take care of her, even once they're divorced. |
QUEEN KATHERINE
You tell me what you wish for both: my ruin.
Is this your Christian counsel? Out upon you!
Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge
That no king can corrupt. CAMPEIUS Your rage mistakes us. 115 QUEEN KATHERINE
The more shame for you! Holy men I thought you,
Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues;
But cardinal sins and hollow hearts I fear you.
Mend ’em, for shame, my lords. Is this your comfort?
The cordial that you bring a wretched lady, 120
A woman lost among you, laughed at, scorned?
I will not wish you half my miseries;
I have more charity. But say I warned you:
Take heed, for heaven’s sake, take heed, lest at once
The burden of my sorrows fall upon you. 125 WOLSEY
Madam, this is a mere distraction.
You turn the good we offer into envy. QUEEN KATHERINE
You turn me into nothing! Woe upon you
And all such false professors. Would you have me—
If you have any justice, any pity, 130
If you be anything but churchmen’s habits—
Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
Alas, has banished me his bed already,
His love, too, long ago. I am old, my lords,
And all the fellowship I hold now with him 135
Is only my obedience. What can happen
To me above this wretchedness? All your studies
Make me a curse like this. CAMPEIUS Your fears are worse. QUEEN KATHERINE
Have I lived thus long—let me speak myself, 140
Since virtue finds no friends—a wife, a true one—
A woman, I dare say without vainglory,
Never yet branded with suspicion—
Have I with all my full affections
Still met the King, loved him next heav’n, obeyed him, 145
Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him,
Almost forgot my prayers to content him,
And am I thus rewarded? ’Tis not well, lords.
Bring me a constant woman to her husband,
One that ne’er dreamed a joy beyond his pleasure, 150
And to that woman, when she has done most,
Yet will I add an honor: a great patience. WOLSEY
Madam, you wander from the good we aim at. QUEEN KATHERINE
My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty
To give up willingly that noble title 155
Your master wed me to. Nothing but death
Shall e’er divorce my dignities. WOLSEY Pray hear me. QUEEN KATHERINE
Would I had never trod this English earth
Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it! 160
You have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
What will become of me now, wretched lady?
I am the most unhappy woman living.
To her Women. Alas, poor wenches, where are now
your fortunes? 165
Shipwracked upon a kingdom where no pity,
No friends, no hope, no kindred weep for me,
Almost no grave allowed me, like the lily
That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
I’ll hang my head and perish. 170 | Katherine's had enough: she calls Wolsey and Campeius posers. They're acting all comforting to her when really all they want is her ruin. She can't believe they are men of the Church—it's bad enough that they are hypocrites, but they are supposed to be men of God. They should be ashamed of how corrupt they are. Burn. Campeius tells Katherine she's wrong. Wolsey claims they're just there to help. Katherine continues speaking out against Wolsey and Campeius. She's been honorable and obedient to her hubby, and still these dudes have plotted against her. She's been a good wife, so what more could they ask? |
WOLSEY If your Grace
Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
You’d feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? Alas, our places,
The way of our profession, is against it. 175
We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow ’em.
For goodness’ sake, consider what you do,
How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly
Grow from the King’s acquaintance by this carriage.
The hearts of princes kiss obedience, 180
So much they love it. But to stubborn spirits
They swell and grow as terrible as storms.
I know you have a gentle, noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm. Pray think us
Those we profess: peacemakers, friends, and servants. 185 | Finally, Wolsey steps in and tells Katherine that it's best if she
doesn't try to fight the divorce; it will be easier for her if she just
lets it happen. |
CAMPEIUS
Madam, you’ll find it so. You wrong your virtues
With these weak women’s fears. A noble spirit,
As yours was put into you, ever casts
Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The King loves
you; 190
Beware you lose it not. For us, if you please
To trust us in your business, we are ready
To use our utmost studies in your service. QUEEN KATHERINE
Do what you will, my lords, and pray forgive me
If I have used myself unmannerly. 195
You know I am a woman, lacking wit
To make a seemly answer to such persons.
Pray do my service to his Majesty.
He has my heart yet and shall have my prayers
While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers, 200
Bestow your counsels on me. She now begs
That little thought, when she set footing here,
She should have bought her dignities so dear. They exit. | Campeius agrees, and he and Wolsey comfort Katherine by saying once again that the king will take care of her even after their split. Katherine doesn't really see any other option, so she tells Wolsey and Campeius to do whatever they want. Then she tells them that if she's misunderstood their intentions, it's because she's a woman and therefore doesn't have any wit or intelligence. Katherine is totally being sarcastic, but we're not sure if Wolsey and Campeius see it. |