How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #4
Needs must I like it well: I weep for joy
To stand upon my kingdom once again.
Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs:
As a long-parted mother with her child
Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,
So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth, (3.2.2)
When Richard comes back from Ireland, he gets all weepy about setting foot back on British soil. What's interesting about this passage is the way Richard compares himself to a mother who has just been reunited with her child. What's up with that? Seriously. Let us know when you work it out.
Quote #5
Nimble mischance, that art so light of foot,
Doth not thy embassage belong to me,
And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st
To serve me last, that I may longest keep
Thy sorrow in my breast. Come, ladies, go,
To meet at London London's king in woe.
What, was I born to this, that my sad look
Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke?
Gardener, for telling me these news of woe,
Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow. (3.4.9)
This is where the queen finds out that her husband has lost the throne. She's devastated, of course, but she's also outraged that she's the last one to know. (A few lines earlier, she overheard the news from her gardener, of all people.) What this passage tells us is that the queen (like a lot of women in the play) is totally out of the loop when it comes to political affairs.
Quote #6
Why, York, what wilt thou do?
Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own?
Have we more sons? or are we like to have?
Is not my teeming date drunk up with time?
And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age,
And rob me of a happy mother's name?
Is he not like thee? is he not thine own? (5.2.13)
When the Duchess of York learns that her husband plans to report their son for plotting against the king, she argues that family bonds are far more important than loyalty to the king. But York doesn't see it that way. Keep reading...