Richard III

Please see the bottom of this page for full explanatory notes.

ACT III SCENE III	Pomfret Castle.
	Enter RATCLIFF, with halberds, carrying RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN to death.
RATCLIFF	Come, bring forth the prisoners.
RIVERS	Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this:
	To-day shalt thou behold a subject die
	For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.
GREY	God keep the prince from all the pack of you!		5
	A knot you are of damned blood-suckers!
VAUGHAN	You live that shall cry woe for this after.
RATCLIFF	Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out.
RIVERS	O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
	Fatal and ominous to noble peers!		10
	Within the guilty closure of thy walls
	Richard the second here was hack'd to death;
	And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
	We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.
GREY	Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our heads,		15
	For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son.
RIVERS	Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Buckingham,
	Then cursed she Richard. O, remember, God
	To hear her prayers for them, as now for us
	And for my sister and her princely sons,		20
	Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
	Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt.
RATCLIFF	Make haste; the hour of death is expiate.
RIVERS	Come, Grey, come, Vaughan, let us all embrace:
	And take our leave, until we meet in heaven.
	Exeunt

Richard III, Act 3, Scene 4

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Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 3

From King Richard III. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard.

Abbreviations. — A.-S. = Anglo-Saxon: M.E. = Middle English (from the 13th to the 15th century) ; Fr. = French ; Ger. = German ; Gr. = Greek ; Cf. = compare (Lat. confer) ; Abbott refers to the excellent Shakespearean Grammar of Dr. Abbott; Schmidt, to Dr. Schmidt's invaluable Shakespeare Lexicon.

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8. Limit, the assigned period.

11. Closure, compass.

17. Margaret did not curse Buckingham.

23. Expiate, terminated.

How to cite the explanatory notes:

Shakespeare, William. Richard III. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard, 1886. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/richardiii_3_3.html >.

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