Shakespeare's Richard III 5.1 - All-Souls' day is my Buckingham's doomsday

Richard III

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

ACT V SCENE I	Salisbury. An open place.
	Enter the Sheriff, and BUCKINGHAM, with halberds, led to execution.
BUCKINGHAM	Will not King Richard let me speak with him?
Sheriff	No, my good lord; therefore be patient.
BUCKINGHAM	Hastings, and Edward's children, Gre and Rivers,
	Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward,
	Vaughan, and all that have miscarried
	By underhand corrupted foul injustice,--
	If that your moody discontented souls
	Do through the clouds behold this present hour,
	Even for revenge mock my destruction!
	This is All-Souls' day, fellows, is it not?	10
Sheriff	It is, my lord.
BUCKINGHAM	Why, then All-Souls' day is my body's doomsday.
	This is the day that, in King Edward's time,
	I wish't might fall on me, when I was found
	False to his children or his wife's allies
	This is the day wherein I wish'd to fall
	By the false faith of him I trusted most;
	This, this All-Souls' day to my fearful soul
	Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs:
	That high All-Seer that I dallied with	20
	Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head
	And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
	Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men
	To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms:
	Now Margaret's curse fall heavy on my neck,
	'When he,' quoth she, 'shall split thy heart with sorrow,
	Remember Margaret was a prophetess.'
	Come, sirs, convey me to the block of shame;
	Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame.	30
	[ Exeunt.

Richard III, Act 5, Scene 2

_______

Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 1
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.

____

4. Holy. Henry VI., though never canonized, was popularly considered as a saint. See "Wordworth's sonnet, Inside of King's College Chapel, Cambridge: "Tax not the royal saint with vain expense."

10. All-Soul's day: the day on which supplications are made for all souls by the Roman Church, the 2nd of November.

13. See II. i. 32-40.

19. Determin'd respite, the fixed term to which the wrongs done by me have been limited.

26. See I. iii. 297-299.

How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Richard III. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard, 1886. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2014. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/richardiii_5_1.html >.

Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

"Oechelhauser sees in the character of Buckingham, as drawn by Shakespeare, 'a mere puppet of Richard with whose cleverness Buckingham's is placed in direct contrast; somewhat the same relation as in the characters of Wagner and Faust. Richard is type of an intellectual hypocrite, while Buckingham is that of a soft-hearted hypocrite, he hesitates for a moment at the murder of Edward's sons, and his hesitation is his destruction. But, throughout, Buckingham stands more closely to Richard than the others in Richard's party, -- Catesby, Ratcliffe, and Lovel, -- who are merely his implements,-- Buckingham is his confidant." (Quoted by Furness in his Variorum Edition, p. 2)

More to Explore

Richard III: Plot Summary

Richard III: Q & A

Famous Quotes from Richard III

Shakespeare's Sources for Richard III

Why Shakespeare is so Important

Shakespeare's Language

Shakespeare's Boss: The Master of Revels

Shakespeare's Power of Assimilation

Preface to The First Folio

Classification of Shakespeare's Work

Shakespeare Q & A

Shakespeare's Pathos

Shakespeare's Portrayal of Youth

Shakespeare on Old Age

Shakespeare's Heroines

Shakespeare's Attention to Details

Shakespeare's Portrayals of Sleep