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Henry VI, Pt. 1: Act III, Scene 3

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Henry VI, Pt. 1
Act III, Scene 3

France. The plains near Rouen.

Jean de Dunois, the "Bastard of Orléans"

Jean de Dunois, the "Bastard of Orléans"

Unknown artist, circa 1450

  1. Enter Charles, Bastard, Alanson, Pucelle, and forces.

Joan de Pucelle

1 - 8
  1. Dismay not, princes, at this accident,
  2. Nor grieve that Roan is so recovered:
  3. Care is no cure, but rather corrosive,
  4. For things that are not to be remedied.
  5. Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while,
  6. And like a peacock sweep along his tail;
  7. We’ll pull his plumes and take away his train,
  8. If Dauphin and the rest will be but rul’d.

Dauphin of France

9 - 11
  1. We have been guided by thee hitherto,
  2. And of thy cunning had no diffidence;
  3. One sudden foil shall never breed distrust.

Bastard of Orléans

12 - 13
  1. Search out thy wit for secret policies,
  2. And we will make thee famous through the world.

Duke of Alanson

14 - 16
  1. We’ll set thy statue in some holy place,
  2. And have thee reverenc’d like a blessed saint.
  3. Employ thee then, sweet virgin, for our good.

Joan de Pucelle

17 - 20
  1. Then thus it must be, this doth Joan devise:
  2. By fair persuasions, mix’d with sug’red words,
  3. We will entice the Duke of Burgundy
  4. To leave the Talbot and to follow us.

Dauphin of France

21 - 24
  1. Ay, marry, sweeting, if we could do that,
  2. France were no place for Henry’s warriors,
  3. Nor should that nation boast it so with us,
  4. But be extirped from our provinces.

Duke of Alanson

25 - 26
  1. Forever should they be expuls’d from France,
  2. And not have title of an earldom here.

Joan de Pucelle

27 - 35
  1. Your honors shall perceive how I will work
  2. To bring this matter to the wished end.
  3. Drum sounds afar off.
  4. Hark, by the sound of drum you may perceive
  5. Their powers are marching unto Paris-ward.
  6. Here sound an English march.
  7. There goes the Talbot, with his colors spread,
  8. And all the troops of English after him.
  9. French march.
  10. Now in the rearward comes the Duke and his.
  11. Fortune in favor makes him lag behind.
  12. Summon a parley, we will talk with him.
  1. Trumpets sound a parley.
  1. Enter the Duke of Burgundy and forces.

Dauphin of France

36
  1. A parley with the Duke of Burgundy!

Duke of Burgundy

37
  1. Who craves a parley with the Burgundy?

Joan de Pucelle

38
  1. The princely Charles of France, thy countryman.

Duke of Burgundy

39
  1. What say’st thou, Charles? For I am marching hence.

Dauphin of France

40
  1. Speak, Pucelle, and enchant him with thy words.

Joan de Pucelle

41 - 42
  1. Brave Burgundy, undoubted hope of France,
  2. Stay, let thy humble handmaid speak to thee.

Duke of Burgundy

43
  1. Speak on, but be not over-tedious.

Joan de Pucelle

44 - 57
  1. Look on thy country, look on fertile France,
  2. And see the cities and the towns defac’d
  3. By wasting ruin of the cruel foe.
  4. As looks the mother on her lowly babe
  5. When death doth close his tender-dying eyes,
  6. See, see the pining malady of France!
  7. Behold the wounds, the most unnatural wounds,
  8. Which thou thyself hast given her woeful breast.
  9. O, turn the edged sword another way,
  10. Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help.
  11. One drop of blood drawn from thy country’s bosom
  12. Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore.
  13. Return thee therefore with a flood of tears,
  14. And wash away thy country’s stained spots.
Ellen Terry as Joan of Arc

Ellen Terry as Joan of Arc

George Frederic Watts, unknown date

Duke of Burgundy

58 - 59
  1. Either she hath bewitch’d me with her words,
  2. Or nature makes me suddenly relent.

Joan de Pucelle

60 - 77
  1. Besides, all French and France exclaims on thee,
  2. Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny.
  3. Who join’st thou with, but with a lordly nation
  4. That will not trust thee but for profit’s sake?
  5. When Talbot hath set footing once in France
  6. And fashion’d thee that instrument of ill,
  7. Who then but English Henry will be lord,
  8. And thou be thrust out like a fugitive?
  9. Call we to mind, and mark but this for proof:
  10. Was not the Duke of Orléans thy foe?
  11. And was he not in England prisoner?
  12. But when they heard he was thine enemy,
  13. They set him free without his ransom paid,
  14. In spite of Burgundy and all his friends.
  15. See then, thou fight’st against thy countrymen
  16. And join’st with them will be thy slaughter-men.
  17. Come, come, return; return, thou wandering lord!
  18. Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms.

Duke of Burgundy

78 - 84
  1. Aside.
  2. I am vanquished. These haughty words of hers
  3. Have batt’red me like roaring cannon-shot,
  4. And made me almost yield upon my knees.—
  5. Forgive me, country, and sweet countrymen,
  6. And, lords, accept this hearty kind embrace.
  7. My forces and my power of men are yours.
  8. So farewell, Talbot, I’ll no longer trust thee.

Joan de Pucelle

85
  1. Aside.
  2. Done like a Frenchman—turn and turn again!

Dauphin of France

86
  1. Welcome, brave Duke, thy friendship makes us fresh.

Bastard of Orléans

87
  1. And doth beget new courage in our breasts.

Duke of Alanson

88 - 89
  1. Pucelle hath bravely play’d her part in this,
  2. And doth deserve a coronet of gold.

Dauphin of France

90 - 91
  1. Now let us on, my lords, and join our powers,
  2. And seek how we may prejudice the foe.
  1. Exeunt.
Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Look on thy country, look on fertile France, and see the cities and the towns defac’d

From: Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Mary Cowden Clarke, Charles Cowden Clarke, 1870

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