Enter Rumor, painted full of tongues. RUMOR
Open your ears, for which of you will stop
The vent of hearing when loud Rumor speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commencèd on this ball of earth. 5
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
I speak of peace while covert enmity
Under the smile of safety wounds the world. 10
And who but Rumor, who but only I,
Make fearful musters and prepared defense
Whiles the big year, swoll’n with some other grief,
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumor is a pipe 15
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,
And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wav’ring multitude,
Can play upon it. But what need I thus 20
My well-known body to anatomize
Among my household? Why is Rumor here?
I run before King Harry’s victory,
Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops, 25
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels’ blood. But what mean I
To speak so true at first? My office is
To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur’s sword, 30
And that the King before the Douglas’ rage
Stooped his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumored through the peasant towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone, 35
Where Hotspur’s father, old Northumberland,
Lies crafty-sick. The posts come tiring on,
And not a man of them brings other news
Than they have learnt of me. From Rumor’s
tongues 40
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than
true wrongs.
Rumor exits. | Rumour steps onto the stage, wearing a visually dramatic robe that's "painted full of tongues." (Note: Rumour is not a human character – it's a personification, which means that rumor, an abstract idea, is given human qualities.) Rumour is pretty aggressive here – commanding the audience to open its ears so Rumour can "stuff" them full of lies. The figure also tells us that it rides around the world on the wind, spreading false reports in every language.
In fact, Rumour has just blown in from the "Orient" and, with the help of the common folk, Rumour has been spreading lies about the recent battle at Shrewsbury all throughout the "peasant towns" of England. Word on the street, thanks to Rumour, is that Hotspur killed Prince Hal and the Scottish Douglas killed King Henry IV. But, the truth is that the king's army trounced the rebel forces at the end of Henry IV Part 1.
Rumour announces that it's making a pit-stop at Warkworth castle, where the Earl of Northumberland is laying low and pretending to be sick (to avoid participating in the battle at Shrewsbury). Northumberland's been waiting for some news of the recent skirmish and Rumour is more than happy to oblige. |