Richard III: Act 3, Scene 3 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 3, Scene 3 of Richard III from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter Sir Richard Ratcliffe, with Halberds, carrying the nobles Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan to death at Pomfret. RIVERS Sir Richard Ratcliffe, let me tell thee this: Today shalt thou behold a subject die For truth, for duty, and for loyalty. GREY, to Ratcliffe God bless the Prince from all the pack of you! A knot you are of damnèd bloodsuckers. 5 VAUGHAN, to Ratcliffe You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter. RATCLIFFE Dispatch. The limit of your lives is out. RIVERS O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers! Within the guilty closure of thy walls, 10 Richard the Second here was hacked to death, And, for more slander to thy dismal seat, We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink.	The queen's brother Earl Rivers, her son Lord Gray, and their friend Sir Thomas Vaughn face their executions at Pomfret. Rivers declares they're all dying for their duty, and Vaughn declares that all who live after this will regret it.
GREY Now Margaret’s curse is fall’n upon our heads, When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I, 15 For standing by when Richard stabbed her son. RIVERS Then cursed she Richard. Then cursed she Buckingham. Then cursed she Hastings. O, remember, God, To hear her prayer for them as now for us! 20 And for my sister and her princely sons, Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood, Which, as thou know’st, unjustly must be spilt. RATCLIFFE Make haste. The hour of death is expiate. RIVERS Come, Grey. Come, Vaughan. Let us here embrace. 25 They embrace. Farewell until we meet again in heaven. They exit.	Gray notes that their execution seems to fulfill the old Queen Margaret's curse. She had railed against them for standing by and watching Richard murder her child. Rivers points out that Margaret's curse wasn't only directed at them; Richard, Hastings, and Buckingham were also included. (Actually, Gray and Buckingham weren't included in Margaret's curses, and Buckingham was only warned.) Rivers calls out to God in the hopes that Richard, Hastings, and Buckingham will also receive their parts of the curse. Rivers also prays that his and his colleagues' wrongly spilled blood will somehow spare his sister, Queen Elizabeth, and her children.

Original Text

Translated Text

Enter Sir Richard Ratcliffe, with Halberds, carrying the
nobles Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan to death at Pomfret.

RIVERS
Sir Richard Ratcliffe, let me tell thee this:
Today shalt thou behold a subject die
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.

GREY, to Ratcliffe
God bless the Prince from all the pack of you!
A knot you are of damnèd bloodsuckers. 5

VAUGHAN, to Ratcliffe
You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter.

RATCLIFFE
Dispatch. The limit of your lives is out.

RIVERS
O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls, 10
Richard the Second here was hacked to death,
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink.

The queen's brother Earl Rivers, her son Lord Gray, and their friend Sir Thomas Vaughn face their executions at Pomfret.

Rivers declares they're all dying for their duty, and Vaughn declares that all who live after this will regret it.

GREY
Now Margaret’s curse is fall’n upon our heads,
When she exclaimed on Hastings, you, and I, 15
For standing by when Richard stabbed her son.

RIVERS
Then cursed she Richard. Then cursed she
Buckingham.
Then cursed she Hastings. O, remember, God,
To hear her prayer for them as now for us! 20
And for my sister and her princely sons,
Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
Which, as thou know’st, unjustly must be spilt.

RATCLIFFE
Make haste. The hour of death is expiate.

RIVERS
Come, Grey. Come, Vaughan. Let us here embrace. 25

They embrace.

Farewell until we meet again in heaven.

They exit.

Gray notes that their execution seems to fulfill the old Queen Margaret's curse. She had railed against them for standing by and watching Richard murder her child.

Rivers points out that Margaret's curse wasn't only directed at them; Richard, Hastings, and Buckingham were also included. (Actually, Gray and Buckingham weren't included in Margaret's curses, and Buckingham was only warned.)

Rivers calls out to God in the hopes that Richard, Hastings, and Buckingham will also receive their parts of the curse. Rivers also prays that his and his colleagues' wrongly spilled blood will somehow spare his sister, Queen Elizabeth, and her children.

Richard III: Act 3, Scene 3 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 3, Scene 3 of Richard III from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text

Translated Text

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