The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) Read online

  William Shakespeare’s

  The Complete Works of Shakespeare

  In Plain and Simple English

  BookCaps Study Guides

  www.bookcaps.com

  © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

  Contents

  About This Series

  Histories

  King John

  King Richard the Second

  King Richard III

  Henry IV: Part One

  Henry IV: Part Two

  Henry V

  Henry VI: Part 1

  Henry VI: Part 2

  Henry VI: Part 3

  King Henry VIII

  Comedies

  All’s Well That Ends Well

  As You Like It

  The Comedy of Errors

  Love’s Labour’s Lost

  Measure for Measure

  The Merchant of Venice

  The Merry Wives of Windsor

  A Midsummer Nights Dream

  Much Ado About Nothing

  Pericles, Prince of Tyre

  The Taming of the Shrew

  The Tempest

  Twelfth Night

  The Two Gentlemen of Verona

  Two Noble Kinsmen

  The Winter Tale

  Tragedies

  Anthony and Cleopatra

  Coriolanus

  Cymbeline

  Hamlet

  Julius Caesar

  King Lear

  Macbeth

  Othello

  Romeo and Juliet

  Timon of Athens

  Titus Andronicus

  Troilus and Cressida

  Sonnets

  The “Classic Retold” series started as a way of telling classics for the modern reader—being careful to preserve the themes and integrity of the original. Whether you want to understand Shakespeare a little more or are trying to get a better grasps of the Greek classics, there is a book waiting for you!

  William Shakespeare’s

  In Plain and Simple English

  In Plain and Simple English

  KING JOHN

  PRINCE HENRY, his son

  ARTHUR, DUKE OF BRITAINE, son of Geffrey, late Duke of

  Britaine, the elder brother of King John

  EARL OF PEMBROKE

  EARL OF ESSEX

  EARL OF SALISBURY

  LORD BIGOT

  HUBERT DE BURGH

  ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, son to Sir Robert Faulconbridge

  PHILIP THE BASTARD, his half-brother

  JAMES GURNEY, servant to Lady Faulconbridge

  PETER OF POMFRET, a prophet

  KING PHILIP OF FRANCE

  LEWIS, the Dauphin

  LYMOGES, Duke of Austria

  CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate

  MELUN, a French lord

  CHATILLON, ambassador from France to King John

  QUEEN ELINOR, widow of King Henry II and mother to

  King John

  CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur

  BLANCH OF SPAIN, daughter to the King of Castile

  and niece to King John

  LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, widow of Sir Robert Faulconbridge

  Lords, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers,

  Soldiers, Executioners, Messengers, Attendants

  SCENE:

  England and France

  KING JOHN's palace

  Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and

  others,

  with CHATILLON

  KING JOHN.

  Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

  Now tell me, Chatillon, what does the King of France want from me?

  CHATILLON.

  Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France

  In my behaviour to the majesty,

  The borrowed majesty, of England here.

  After the greeting this is what the King of France

  says, through me as his representative,

  to the counterfeit royalty of England.

  ELINOR.

  A strange beginning- 'borrowed majesty'!

  This is a strange beginning–“counterfeit royalty"!

  KING JOHN.

  Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.

  Quiet, good mother; listen to what it says.

  CHATILLON.

  Philip of France, in right and true behalf

  Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,

  Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim

  To this fair island and the territories,

  To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,

  Desiring thee to lay aside the sword

  Which sways usurpingly these several titles,

  And put the same into young Arthur's hand,

  Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.

  Philip of France, rightly and acting faithfully on behalf

  of the son of your dead brother Geoffrey,

  Arthur Plantagenet, makes a legally justified claim

  to this fair island and its dependencies,

  Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,

  asking you to withdraw the forces

  which falsely hold these titles,

  and to hand them over into the hands of young Arthur,

  your nephew and the true king.

  KING JOHN.

  What follows if we disallow of this?

  What will happen if we disagree with this?

  CHATILLON.

  The proud control of fierce and bloody war,

  To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.

  You will have to face a fierce and bloody war,

  for the return of these rights which you withhold by force.

  KING JOHN.

  Here have we war for war, and blood for blood,

  Controlment for controlment- so answer France.

  We can answer with war for war, blood for blood,

  force for force–tell France that.

  CHATILLON.

  Then take my king's defiance from my mouth-

  The farthest limit of my embassy.

  Then accept the defiance of the King from me–

  that's as far as my remit allows me.

  KING JOHN.

  Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace;

  Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;

  For ere thou canst report I will be there,

  The thunder of my cannon shall be heard.

  So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath

  And sullen presage of your own decay.

  An honourable conduct let him have-

  Pembroke, look to 't. Farewell, Chatillon.

  Take mine to him, and so leave peacefully;

  you must be like lightning, warning France;

  because before you can speak to him I will be there,

  you shall hear the thunder of my cannons.

  So go! You can be the warning of my anger

  and the dismal announcer of your own downfall.

  Make sure he has a good escort–

  see to it, Pembroke. Farewell Chatillon.

  Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE

  ELINOR.

  What now, my son! Have I not ever said

  How that ambitious Constance would not cease

  Till she had kindled France and all the world

  Upon the right and party of her son?

  This might have been prevented and made whole

  With very easy arguments of love,

  Which now the manage of two kingdoms mustr />
  With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

  What about that, my son! Haven't I always said

  that the ambitious Constance would not stop

  until she had France and the whole world fighting

  to support her son's rights and his followers?

  This could have been avoided and put right

  with very simple friendly behaviour,

  and now the question of who rules two kingdoms

  must be settled by terrible bloody war.

  KING JOHN.

  Our strong possession and our right for us!

  We are in possession, and that means right is on our side!

  ELINOR.

  Your strong possession much more than your right,

  Or else it must go wrong with you and me;

  So much my conscience whispers in your ear,

  Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear.

  The strong grip you have is much more important than your rights,

  if it isn't, you and I will be in trouble;

  this is what I think deep down,

  but nobody but you and God will hear it.

  Enter a SHERIFF

  ESSEX.

  My liege, here is the strangest controversy

  Come from the country to be judg'd by you

  That e'er I heard. Shall I produce the men?

  My lord, I have here the strangest disagreement

  that I ever heard, with men come from the country

  to have your judgement. Shall I bring them in?

  KING JOHN.

  Let them approach.

  Exit SHERIFF

  Our abbeys and our priories shall pay

  This expedition's charge.

  Yes, bring them in.

  The abbeys and the priories will pay

  for the cost of this war.

  Enter ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE and PHILIP, his bastard brother

  What men are you?

  Who are you?

  BASTARD.

  Your faithful subject I, a gentleman

  Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest son,

  As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge-

  A soldier by the honour-giving hand

  Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.

  I am a faithful subject of yours, a gentleman

  born in Northamptonshire, and the eldest son,

  I believe, of Robert Faulconbridge–

  a soldier who was knighted on the battlefield

  by Richard the Lionheart.

  KING JOHN.

  What art thou?

  And who are you?

  ROBERT.

  The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.

  I am the son and heir of that same Faulconbridge.

  KING JOHN.

  Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?

  You came not of one mother then, it seems.

  He's older than you, and you are the heir?

  So it seems you don't have the same mother.

  BASTARD.

  Most certain of one mother, mighty king-

  That is well known- and, as I think, one father;

  But for the certain knowledge of that truth

  I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother.

  Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.

  We certainly share the same mother, mighty King–

  that is well known–and, I think, the same father;

  but to have that proved for certain

  you would have to ask heaven and my mother.

  I have doubts about that, as any person may.

  ELINOR.

  Out on thee, rude man! Thou dost shame thy mother,

  And wound her honour with this diffidence.

  Damn you, rude man! You are shaming your mother,

  and insulting her honour with these doubts.

  BASTARD.

  I, madam? No, I have no reason for it-

  That is my brother's plea, and none of mine;

  The which if he can prove, 'a pops me out

  At least from fair five hundred pound a year.

  Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land!

  Me, madam? No, I have no reason to do it;

  that is what my brother says, not me;

  if he can prove it he deprives me

  of at least five hundred pounds a year.

  May heaven protect the honour of my mother and my property!

  KING JOHN.

  A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born,

  Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

  A good straightforward chap. Why, as he is the younger,

  does he claim your inheritance?

  BASTARD.

  I know not why, except to get the land.

  But once he slander'd me with bastardy;

  But whe'er I be as true begot or no,

  That still I lay upon my mother's head;

  But that I am as well begot, my liege-

  Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!-

  Compare our faces and be judge yourself.

  If old Sir Robert did beget us both

  And were our father, and this son like him-

  O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

  I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee!

  I don't know why, except that he wants the land.

  He did once slander me by calling a bastard;

  but whether I am legitimately born or not

  I leave to the evidence of my mother;

  but that I am nobly born, my lord–

  may good come to those who created me!–

  Compare our faces and judge for yourself.

  If Sir Robert created us both

  and was our father, and this son is like him,

  oh old Sir Robert, father, I give heaven

  thanks upon my knees that I don't look like you!

  KING JOHN.

  Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here!

  Why, what a lunatic heaven has sent to us!

  ELINOR.

  He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face;

  The accent of his tongue affecteth him.

  Do you not read some tokens of my son

  In the large composition of this man?

  He looks rather like the Lionheart;

  his voice also sounds like him.

  Can't you see some elements of my son

  in this man's make up?

  KING JOHN.

  Mine eye hath well examined his parts

  And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak,

  What doth move you to claim your brother's land?

  I've had a good look over him

  and I think he's just like Richard. Speak, sir,

  what makes you claim your brother's property?

  BASTARD.

  Because he hath a half-face, like my father.

  With half that face would he have all my land:

  A half-fac'd groat five hundred pound a year!

  Because he has a profile like my father.

  He thinks that profile should give him all my land:

  that imperfect coin wants five hundred pounds a year!

  ROBERT.

  My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd,

  Your brother did employ my father much-

  My good lord, when my father was alive,

  your brother often employed my father–

  BASTARD.

  Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land:

  Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother.

  Well, sir, you won't get my land like this:

  you must explain how he employed my mother.

  ROBERT.

  And once dispatch'd him in an embassy

  To Germany, there with the Emperor

  To treat of high affairs touching that time.

  Th' advantage of his absence took the King,

  And in the meantime sojourn'd at my father's;

  Where how he did prevail I shame to speak
-

  But truth is truth: large lengths of seas and shores

  Between my father and my mother lay,

  As I have heard my father speak himself,

  When this same lusty gentleman was got.

  Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd

  His lands to me, and took it on his death

  That this my mother's son was none of his;

  And if he were, he came into the world

  Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.

  Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,

  My father's land, as was my father's will.

  And he once sent him as ambassador

  to Germany, to discuss important matters

  of the time with the Emperor.

  The King took advantage of his absence,

  staying at my father's place,

  and I'm ashamed to say how he succeeded there;

  but the truth is the truth: there were great swathes of land and sea

  between my father and my mother

  when this lively gentleman was conceived–

  I've heard my father say that himself.

  On his deathbed he left me his lands

  in his will, and as he was dying he swore

  that my mother's son was not his;

  for if he were, he would've had to be born

  fourteen weeks ahead of time.

  So, my good Lord, let me have what is mine,

  my father's land, as my father willed it.

  KING JOHN.

  Sirrah, your brother is legitimate:

  Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him,

  And if she did play false, the fault was hers;

  Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands