Monologue Introduction
Demise of Enemies: Queen Margaret’s Monologue in Act 4 of Richard III
This speech by Queen Margaret occurs in the fourth act of Shakespeare’s Richard III. Queen Margaret is the widow of former king, Henry VI. When her husband and son were murdered, she was stripped of all her titles and left to grieve over lost loved ones. She watches the destruction of the people who stole her title and killed her son from afar. As the Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth mourn their dead relatives, Margaret offers them no sympathy and rejoices in the fact that these women can feel the pain of losing loved ones just as she once did at the hands of their children. In this monologue, Queen Margaret delights in the ruination of her enemies and underscores how joyous she will be once Richard is dead.
Queen Margaret's monologue
Bear with me. I am hungry for revenge,
And now I cloy me with beholding it.
Thy Edward he is dead, that killed my Edward,
Thy other Edward dead, to quit my Edward;
Young York, he is but boot, because both they
Matched not the high perfection of my loss.
Thy Clarence he is dead that stabbed my Edward,
And the beholders of this frantic play,
Th' adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughn, Grey,
Untimely smothered in their dusky graves.
Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer,
Only reserved their factor to buy souls
And send them thither. But at hand, at hand
Ensues his piteous and unpitied end.
Earth gapes, hell burns, fiends roar, saints pray
To have him suddenly conveyed from hence.
Cancel his bond of life, dear God I pray,
That I may live and say "The dog is dead."
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Monologue Analysis
The Fury of a Woman Scorned in Shakespeare’s Richard III
In Shakespeare’s Richard III, Queen Margaret is introduced as a widow left to grieve over her dead husband and child who were murdered by their political enemies in a civil war. Margaret represents the rigidly enforced patriarchal structures in England. Without a male presence in her life, she has lost all her power and ownership, leading her to seek resourceful ways to survive. She directs her curses at the new royal family who serve as a fulfilled prophecy in this monologue. Her curses establish situational irony and foreshadowing within the play. The events that reduce Margaret into a one-dimensional side character similarly happen to Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess. Also, through repetition, Margaret emphasizes the justice she obtains due to the defeat of the Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth against Richard III. As the Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth lament the loss of their loved ones, Margaret expresses satisfaction at their misery, providing an antithesis for a dramatized effect of how desensitized to bloodshed she has become. Although her vengeful curses against the Duchess and Elizabeth have come true, Richard continues to live as “hell’s black intelligencer” (4.4.73). Using descriptive imagery describing an apocalyptic event, Queen Margaret prays for Richard to be cast away quickly from this earth and sent to where he belongs: hell. Throughout the entire monologue, Queen Margaret lionizes her anger in a tone of anguish, thus painting a picture of victimization and truth in her curses that were once seen as fallacies.