Shakespearience
Resource Pack
Introduction
For the third year of our Shakespearience schools project The Berry Theatre joined up with
Agincourt 600 and The Road to Agincourt project to stage a reduced version of
Shakespeare’s infamous history play Henry V. Rehearsed and performed by a cast made up
of year 9 pupils from local schools, the production was part of the Berry Theatre’s two year
Road to Agincourt project which marked the 600th anniversary of the historic battle of
Agincourt.
It was our aim to create a detailed and comprehensive resource pack and accompanying
videos which teachers could use to stage their own version of Henry V with their students.
As such this pack includes the reduced script of the play, along with accompanying notes,
a wealth of notes on the context behind the play; battle and the real Henry V. These can be
used with pupils to uncover what really happened leading up to and during the battle.
Finally, we have collated a selection of drama exercises which can be used during your
rehearsal process for Henry V but also can be adapted to suit whichever Shakespeare play
you are studying or performing. We have focused on enriching students’ understanding of
the way the text creates meaning through language and how to achieve these using active
and participatory methods. The activities have been split into 5 categories; language,
character, story, action and themes and each comes with an accompanying video and
appendix of resources to allow you to use these very practical exercises with your own
students in Drama or English lessons.
Our workshops are designed to get students up on their feet and engaging with
Shakespeare’s words, stories and characters in a playful way which also opens the way for
a deeper understanding of the text.
Contents
Context
1
Shakespeare’s Henry V
2
Historical Variances
4
The Battle of Agincourt
5
Battle Timeline
6
Timeline Whoosh
8
Video 1: Plot
11
Video 2: Language
12
Video 3: Character
13
Video 4: Action
14
Video 5: Themes
15
Appendix
Context
SHAKESPEARE
The most influential writer in all of English literature, William
Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class
glove-maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare
attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded
no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne
Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and
travelled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical acclaim quickly
followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and
part-owner of the Globe Theatre. His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–
1603) and James I (ruled 1603–1625), and he was a favourite of both monarchs. Indeed,
James granted Shakespeare’s company the greatest possible compliment by bestowing
upon its members the title of King’s Men. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to
Stratford and died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two. At the time of Shakespeare’s death,
literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed his works as timeless.
Shakespeare’s works were collected and printed in various editions during the century
following his death, and by the early eighteenth century, his reputation as the greatest
poet ever to write in English was well established. The unprecedented admiration garnered
by his works led to a fierce curiosity about Shakespeare’s life, but the dearth of
biographical information has left many details of Shakespeare’s personal history shrouded
in mystery. Some people have concluded from this fact and from Shakespeare’s modest
education that Shakespeare’s plays were actually written by someone else—Francis Bacon
and the Earl of Oxford are the two most popular candidates—but the support for this claim
is over-whelmingly circumstantial, and the theory is not taken seriously by many scholars.
In the absence of credible evidence to the contrary, Shakespeare must be viewed as the
author of the thirty-seven plays and 154 sonnets that bear his name. The legacy of this
body of work is immense. A number of Shakespeare’s plays seem to have transcended
even the category of brilliance, becoming so influential as to affect profoundly the course
of Western literature and culture ever after.
1.
Shakespeare’s Henry V
Henry V is one of Shakespeare’s so-called
history plays. It forms the fourth part of a
tetralogy (a four-part series) dealing with
the historical rise of the English royal
House of Lancaster. (The three plays that
come before it are Richard II, I Henry
IV, and II Henry IV.)Henry V, probably
written in 1599, is one of the most popular
of Shakespeare’s history plays. It contains a host of entertaining characters who speak in
many accents and languages. The play is full of noble speeches, heroic battles, and valiant
English underdogs who fight their way to victory against all odds. Additionally, King Henry
seems to be a perfect leader—brave, modest, and fiercely focused, but with a sense of
humour to match.
Shakespeare wrote The Life of King Henry the Fifth as a culmination to his cycle of history
plays. Focused on Henry's conquest of France, the play is a rousingly patriotic homage to a
heroic king mingled with frank moments examining the realities of war, ranging from
mundane to cruel. It's little wonder that Olivier's 1944 film adaptation famously served as a
rallying cry for Great Britain as the nation and its allies prepared for the Normandy
invasion. Given the circumstances, it's even less wonder that Olivier chose to mute many of
the harsher undertones of the play.
Shakespeare, as usual, borrowed liberally from both historical and dramatic sources in
writing his play. Holindshed provides the primary history upon which Shakespeare relied,
along with the works of Edward Halle and
Samuel Daniels. To this, Shakespeare adds
material adapted from The Famous Victories of
Henry the Fifth, an anonymous play predating
Shakespeare's work by as much as a decade. In
both plays, the newly crowned King Henry V is
characterized as utterly matured from a
misspent youth, with a divinely inspired claim to
the French throne.
2.
Shakespeare’s Henry V
Continued
The play’s treatment of King
Henry V, however, is more
problematic than it seems at first
glance. Henry is a model of
traditional heroism, but his value
system is confusing. After all, his
sense of honour leads him to
invade a nonaggressive country
and to slaughter thousands of people. He sentences to death former friends and prisoners
of war while claiming to value mercy, and he never acknowledges that he bears any
responsibility for the bloodshed he has initiated. It is useful to read the play with an eye
toward these discrepancies, which Shakespeare examines in a complicated exploration of
the nature of kingship. Whether or not he appears to be an admirable man, Henry is
presented as a nearly ideal king, with a diamond-hard focus, an intractable resolve, and
the willpower to subordinate his own personal feelings to the needs of his nation and his
throne. The brilliance of Henry’s speeches and his careful cultivation of his image make
him an effective and inspiring leader. Whether he emerges from the play as a heroic figure
or merely a king as cold as he is brilliant depends largely on each individual reader’s
interpretation.
Few scholars would dispute that King Henry is much
closer to a historical depiction than the roguish Price
Hal of Henry IV. But can Shakespeare's King Henry the
Fifth be considered historically accurate? And how does
the dramatic representation compare to the reality of
Henry's campaign in France? Let's take a look how
Shakespeare crafted his story to determine how much
of Henry V is drama as opposed to history.
3.
Historical Variances
It's difficult to comment on Shakespeare's portrayal of Henry as a
character. According to Holinshed, the young Henry set about remaking
his image following his ascension to the throne. He banished his "misruly
mates of dissolute order and life" and became a pious and somewhat
dour ruler. But the prince-gone-wild character of Henry IV seems more of
a popular tall tale than truth, and may have more to do with political
differences between the crown prince and his father. The tennis ball scene is pure
invention, and Henry's war with France likely had more to do with commercial interests
and conflicts than anything else.
The events from there are highly compressed, but reasonably accurate. Henry besieged
Harfleur for weeks, suffering mightily for it, before the town surrendered through
negotiations. The town and its inhabitants were largely spared, and those who swore
allegiance to Henry were able to remain. Even the citizens who were deported were
allowed to take whatever they could carry and given money by the English for their travels.
This was in keeping with Henry's general policy toward the French people during the
campaign; as he considered himself king of France, he regarded them as his own subjects.
There is even an account of an English soldier being hanged for robbing a church,
mirroring Bardolph's crime and execution in the third act of the play.
Agincourt occurred more than a month after the fall of Harfleur. While history bears out
that Henry's army was indeed outnumbered and severely weakened, no one seems to be
able to agree on the exact numbers of the combatants or the casualty figures. Modern
historians put the English army a strength between 6,000 and 9,000 men, facing a French
army that ranges all the way from 12,000 to 36,000 troops. Casualty estimates are even
more dubious, but the English certainly suffered fewer than 500 killed and wounded
against thousands of French losses. And Henry did order at some point in the battle that
prisoners be killed, an act that tends to besmirch his reputation regardless of the battle
situation at the time. The baggage train attack occurred as well, although the slaughter of
the boys may be a dramatic device used to lessen the impact of Henry's execution of the
prisoners.
Agincourt crippled the French and led to the Treaty of Troyes between England and
France, including the marriage of Henry and Catherine. However,
the treaty was signed (and the royal couple wed) in 1420, some five
years after Agincourt. Shakespeare's play presents it as more closely
following the victory. Henry would die two short years later of
dysentery while on campaign in 1422 once again in
France—never being crowned as the
French king.
4.
The battle of Agincourt
ENGLISH UNDERDOGS
At the Battle of Agincourt, England lost just a few hundred men: the French army lost
thousands.
England and France had been bitter enemies for years. When they met on the battlefield –
600 years ago – on 25 October 1415, the odds were stacked against English King Henry V.
He had fought a hard-won siege at the port town of Harfleur in Northern France, losing
many men. He then lead his army through the French countryside to the English-held
territory of Calais. They were exhausted, their numbers depleted by dysentery and
demoralised, and now the French stood in their path near the French village of Azincourt.
Yet just three hours later, Henry won a battle which is still celebrated as one of England's
most stunning military successes. Find out how Henry beat all the odds to clinch a
remarkable victory against the French at Agincourt.
Image: BBC / Professor Anne Curry
5.
Battle Timeline
On October 24, the day before the battle, the French blocked Henry's route to Calais.
Henry readied his men, saying he would rather die than be taken for ransom. The next day,
they faced the French on a muddy field near the village of Azincourt.
10:00, 25 Oct
Henry makes the first move.
Both armies faced each other. The French appeared reluctant to attack. A great cry rang
out and the English moved forward.
The French planned to eliminate archers on the English flanks but could not muster many
men willing to join a cavalry charge – there was no glory to be had against lowly archers.
Some mounted soldiers charged towards the English and Henry's 7,000 archers began
shooting, capable of producing a deadly storm of arrows.
10:30, 25 Oct
The French cavalry fails.
The arrow storm proved deadly. The archers took down the lightly-armoured horses and
caused others to buck and flee.
The few French who made it across the field did not fare much better – their path was
blocked by the sharpened stakes protecting Henry’s archers.
“The leading horses were scattered in that great storm of hail...”
Thomas Walsingham, English chronicler, c.1420
10:45, 25 Oct
The French vanguard advances.
The French vanguard advanced on foot, careful to avoid the retreating horses which
threatened to disturb their formation.
The ground was sodden, making the advance slow and exhausting. With many English
archers still shooting from the flanks, the vanguard was soon encircled by a hail of arrows.
Attempting to avoid the onslaught, many men moved towards the centre of the field; they
were being funnelled into a narrower and narrower space.
“The mud was up to their knees...many were short of breath when there was still
considerable distance between them and the English.”
Jean de Bueil, French soldier whose father was present at the battle, writing c.1466
6.
Battle Timeline
11:15, 25 Oct
The crush intensifies.
Disorientated by relentless waves of arrows, many in the French vanguard were unable to
raise their weapons as the crush intensified.
They fell to the ground, causing a pile-up. Some knights suffocated, unable to free
themselves from the thick mud due to their heavy plate armour. From their strong
defensive position, Henry’s men at arms could thrust out their swords and wound and kill
the tightly packed enemy.
11:30, 25 Oct
Henry fights on.
Fighting was fierce when the French reached the English line. Commander of the vanguard,
the Duke of York, was killed along with 90 of his men.
The French attacked the baggage train at the rear of the English army, making off with
some of Henry’s possessions, but it did not distract the English from their slaughter. As the
French fell, the English archers joined the close-range fighting, stabbing through the
knights’ armour as they lay helpless. Henry fought on, inspiring loyalty in his men.
“Henry fought not so much as a king as a knight that day...giving an example to his men
through his bravery.”
Thomas Walsingham, English chronicler, c.1420
13:00, 25 Oct
Henry orders a massacre.
Two hours into the battle, with victory almost certain and the French fleeing in disarray,
Henry’s men scoured the battlefield for prisoners.
But before long, the English heard the French were planning a fresh attack. Henry ordered
the killing of all but the most valuable prisoners – those who would fetch the highest
ransoms. Soon thousands of French soldiers lay dead, while only around a hundred of
England's army had been killed.
23 Nov, 1415
The legend of Agincourt.
Henry returned to a victory pageant in November. After further fighting, he was recognised
as heir to the French throne in 1420.
But Henry died before the French king and within 35 years of his triumph at Agincourt,
England lost all its territories in France except Calais.
7.
Timeline Whoosh
INTRODUCTION
This Timeline Whoosh gives the class an overview of English history in the time leading up
to Henry V’s war with France.
There is an introductory narrative to the whoosh that helps to create the historical context.
RESOURCES
A crown is a useful prop for this activity as it will help the class to keep track of who is
taking the role of the King of England.
RUNNING THE ACTIVITY
Organise the class into a circle and introduce how the play relates to the Timeline Whoosh.
The teacher takes the role of narrator and as each event is told, children step into the circle
and make a physical representation of the moment. As the narration moves on the group
is ‘whooshed’ out of the way and the next part of the action is played out and a new group
of children can come forward.
RESOURCE - TIMELINE WHOOSH
Teacher narration: Historical context
In 1066 King Harold of England was defeated at the Battle of Hastings by William the
Conqueror who had invaded from Normandy. This was the beginning of a long period in
history when England was ruled by the French, where the English kings married French
aristocracy and large parts of France were owned by the English kings.
In those days it was quite different being the King of England. The word king means ‘he
who had the last word’. The King had the final say on everything:
It was the King who could decide to raise taxes from the people. The people gave money
to the landowners; the land owners gave the money to the King.
It was the King who could decide to raise an army and go to war.
When kings got married it was often in order to make an alliance which would make the
king more powerful. Often the king and his bride wouldn’t meet until after the agreement
had been made - maybe they would see a small portrait of each other. Often they couldn’t
speak the same language. Many kings of England married the daughters of French kings or
Barons and when they married, the English King would get all the land and titles that went
with his bride.
8.
Teacher narration:
Whoosh

In 1327 King Edward III was crowned King of England. King Edward wanted to become ruler,
not just of England, but of Scotland and Wales too, and to make a United Kingdom.

King Edward III and his son, The Black Prince, were great warriors. Because his mother was
Isabella daughter of King Philip IV of France, Edward III also made a claim to be the rightful
King of France. So he raised an army, sailed across the channel and began a war with France
that was to become known as The Hundred Years War.
Whoosh!

It is now 1376. Two boy cousins are playing; Henry is 10 and Richard is 9. Richard, the
younger boy is the son of The Black Prince. Henry the older boy is the son of John of Gaunt.
They are both grandsons of King Edward III.

When Richard is 9 his father, The Black Prince, dies and Richard becomes heir to the throne.

When Richard is 10, King Edward III (his grandfather) dies and Richard is crowned Richard II
King of England and becomes the Duke of Aquitaine which is in France. His cousin Henry
looks on.
Whoosh!

King Richard is 14. He is thought of as an unfair King. The peasants, led by Wat Tyler, march
through southern England to London to protest at the way the King rules.
Whoosh!

Many years later when he is a man, Richard marries Isabella of France. Isabella arrives in
England with her dowry – big caskets of jewels which now became King Richard’s. It was
hoped that the marriage would bring peace between England and France, an end to The
Hundred Years War.
Whoosh!

Cousin Henry is also a man now, he is the Duke of Lancaster. King Richard and Henry fall
out and Richard banishes him from England, he is forced to go to France. He leaves his son,
young Henry behind. King Richard takes all of Henry’s money, lands and titles.
9.
Teacher narration:
Whoosh
Whoosh!

While Henry is in France he becomes angry. He thinks Richard is not fit to be King. He gets
an army together, sails across the channel back to England battles with King Richard’s men
and seizes the crown.

Richard is seized and imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he dies soon after – it is said
he dies of hunger.
Whoosh!

Richards’s cousin Henry is now crowned King Henry IV. And his son young Henry becomes
heir to the throne aged 13.

Isabella, who used to be married to Richard, returns to France taking her jewels and her
wealth with her.

Henry IV has the crown, but not everybody is happy with it. He has taken the crown but
now he has to hold on to it.
Whoosh!

Meanwhile young Henry, aged 13, is not behaving like a future King at all. He is wild and
undisciplined.
Whoosh!

It is now 1413, 13 years later, and King Henry IV dies and young Henry, now a man, is
crowned King Henry V.

England is not as wealthy as he thought it was; they are running out of money.

Looking for a way out Henry decides to lay claim to certain parts of France he knows to be
rich. And he thinks he is entitled to do this because his great, great grandfather’s wife was
Isabella daughter of King Philip IV of France.

Henry V gets an army together and they prepare to leave for France.
10.
Video 1:
Plot
Activities to be used in connection with video clips.
a) Whoosh! (26sec):
Using arbitrary props and pieces of costume (or whatever is lying about), the teacher
whisks students through the play as they enact it swapping roles frequently. Romeo and
Juliet Whoosh attached. You can use the synopsis from any Shakespeare play to make your
own Whoosh!
b) What sort of story? (2min 55sec):
Groups of students are given a selection of props which all feature in a particular
Shakespeare play. Without telling them which play it is ask them to make up a story that
involves these props or elements For the story of Othello for example, there would be a
marital bed, the green eyed monster representing jealousy, a handkerchief, a sword to
represent a battle and a tankard to show drunkenness. For the Tempest it would be a
magic staff, a cave, a monster, a shipwreck, love at first sight and a banquet.
c) Fast forward story (NO VIDEO EXAMPLE):
Once familiar with the storyline students must improvise together to act the story out in
two minutes, then one minute, then 30 seconds, and finally 15 seconds.
11.
Video 2:
Plot
Activities to be used in connection with video clips.
a) Choral reading (45sec):
A whole class activity where the group is split into two halves who take it in turns to read
to the point of punctuation. We used a speech from Henry V (see appendix)
b) Dialogue split (3m 15sec):
A soliloquy is split between two people who read to the points of punctuation. We used a
speech from Richard III (see appendix)
c) Walking a sense unit (4m 36sec):
Students read the speech aloud, moving around the space and making a 90 degree turn at
the end of each line. The sense unit can then be altered according to points of conflict in
the speech or just according to the student’s instinct. We used this speech from Hamlet
(see appendix)
d) Punctuation walks (8m 23sec):
Students walk a line between two points and a comma indicates a turn 180 degrees, full
stop is a click or tap, an exclamation is a run and jump, ellipsis is a jump and 3 bounces, a
question mark is a turn with an arching arm movement, a dash is an exhalation and names
or repeated words indicate hands up above their heads. We used speeches from The
Tempest and Macbeth (see appendix)
12.
Video 3:
Character
Activities to be used in connection with video clips.
a) Cast the play (35sec):
Students can cast a play using cut outs of celebrities or using the teachers in their schools.
They should indicate their reasoning behind their decisions and link their ideas to
moments in the text or characteristics they perceive in the characters.
b) Character props (1m 31sec):
Students select a speech or line from a selection and find a prop that should be used by
the character as they speak those lines. The use of the prop will determine something
about the character and the students should justify why they chose that particular item.
E.g. “I chose this jumper for Ophelia to fold up and hug close to her. In this speech she is
very vulnerable because her father has just died”
c) Fundamental questions (NO VIDEO EXAMPLE):
Students discuss a speech they have been working on with these questions in mind.




Because I want… (what the character wants to achieve)
Because I think…(what the character thinks about the other characters and the
situations they are in)
Because I feel…(fears, hopes, love, hate, envy, contempt etc.)
Because this is what I’m like…(statements about the character’s nature. Speech style,
tone, emphases, speed, gestures, movement, facial expression etc.)
13.
Video 4:
Action
Activities to be used in connection with video clips.
a) Physicalising the text (34sec):
Using the in-built cues for physical action, students must read a speech and deduce the
gesture or bodily movement to accompany it.Where in the text does it tell us how to
move? We have used speeches from Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth (see
appendix)
b) Staging dramatic effects (2m):
There are many moments of dramatic intensity in Shakespeare’s plays, often accompanied
by moments which are physically interesting to stage. We have looked at moments from
King Lear and Hamlet (see appendix) but other moments include: The witches summoning
spirits in Macbeth, or the Banquet when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, When Juliet awakes
to find Romeo dead beside her and when Shylock prepares to cut a pound of flesh from
Antonio’s breast. By posing students with difficult to stage pieces of script they are driven
to find meaning in the text.
14.
Video 5:
Themes
Activities to be used in connection with video clips.
a) Theme tableaux (24sec):
There are some common themes that recur in many of Shakespeare’s plays, such asconflict, appearance and reality, order and disorder and change. Focusing on the theme of
appearance and reality in Macbeth students must work together to create tableaus titled
with particular lines from the play (see appendix).
b) Walking the line (1m 27sec):
Students imagine a line down the centre of the room. One side is positive, the other is
negative. Students move over the axis of that line depending on their positive or negative
association with the individual words which form the content of the speech. We have used
a speech from Measure for Measure (see appendix)
15.
Appendix
1 a) Romeo & Juliet – Whoosh!
On a hot morning in Verona (indicate 4 of) the Montagues and (indicate four of) the Capulets
swaggered up to one another and began to fight in the streets. Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin tries to
break up the fight.
BENVOLIO: Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do.
Tybalt, Prince of Cats and Juliet’s cousin enters. He is a fierce swordsman and Benvolio doesn’t
want to fight him.
TYBALT: What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
The fighting is eventually stopped by the Prince who tells them that the next person who breaks
the peace will be punished with death.
PRINCE: Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
WOOSH!
Romeo is met by his Cousin Benvolio – he wanders around by night and sleeps all day. He is
heartbroken for his love Rosalind.
ROMEO: Ay me! sad hours seem long.”
Benvolio mocks Romeo for loving Rosalind who has sworn to live a life without love.
WOOSH!
Lord Capulet plans a feast to introduce his daughter, Juliet, who is almost fourteen, to the Count
Paris who would like to marry her. By a mistake, Montague's son, Romeo, and his friends Benvolio
and the Prince's cousin Mercutio, hear of the party and decide to go in disguise.
WOOSH!
Appendix
Meanwhile Juliet, her nurse and her mother talk about Count Paris, the man who wants to marry
Juliet.
Lady Capulet: Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love?
JULIET: I'll look to like, if looking liking move:
WOOSH!
The (5) Montagues go into the party – dressed in their disguises. They wear masks to hide their
faces from Tybalt and the other (4) Capulets they fought only yesterday. The (3) musicians play and
people dance in their fancy clothes. There is much laughing and happiness.
Romeo hopes he will see his adored Rosaline but instead, while looking for her in the crowd, his
eyes meet with the Daughter of Lord Capulet, (Point to) Juliet and they fall instantly in love.
ROMEO: What lady is that? O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
Juliet's cousin Tybalt recognises the Montagues and they are forced to leave the party just as
Romeo and Juliet have each discovered the other's identity.
NURSE:
His name is Romeo, and a Montague;
The only son of your great enemy.
JULIET
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
WOOSH!
Romeo lingers near the Capulet's house and talks to Juliet when she appears on her balcony.
ROMEO: But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
JULIET:
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
With the help of Juliet's Nurse the lovers arrange to meet next day at the church of Friar Lawrence
when Juliet goes for confession, and they are married by him.
WOOSH!
Appendix
Tybalt picks a quarrel with Mercutio and his friends and Mercutio is accidentally killed as Romeo
intervenes to try to break up the fight.
Mercutio lays dying and blames his death on Romeo and Tybalt.
MERCUTIO: A plague on both your houses!
Romeo pursues Tybalt in anger, kills him and is banished by the Prince for the deed.
PRINCE
And for that offence
Immediately we do exile him hence:
WOOSH!
Juliet is anxious that Romeo is late meeting her and learns of the fighting from her Nurse. With
Friar Lawrence's help it is arranged that Romeo will spend the night with Juliet before taking refuge
at Mantua.
To calm the family's sorrow at Tybalt's death the day for the marriage of Juliet to Paris is brought
forward. Capulet and his wife are angry that Juliet does not wish to marry Paris, not knowing of her
secret contract with Romeo.
Friar Lawrence helps Juliet by providing a sleeping draught that will make everyone think she's
dead. Romeo will then come to her tomb and take her away. When the wedding party arrives to
greet Juliet next day they think she is dead.
LADY CAPULET
O me, O me! My child, my only life,
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!
Help, help! Call help!
WOOSH!
The Friar sends a colleague to warn Romeo to come to the Capulet's family monument to rescue
his sleeping wife but the message doesn't get through and Romeo, hearing instead that Juliet is
dead, buys poison in Mantua.
Apothecary:
Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
Is death to any he that utters them.
Appendix
Romeo persuades him to sell some poison.
ROMEO: Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee.
WOOSH!
Romeo returns to Verona and goes to the tomb where he surprises and kills the mourning Paris. As
he lays Paris’s body in the tomb and turns to his Juliet. She of course appears to be dead and
Romeo is more sad than he has ever been. Romeo looks at her face, she seems strange for a dead
person; she is still so beautiful.
ROMEO: Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous.
Romeo takes the poison.
ROMEO: O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
As the drug takes hold and Romeo dies he sees Juliet’s waking eyes. Seeing that he is dying she
tries to get some poison but there is none left. He dies in her arms. Friar Lawrence tells her what
has happened. She takes Romeo’s dagger and she stabs herself.
JULIET
Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!
[Snatching ROMEO's dagger]
This is thy sheath;
[Stabs herself]
there rust, and let me die.
The Friar returns with the Prince, the (5) Capulets and Romeo's father. The deaths of their children
lead the families to make peace (shaking hands), promising to erect a monument in their memory.
The Prince then speaks as the families cry...
NARRATOR ACTS AS THE PRINCE:
A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Appendix
2 a) Henry V Prologue, Chorus
Chorus
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide on man,
And make imaginary puissance;
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
Exit
Appendix
2 b) Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3. Richard III.
[KING RICHARD III starts out of his dream]
RICHARD III:
Give me another horse: bind up my wounds.
Have mercy, Jesu!—Soft! I did but dream.
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear? myself? there's none else by:
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am:
Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why:
Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
Alack. I love myself. Wherefore? for any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no! alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself!
I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not.
Fool, of thyself speak well: fool, do not flatter.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree
Murder, stem murder, in the direst degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all, Guilty! guilty!
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me;
And if I die, no soul shall pity me:
Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself?
Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd
Came to my tent; and every one did threat
To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard.
Appendix
2 c) Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. Ophelia.
OPHELIA:
“Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!—
The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword,
Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
Th’ observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That sucked the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
That unmatched form and feature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy. Oh, woe is me,
T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!”
2 d) The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2. Caliban.
CALIBAN:
I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.
Appendix
2 d) Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. Lady Macbeth.
LADY MACBETH:
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
4 a) Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 1. Juliet.
JULIET:
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,
O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
Appendix
4 a) Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 1. Ophelia.
OPHELIA:
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.
4 a) Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1. Macbeth.
MACBETH:
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
Appendix
4 b) Hamlet. Act 5, Scene 1. Hamlet, Queen Gertrude and Laertes.
Realising it is Ophelia’s funeral Hamlet comes forth from his hiding place in the graveyard.
Ophelia’s brother Laertes leaps into the open grave to hold his sister in his arms once more.
Hamlet also leaps into the grave to fight with Laertes.
HAMLET:
What, the fair Ophelia!
QUEEN GERTRUDE:
Sweets to the sweet: farewell!
Scattering flowers
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.
LAERTES:
O, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms:
Leaps into the grave
Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,
Till of this flat a mountain you have made,
To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish head
Of blue Olympus.
HAMLET:
[Advancing] What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane.
Leaps into the grave
LAERTES:
The devil take thy soul!
Grappling with him
HAMLET:
Thou pray'st not well.
I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat;
For, though I am not splenitive and rash,
Yet have I something in me dangerous,
Which let thy wiseness fear: hold off thy hand.
I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?
Appendix
4 b) King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6. Edgar and Gloucester.
Edgar pretends to lead a blind Gloucester to the edge of a cliff, which Gloucester intends to jump
off. Instead he hits the ground and faints. When he comes round Edgar pretends to be a passerby
and tells Gloucester it is a miracle he is still alive after falling so far.
GLOUCESTER:
Set me where you stand.
EDGAR:
Give me your hand: you are now within a foot
Of the extreme verge: for all beneath the moon
Would I not leap upright.
GLOUCESTER:
Let go my hand.
Here, friend, 's another purse; in it a jewel
Well worth a poor man's taking: fairies and gods
Prosper it with thee! Go thou farther off;
Bid me farewell, and let me hear thee going.
EDGAR:
Now fare you well, good sir.
GLOUCESTER:
With all my heart.
EDGAR:
Why I do trifle thus with his despair
Is done to cure it.
GLOUCESTER:
[Kneeling] O you mighty gods!
This world I do renounce, and, in your sights,
Shake patiently my great affliction off:
If I could bear it longer, and not fall
To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff and loathed part of nature should
Burn itself out. If Edgar live, O, bless him!
Now, fellow, fare thee well.
He falls forward
Appendix
EDGAR:
Gone, sir: farewell.
And yet I know not how conceit may rob
The treasury of life, when life itself
Yields to the theft: had he been where he thought,
By this, had thought been past. Alive or dead?
Ho, you sir! friend! Hear you, sir! speak!
Thus might he pass indeed: yet he revives.
What are you, sir?
GLOUCESTER:
Away, and let me die.
EDGAR:
Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,
So many fathom down precipitating,
Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg: but thou dost breathe;
Hast heavy substance; bleed'st not; speak'st; art sound.
Ten masts at each make not the altitude
Which thou hast perpendicularly fell:
Thy life's a miracle. Speak yet again.
GLOUCESTER:
But have I fall'n, or no?
EDGAR:
From the dread summit of this chalky bourn.
Look up a-height; the shrill-gorged lark so far
Cannot be seen or heard: do but look up.
GLOUCESTER:
Alack, I have no eyes.
Is wretchedness deprived that benefit,
To end itself by death? 'Twas yet some comfort,
When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage,
And frustrate his proud will.
EDGAR:
Give me your arm:
Up: so. How is 't? Feel you your legs? You stand.
GLOUCESTER:
Too well, too well.
Appendix
5 a) Macbeth, Act(s), Scene(s)

"Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under't."

"So foul and fair a day I have not seen."

"False face must hide what the false heart doth know."

"A dagger of the mind, a false creation"
5. b) Measure for Measure, Act 3, Scene 1. Claudio.
CLAUDIO:
Aye, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison’d in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendant world ; or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts
Imagine howling: ’tis too horrible!
The weariest and most loathed wordly life
That age, ache, penury and imprisonment
Can lay on nature is a paradise
To what we fear of death.