quotes, notes, timelines & more

Home » Shakespeare's Works » Elements » Characters » Queen Margaret

Queen Margaret

Animal Imagery

Read the Note

Animal imagery dominates Henry VI, Part 3, as in two passages here:

Margaret
And yet shalt thou be safe? Such safety finds

The trembling lamb environèd with wolves.
Had I been there, which am a silly woman,
The soldiers should have tossed me on their pikes
Before I would have granted to that act…
… continue reading this note

Learning by Living

Read the Note

In Love’s Labors Lost, Armado’s exclamation about the boy’s “Sweet smoke of rhetoric” complements the boy’s previous remark about his “penny of observation.” These two metaphors capture Shakespeare’s genius, both to observe and to poetically express human nature. In Love’s Labor’s Lost, the country boy, not the nobility, possesses these qualities.
… continue reading this note

As by your high imperial Majesty

Read the Quote

Suffolk
As by your high imperial Majesty
I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator to your Excellence,
To marry Princess Margaret for your Grace,
So, in the famous ancient city Tours,
In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,
The Dukes of Orleance, Calaber, Britaigne, and Alanson,
Seven earls, twelve barons,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 1
Line 1

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, ,

Themes:

Pardon me, Margaret.—Pardon me, sweet son

Read the Quote

King Henry
Pardon me, Margaret.—Pardon me, sweet son.
The Earl of Warwick and the Duke enforced me.
Queen Margaret 
Enforced thee? Art thou king and wilt be forced?
I shame to hear thee speak. Ah, timorous wretch,
Thou hast undone thyself, thy son, and me,
And giv’n unto the house of York such head
As thou shalt reign but by their sufferance!
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 1
Line 236

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, , ,

Themes:
, ,

Connected Notes:
Animal Imagery

Peace, Master Marquess, you are malapert

Read the Quote

Queen Margaret
Peace, Master Marquess, you are malapert.
Your fire-new stamp of honor is scarce current.
O, that your young nobility could judge
What ’twere to lose it and be miserable!
They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,
And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces.

They that stand high have many blasts to shake them,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 2
Line 271

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, , ,

Have done thy charm, thou hateful, withered hag

Read the Quote

Richard
Have done thy charm, thou hateful, withered hag.
Queen Margaret
And leave out thee? Stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me.
If heaven have any grievous plague in store
Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee,
O, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe
And then hurl down their indignation
On thee,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 3
Line 225

Source Type:

Spoken by:
,

Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself

Read the Quote

Queen Elizabeth, to Queen Margaret
Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself.
Queen Margaret
Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my fortune,
Why strew’st thou sugar on that bottled spider,
Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?
Fool, fool, thou whet’st a knife to kill thyself.
The day will come that thou shalt wish for me
To help thee curse this poisonous bunch-backed toad.
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 3
Line 255

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, , ,

O princely Buckingham, I’ll kiss thy hand

Read the Quote

Queen Margaret
O princely Buckingham, I’ll kiss thy hand
In sign of league and amity with thee.
Now fair befall thee and thy noble house!
Thy garments are not spotted with our blood,
Nor thou within the compass of my curse.
Buckingham
Nor no one here, for curses never pass
The lips of those that breathe them in the air.
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 3
Line 298

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, ,

Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland

Read the Quote

Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland,
Come, make him stand upon this molehill here
That raught at mountains with outstretchèd arms,
Yet parted but the shadow with his hand.

 They place York on a small prominence.

What, was it you that would be England’s king?
Was ‘t you that reveled in our parliament
And made a preachment of your high descent?
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 1
Scene 4
Line 66

Source Type:

Spoken by:

Comfort, my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!

Read the Quote

Suffolk
Comfort, my sovereign! Gracious Henry, comfort!
King Henry
What, doth my lord of Suffolk comfort me?
Came he right now to sing a raven’s note,
Whose dismal tune bereft my vital powers,
And thinks he that the chirping of a wren,
By crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceivèd sound?
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 3
Scene 2
Line 40

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, ,

Themes:

Mischance and sorrow go along with you!

Read the Quote

Queen Margaret, calling after King Henry and
Warwick
Mischance and sorrow go along with you!
Heart’s discontent and sour affliction
Be playfellows to keep you company!
There’s two of you; the devil make a third,
And threefold vengeance tend upon your steps!
Suffolk
Cease, gentle queen, these execrations,
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 3
Scene 2
Line 311

Source Type:

Spoken by:
,

Themes:

So now prosperity begins to mellow

Read the Quote

Queen Margaret
So now prosperity begins to mellow
And drop into the rotten mouth of death.
Here in these confines slyly have I lurked
To watch the waning of mine enemies.
A dire induction am I witness to,
And will to France, hoping the consequence
Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical.
Withdraw thee, wretched Margaret.
… continue reading this quote

Source:
Act 4
Scene 4
Line 1

Source Type:

Spoken by:
, ,