“Ay, no; no, ay;—for I must nothing be;
Therefore, no, no, for I resign to thee.”
When he is asked to confess his sins in public, he moves us all to pity:
“Must I do so? and must I ravel out
My weaved up follies? Gentle Northumberland,
If thy offences were upon record,
Would it not shame thee, in so fair a troop,
To read a lecture of them?”
His eyes are too full of tears to read his own faults, and sympathy brings tears to our eyes also. Richard calls for a glass wherein to see his sins, and we are reminded of Hamlet, who advises the players to hold the mirror up to nature. He jests with his grief, too, in quick-witted retort, as Hamlet jests:
“Rich. Say that again.
The shadow of my sorrow? Ha! let's see:—
'Tis very true, my grief lies all within;
And these external manners of lament
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief,
That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul.”
Hamlet touches the self-same note:
“'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
- - - - - - - -
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.”
In the fifth act, the scene between the Queen and Richard is used simply to move our pity. She says he is “most beauteous,” but all too mild, and he answers her:
“I am sworn brother, sweet,
To grim necessity; and he and I
Will keep a league till death.”
He bids her take,