Edward II, Act 4

‫ املرحــةل الثانيــة‬. ‫ الفصل الرابــــع‬EDWARD II. ‫ رعد لـ مرسحية‬.‫رشح د‬

‫ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ‬ Act 4, scene 1. ‫ـــــــــــــــ‬

Enter Edmund [the Earl of Kent]

KENT Fair blows the wind for France. Blow, gentle gale,
Till Edmund be arrived for England’s good.

Nature, yield to my country’s cause in this.0

A brother, no, a butcher of thy friends,
Proud Edward, dost thou banish me thy presence?
He banishes him and Edmund goes to France.

Dr’s comment : he calls his brogher “a butcher of thy friends “ and he calls him a proud. (Pride)
is the basic sin. It is considered in the Christianity one of the biggest and the first sins. So he
described as being proud.

But I’ll to France, and cheer the wronged queen,

And certify what Edward’s looseness is.
Unnatural king, to slaughter noble men
And cherish flatterers!
Dr’s comment : notice how he calls him “ unnatural king”
This is really summarises the problem with Edward. He cherish = he brings flatterers closer. And
kills the nobles.
Of course the noblemen did not raise against Edward , because they wanted to take the throne
or to replace Edward. And they wanted to separate him from the flatterers and that they may
be the reason of Edward’s losing of the throne.
Their noblity for England. But Edward as Kent described him, proud and does not listen.

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Edward II, Act 4

Mortimer, I stay thy sweet escape; io

Stand gracious, gloomy night, to his device!
Dr’s comment : we learn that Mortimer is planing to escape and here Kent is praying that the
knight would help him.

Enter Mortimer [Junior] disguised

Mortimer Holla! Who walketh there? Is’t you, my lord?

KENT Mortimer, ’tis I.
But hath thy potion wrought so happily?0

Mortimer It hath, my lord. The warders all asleep, 15

I thank them, gave me leave to pass in peace.
Dr’s comment : we learn now, He has drugged the guards, and was able to escape.

But hath your grace got shipping unto France?

KENT Fear it not.

Exeunt
They leave, and they both are heading towards France.

‫ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ‬ Act 4, scene 2. ‫ـــــــــــــــ‬

Enter the Queen and her son [Prince Edward]

Queen Ah, boy, our friends do fail us all in France,

The lords are cruel, and the king unkind.
What shall we do?

Dr’s comment : here the scene moves to the Queen, and the Queen complains that everybody
is unkind to her including her brother, the king himself.

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Edward II, Act 4

Prince Madam, return to England,

And please my father well, and then a fig
For all my uncle’s friendship here in France.0
I warrant you, I’ll win his highness quickly;
’A loves me better than a thousand Spencers.

Her son tells her to go back to England and he assures her that his father loves him more than
Spencer.
Dr’s comment : when he says “ I warrant you, I’ll win his highness quickly;
’A loves me better than a thousand Spencers”.

What do you think about this?

These two lines are irony. Indeed ironic. Because he does not know his father well. His mother
knows Edward better.

Queen Ah, boy, thou art deceived, at least in this,

To think that we can yet be tuned together.
She tells him you are deceived, at least in this matter.

No, no, we jar too far. Unkind Valois,0 10

Unhappy Isabel! When Frapce rejects,0
Whither, O, whither dost thou bend thy steps?
She is in distress. As to where she would go, her husband does not like her anymore. And her
brother does not welcome her.

Enter Sir John of Hainault

SIR JOHN Madam, what cheer?

Queen Ah, good Sir John of Hainault,
Never so cheerless nor so far distressed.

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Edward II, Act 4

SIR JOHN I hear, sweet lady, of the king’s unkindness. 15

But droop not, madam; noble minds contemn
Despair. Will your grace with me to Hainault
And there stay time’s advantage with your son?—0
How say you, my lord, will you go with your friends

And shake off all our fortunes equally?0

He offers to receive her in his castle.

Prince So pleaseth the queen my mother, me it likes.

The king of England nor the court of France
Shall have me from my gracious mother’s side

Till I be strong enough to break a staff,0

And then have at the proudest Spencer’s head
Edward, the son, promises to revenge himself upon Spencer.
Dr’s comment : this speech tells us very clearly that the Prince is still a boy, probably.

He is more considerate than his father. He knows the danger of SPencer, he promises to take
action against him while his father does not.

Sir JOHN Well said, my lord.

Queen O, my sweet heart, how do I moan thy wrongs,
Yet triumph in the hope of thee, my joy.
Ah, sweet Sir John, even to the utmost verge
Of Europe, or the shore of Tana’is,0 30

Will we with thee to Hainault, so we will.

The marquis is a noble gentleman;
His grace, I dare presume, will welcome me.
But who are these?

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Edward II, Act 4

The Queen expresses her happiness to accompany him. In the Meantime, Enter Edmund [Earl
ofKent] and Mortimer [Junior].

KENT Madam, long may you live,

Much happier than your friends in England do. 35

Queen Lord Edmund and Lord Mortimer alive?

Welcome to France. [To Mortimer] The news was here, my lord,

That you were dead, or very near your death.

Mortimer Lady, the last was truest of the twain,

But Mortimer, reserved for better hap,0 40
Hath shaken off the thraldom of the Tower,
She heard that he was either killed or about to be killed.
Mortimer tells her that he was able to escape. Then he addresses Prince Edward :

[To Prince Edward]

And lives t’advance your standard, good my lord.
I live to serve under your banner my lord. In other words, Mortimer going to support the young
Prince till he become a king instead of his father.

Prince How mean you, an the king my father lives?0

No, my Lord Mortimer, not I, I trow.
The boy refuses, he tells him “ i can’t be a king while my father lives”.

Queen Not, son? Why not? I would it were no worse.

But, gentle lords, friendless we are in France.
The Queen does not mind, because their fortune are bad. They are friendless in France as she
says.

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Edward II, Act 4

MORTIMER Monsieur le Grand, a noble friend of yours,

Told us at our arrival all the news:
How hard the nobles, how unkind the king
Hath showed himself. But, madam, right makes room 50
Where weapons want; and, though a many friends

Are made away—as Warwick, Lancaster,

And others of our party and faction—
Yet have we friends, assure your grace, in England
Would cast up caps and clap their hands for joy° 55

To see us there appointed for our foes.°

Mortimer assures her that despite the bad treatment she received in France. And that his
friends like, Warwick and Lancaster and others were executed by the king. They still have
friends in England who would be Happy to receive them and give them support.

KENT Would all were well, and Edward well reclaimed

For England’s honour, peace, and quietness!
Kent wishes that Edward would leave the company of flatterers and correct himself for the sake
of England, for the sake of peace.

Mortimer But by the sword, my lord, it must be deserved.

The king will ne’er forsake his flatterers.
This summarises the situation the king will never leave flatterers, unless by the sword.

Sir John My lords of England, sith the ungentle king

Of France refuseth to give aid of arms
To this distressed queen his sister here,
Go you with her to Hainault. Doubt ye not
We will find comfort, money, men, and friends 65

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Edward II, Act 4

Ere long to bid the English king a base.0

How say, young prince, what think you of the match?
Sir John offers them help in the form of comfort, money, men, and friends. He offers everything
they need.

Prince I think King Edward will outrun us all

The Prince says that king Edward is though to be better prepared.

Queen Nay, son, not so, and you must not discourage
Your friends that are so forward in your aid.
It seems that everyone including the young prince, have agreed to depose Edward, and replace
his son instead of him.

Kent Sir John of Hainault, pardon us, I pray.

These comforts that you give our woeful queen
Bind us in kindness all at your command.

Queen Yea, gentle brother, and the God of heaven0

Prosper your happy motion, good Sir John! 75

Mortimer This noble gentleman, forward in arms,0

Was bom, I see, to be our anchor-hold.0
Sir John of Hainault, be it thy renown

That England’s queen and nobles in distress

Have been by thee restored and comforted. 80
Sir JOHN Madam, along, and you, my lord, with me,
That England’s peers may Hainault’s welcome see.

[Exeunt]
He welcomes them. Despite the That scene 1 is a very short scene. And in scene 2 there was not
that much of action. Yet, many things introduced. Kent is banished. Mortimer is not dead and

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Edward II, Act 4

he managed to escape. And they are preparing to depose Edward and replace his son in his
place. And everybody agrees on that, even the young prince.

‫ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ‬ Act 4, scene 3. ‫ـــــــــــــــ‬

Enter the King, Arundel, the two Spencers, with others

EDWARD Thus after many threats of wrathful war

Triumpheth England’s Edward with his friends;
And triumph Edward, with his friends uncontrolled.0
My lord of Gloucester, do you hear the news?
Edward considered England to be Triumpheth.

What is special about this speech?

He gives Spencer new title, Earl of Gloucester, which means that he did not stop what he used
to do. The victory is temporary, because he did not get rid of all his enemies.
Dr’s comment : notice What he says “ with his friends uncontrolled”. All The problem happened
because of his relationship with Gaveston and Spencer. No one is controling What Edward os
doing with other people.

Spencer What news, my lord?

Edward Why, man, they say there is great execution
Done through the realm. My lord of Arundel,
You have the note, have you not?

ARUNDEL [producing a note]

From the lieutenant of the Tower, my lord.

Edward I pray let us see it. What have we there? Io

Read it, Spencer.

Spencer reads the names [of those executed]°

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Edward II, Act 4

This is a list of those who are executed. Because of their fighting to the king.

Why so, they barked apace a month ago;

Now, on my life, they’ll neither bark nor bite.

Dr’s comment : notice the way he comment, he insults them. They did not raise because they
liked it. They rose because they saw a threat to the kingdom in Edward’s behaviour, so they
decide to raise against him. And he calls them dogs.

Now, sirs, the news from France. Gloucester, I trow

The lords of France love England’s gold so well 15
As Isabella gets no aid from thence.

Edward pride the lords of France so that they wouldn’t aid his wife.

What now remains? Have you proclaimed, my lord,

Reward for them can bring in Mortimer?
He would give a reward for whom that can bring Mortimer.

Spencer My lord, we have, and if he be in England,

’A will be had ere long, I doubt it not.
This is ironic. Because they will not be able to capture Mortimer so easily.

Edward ‘IF, dost thou say? Spencer, as true as death,

He is in England’s ground. Our port-masters
Are not so careless of their king’s command.

Enter a Post [with a letter]

How now, what news with thee? From whence come these?
Post Letters, my lord, and tidings forth of France, 25
To you, my lord of Gloucester, from Levune.

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Edward II, Act 4

These are letters to Spencer. Because in Act 3, Levune was sent with gold the nobles of France

EDWARD Read.
Edward tells him to read

Spencer (reads the letter) ‘My duty to your honour premised,0 etc.
I have, according to instructions in that behalf, dealt with the king.
Of France his° lords, and effected that the queen, all discontented 30.
And discomforted, is gone; whither, if you ask, with Sir John of
Hainault, brother to the marquis, into Flanders. With them are
gone Lord Edmund and the Lord Mortimer, having in their
Company divers of your nation and others; and, as constant report
goeth, they intend to give King Edward battle in England sooner
Than he can look for them. This is all the news of import.
. Your honour’s in all service, Levune.’
Levune have spied news to king Edward telling him of all What the Queen, Mortimer,
and Kent are planing to do.

Edward Ah, villains, hath that Mortimer escaped?

With him is Edmund gone associate?
And will Sir John of Hainault lead the round? 4°

Welcome, i’ God’s name, madam, and your son.

England shall welcome you and all your rout.
Gallop apace, bright Phoebus, through the sky,
And dusky night, in rusty iron car,
Between you both shorten the time, I pray, 45

That I may see that most desired day

When we may meet these traitors in the field.
He prays that the day becomes shorter so that he can meet the traitors in battle.

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Edward II, Act 4

Dr’s comment : notice that Edward is anxious for war, for killing, for the divison of the kingdom
so that he can keep his twisted relationships with his favorites.
A wise king does not hurry to a war that will destroy the kingdom and kill the people.

This speech is ironic. Edward will escape, and will be captured, and finally he will be executed.
So this is irony, because he does not know What is waiting for him.

Ah, nothing grieves me but my little boy

Is thus misled to countenance their ills.
Come, friends, to Bristol, there to make us strong; 50
And, winds, as equal be to bring them in

As you injurious were to bear them forth.0

[Exeunt]
He feel displeased because they misled his son in order to be with them and follow them.
Misled = ‫ُمغرر او ُمضلل‬

Is his son actually misled?

No, he is more wise than his father.

Or is there another reason that make his son share the other nobles their
attempts to depose Edward from the throne?
This boy, maybe he is still young, yet he feel responsible more than his father, which is the king.
He does not accept his father’s behaviour. He does not accept on the flatterers around his
father. Nither on the wars.
This is ironic that Edward believes that he is going to win. It is even ironic that he is very anxious
to fight the war.

And, winds, as equal be to bring them in

As you injurious were to bear them forth.0
[Exeunt]

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Edward II, Act 4

Edward addressing the wind, he says like you were harmful and carried them to France
Peacefully so that they conspire against him. For him, even the wind conspire against him. He
says be fair and bring them back to England, in order to meet them and fight them.

Marlowe makes Edward uses symbols and images of nature frequently. And we feel that
Edward is not a real king.

King manqué

Manqué = is someone who fails in become What he want to be, or fails in What he is ordered.
= ‫شخص يفشل في ان يصبح ما يريد ان يصبح او فيما مطلوب منه‬
Edward is a king manqué. Because he waste his time with flatterers and listen to them, instead
of listening to the advisors. He brings Gaveston, Spencer, and Baldock. They are flatterers.

‫ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ‬ Act 4, scene 4. ‫ـــــــــــــــ‬

Enter the Queen, her son [Prince Edward], Edmund [Earl of Kent], Mortimer [Junior], and
SirJohn [of Hainault]

Queen Now, lords, our loving friends and countrymen,

Welcome to England all with prosperous winds.
Scene 3 ends with wind and scene 4 also begins with wind “ prosperous winds”.
The Playwright using this as if he want to tells us that there is a hidden wind, strong wind, in
which it moves the action, and things.

Our kindest friends in Belgia have we left0

To cope with friends at home—a heavy case,
When force to force is knit, and sword and glaive0 5

In civil broils makes kin and countrymen

Slaughter themselves in others, and their sides
With their own weapons gored

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Edward II, Act 4

The Queene is showing more consideration than her husband. She expresses her regret that the
country is in Internal conflict.
“Kin and countrymen”

The Relatives and the sons of one country Slaughter themselves, killing themselves.

But what’s the help?0

Misgoverned kings are cause of all this wrack,

Instead of makeing advisors around him, he surrounds himself with flatterers and become
Misgoverned king.

And, Edward, thou art one among them all 10

Whose looseness hath betrayed thy land to spoil

And made the channels overflow with blood.
Of thine own people patron shouldst thou be,
But thou—
She complains from the King’s recklessness. And his indifference about the country

Mortimer Nay, madam, if you be a warrior,

Ye must not grow so passionate in speeches
One of the qualities of the ruler is that must not grow so passionate in speeches. Must not
show strong feelings which makes his personality weak. He does not want her to become like
Edward. Which she show weakness.

Lords, sith that we are by sufferance of heaven

Arrived and armed in this prince’s right,
Here for our country’s cause swear we to him

All homage, fealty, and forwardness;

Now, they are swearing in nobility to the young prince

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Edward II, Act 4

And, for the open wrongs and injuries

Edward hath done to us, his queen, and land,

We come in arms to wreck it with the sword,

That England’s queen in peace may repossess
Her dignities and honours, and withal
We may remove these flatterers from the king

That havocs England’s wealth and treasury.

They swear in nobility to bring the Queen’s rights back. And to defend the kingdom and the
Queen. And to stand in the king’s face for his bad behaviour.

Sir JOHN Sound trumpets, my lord, and forward let us march.

Edward will think we come to flatter him.°

Sir John says Let us go fight, for that Edward would think that we are going to courtesy him he
think We will flatter him.

KENT I would he never had been flattered more.

[Trumpets sound. Exeunt]
Sadly, Kent says, i wish that no one would flatter the king.

‫ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ‬ Act 4, scene 5. ‫ـــــــــــــــ‬

Enter the King, Baldock, and Spencer the son, flying about The stage

Spencer Fly, fly, my lord! The queen is over-strong;

Her friends do multiply, and yours do fail.
Shape we our course to Ireland, there to breathe.0

They lost in the battle.

Dr’s comment : look at how Marlowe abbreviate the battle in this sentence. They lose and they
are escaping.

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Edward II, Act 4

Edward What, was I bom to fly and run away,

And leave the Mortimers conquerors behind?
Give me my horse, and let’s r’enforce our troops
And in this bed of honour die with fame.

BALDOCK O no, my lord, this princely resolution

Fits not the time. Away! We are pursued.

[Exeunt]
Edward would not let the Mortimers and cannot let them to be winners in the battlefield. He
want to fight and even to be killed instead of losing the battle. But he is defeated.
Baldock says No, it is not the time for pride of Princes. Now let us run away. For that if we
stayed, we are going to be KILLED !

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