Notes

This scene is important since it brings the major issues to a climax and points to a settlement. In the first part of the scene, Westmoreland reproves York for being a rebel when he should be a man promoting harmony and peace. “If that rebellion Came like itself, in base and abject routs,/ Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rags” presents a lively image is. Guarded can mean trimmed and the rebellion is presented in terms of “abject” disorder and beggary. Rebellion allegorically personified progressing as a monarch through a beggarly crowd followed by blood-stained youth and supported by boys and beggary. In the lines, “Wherefore do you so ill translate youself/ Out of the speech of peace that bears such grace/ Into the harsh and boist’rous tongue of war,” we can see the image of “translation” on which the whole passage is built. It ironically refers to York’s literary occupations now set aside. “Graves” result from the “boist’rous tongue of war” and books from the graceful speech of peace. York replies that though he appears to be an enemy of peace and a rebel leader, that is only for a while. His main objective is to establish true peace in the nation and see to it that the people’s grievances are duly settled.

York assures Mowbray that if their grievances are not properly settled, then the rebel forces will be much stronger than before: “Our peace will, like a broken limb united,/ Grow stronger for the breaking.” This medical fact implies that just as a broken bone is the stronger when it is well set, so is the strength of the rebels, if they are cheated. Westmoreland arrives and announces that the Prince has come to give them a hearing. York happily exclaims, “Before and greet his Grace My Lord, we come.” These are the last words of York. The urgent actions, plans, and the optimistic imagination of York about the future come to an end.

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