Shakespeare Henry Iv Essay Example For Students

Shakespeare Henry Iv Essay A monologue from the play by William ShakespeareLADY PERCY: O my good lord, why are you thus alone?For what offense have I this fortnight beenA banished woman from my Harrys bed?Tell me, sweet lord, what ist that takes from theeThy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,And start so often when thou sitst alone?Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeksAnd given my treasures and my rights of theeTo thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watched,And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars,Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed,Cry Courage! to the field! And thou hast talkedOf sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,Of prisoners ransom, and of soldiers slain,And all the currents of a heady fight.Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep,That beads of sweat have stood upon thy browLik e bubbles in a late-disturbed stream,And in thy face strange motions have appeared,Such as we see when men restrain their breathOn some great sudden hest. O, what portents are these?Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,And I must know it, else he loves me not.