Henry VI, Part I by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 5
The same.
Lord Talbot/Earl of Shrewsbury : Where is my strength, my valour, and my force?
[p]Our English troops
retire, I cannot stay them:
[p]A woman clad in armour chaseth
them.
[p][Re-enter JOAN LA PUCELLE]
[p]Here, here she comes. I'll have
a bout with thee;
[p]Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee:
[p]Blood
will I draw on thee, thou art a witch,
[p]And straightway give thy
soul to him thou servest.
Joan la Pucelle : Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.
Lord Talbot/Earl of Shrewsbury : Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail?
[p]My breast I'll burst
with straining of my courage
[p]And from my shoulders crack my arms
asunder.
[p]But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet.
Joan la Pucelle : Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come:
[p]I must go victual
Orleans forthwith.
[p][A short alarum; then enter the town with
soldiers]
[p]O'ertake me, if thou canst; I scorn thy strength.
[p]Go,
go, cheer up thy hungry-starved men;
[p]Help Salisbury to make his
testament:
[p]This day is ours, as many more shall be.
Lord Talbot/Earl of Shrewsbury : My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;
[p]I know not where I
am, nor what I do;
[p]A witch, by fear, not force, like
Hannibal,
[p]Drives back our troops and conquers as she lists:
[p]So
bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench
[p]Are from their hives
and houses driven away.
[p]They call'd us for our fierceness English
dogs;
[p]Now, like to whelps, we crying run away.
[p][A short
alarum]
[p]Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight,
[p]Or tear the
lions out of England's coat;
[p]Renounce your soil, give sheep in
lions' stead:
[p]Sheep run not half so treacherous from the
wolf,
[p]Or horse or oxen from the leopard,
[p]As you fly from your
oft-subdued slaves.
[p][Alarum. Here another skirmish]
[p]It will not
be: retire into your trenches:
[p]You all consented unto Salisbury's
death,
[p]For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.
[p]Pucelle is
enter'd into Orleans,
[p]In spite of us or aught that we could
do.
[p]O, would I were to die with Salisbury!
[p]The shame hereof will
make me hide my head.
Previous: Act 1 - Scene 4
Next: Act 1 - Scene 6
