Monologue

Hotspur Monologue from Henry IV, Part 1

From Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare

male · defiant · 1:42 min

Sick now? Droop now? This sickness doth infect The very life-blood of our enterprise; ’Tis catching hither, even to our camp. He writes me here, that inward sickness— And that his friends by deputation could not So soon be drawn, nor did he think it meet To lay so dangerous and dear a trust On any soul removed but on his own. Yet doth he give us bold advertisement That with our small conjunction we should on, To see how fortune is disposed to us; For, as he writes, there is no quailing now, Because the King is certainly possess’d Of all our purposes. What say you to it? (WORCESTER: Your father’s sickness is a maim to us.) A perilous gash, a very limb lopp’d off— And yet, in faith, it is not! His present want Seems more than we shall find it. Were it good To set the exact wealth of all our states All at one cast? To set so rich a main On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour? It were not good, for therein should we read The very bottom and the soul of hope, The very list, the very utmost bound Of all our fortunes.

About this piece

20s · determination · honor · power · ambition · fate

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More from Henry IV, Part 1

  • Kinginspirational · 2:03 min
  • Kingjoyful · 2:13 min
  • Kinganguished · 1:13 min
  • Falstaffsarcastic · 1:13 min
  • Poinscomedic · 1:05 min
  • Princephilosophical · 1:45 min