in The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois — Chapman, George
Metadata
Play
The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
Author
Chapman, George
Year (catalogued)
1613
First performance
1610
Decade
1610s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Boys Professional
Company
Children of the Queen's Revels
Theater
Whitefriars;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Mont.
Words
551
Characters
2918
Typicality
0.30 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A18421
BritDrama no.
1612
Cluster
Cluster 12 — Wooers, gallants & courtly love-talk
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Still on this hant? Still shall adulterous blood Affect thy spirits? Think, for shame, but this, This blood that Cockatrice-like thus thou broodest To dry is to breed any quench to thine. And therefore now (if only for thy lust A little covered with a veil of shame) Look out for fresh life, rather then witchlike, Learn to kiss horror, and with death engender. Strange cross in nature, purest virgin shame Lies in the blood, as lust lies; and together Many times mix too: and in none more shameful Then in the shamefaced. Who can then distinguish Betwixt their affections; or tell when he meets With one not common? Yet, as worthiest Poets Shun common and plebeian forms of speech, Every illiberal and affected phrase To cloth their matter: and together tie Matter and form, with Art and decency. So worthiest women should shun vulgar guises, And though they cannot but fly out for change, Yet modesty, the matter of their lives, Be it adulterate, should be painted true With modest out-parts; what they should do still Graced with good show, though deeds be never so ill. I used thee as my soul, to move and rule me. Sweet Lord forbear. Show, show your purpose sir. To move such bold feet into others roofs. Murder, murder! Who have you let into my house? 'Tis false, I savour the rank blood of foes In every corner. 'Sdeath the vault opens. Treason, murder, murder. Oh bloody strumpet! No, no, come and kill me . I do not show this baseness, that I fear thee, But to prevent and shame thy victory, Which of one base is base, and so I'll die. Give me leave To fetch and use the sword thy Brother gave me When he was bravely giving up his life. By all truth, no: Take but my honourable oath, I will not. Out on thee dam of Devils, I will quite Disgrace thy braves conquest, die, not fight. Sink Earth, open Heaven, And let fallen vengeance. Oh shame of women, whither art thou fled! No sir, I'll fight now, and the terror be Of all you Champions to such as she. I did but thus far dally: now observe, Oh all you aching foreheads that have robbed, Your hands of weapons, and your hearts of valour, Join in me all your rages, and rebutters, And into dust ram this same raze of Furies, In this one relic of the Ambois gall, In his one purple soul shed, drown it all. Now give me breath a while. What think y'a this now? Now I shall grace your conquest. If you obtain it. If you were not a D'Ambois, I would scarce Change lives with you, I feel so great a change In my tall spirits breathed, I think, with the breath A D'Ambois breathes here, and necessity (With whose point now pricked on, and so, whose help My hands may challege, that does all men conquer, If she except not you, of all men only) May change the case here. Well, I must on. Then at all. Y'haue given it me, And yet I feel life for another vennie, Pray thee let him decide it. Said Like a D'Ambois, and if now I die, Fit joy and all good on thy victory.
Plot summary
Plot — The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
Before the start of the action, the Duke of Guise had Bussy D’Amboise and his brother Clermont brought ===== PAGE 63 ===== 1610 to court. Montsoreau had Bussy killed in reprisal for his adultery with Tamyra, and he died prophesying the deaths of Monsieur and Guise; his ghost then appeared to Clermont demanding revenge. Their sister Charlotte also seeks to avenge Bussy, and made her marriage to Baligny conditional on his swearing to participate in the plot; but Clermont insists on doing it alone, as the ghost commanded. Baligny’s role is, therefore, to deliver Clermont’s challenge to Montsoreau; but he cannot get access because Montsoreau has fearfully barricaded himself into his house. Two allies help him. Renel, who is selling his lands to Montsoreau, enables him to get in. When Montsoreau refuses to accept the challenge, Baligny leaves it behind anyway and Tamyra, who has reluctantly gone back to her husband, promises to make him read it. Unknown to the others, Baligny is reporting to the King on potential troublemakers like Clermont and Renel. The King is concerned at the growing power of Guise’s faction, so he and Baligny arrange for Clermont to be arrested: Clermont is to travel with Baligny to inspect the troops at Cambrai, and there he will be taken into custody by Baligny’s lieutenant, Maillard; thus Baligny will not have to participate directly in his brother-in-law’s downfall. Clermont has to leave Paris before concluding his business with Montsoreau. In Cambrai, he receives an anonymous letter warning him of Baligny’s treachery, but refuses to credit it. Maillard arrests him, with difficulty, and he is taken back to the Bastille; but he is allowed to send a message to his lover, the Countess of Cambrai, who was expecting him to visit her that evening. ~ Guise pressurizes the King into signing an order for . Clermont’s release. News arrives that Monsieur has died, just as Bussy predicted. Clermont’s siblings are impatient to see Bussy’s revenge completed: Bussy’s ghost appears again to chivvy him on, and Charlotte comes to Paris in men’s clothes, intending to kill Montsoreau herself. Distressed at the news of Clermont'’s arrest, the Countess weeps herself blind; having dreamed that Clermont will die avenging Bussy, she too comes to Paris to dissuade him. The disguised Charlotte presents herself as the ideal solution, but the ghost insists that Clermont must do it — but also reassures the Countess that he will not die in the attempt. The King has…