This page contains the original text of Richard III, Act 3, Scene 3. Shakespeare’s original Richard III text is long, so we’ve split the text into one Scene per page. All Acts and Scenes are listed on the original Richard III text page, or linked to from the bottom of this page.
ACT 3, SCENE 3. Pomfret Castle
   Enter RATCLIFF, with halberds, carrying RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN to death
RATCLIFF
Come, bring forth the prisoners.
RIVERS
Sir Richard Ratcliff, let me tell thee this:
To-day shalt thou behold a subject die
For truth, for duty, and for loyalty.
GREY
God keep the prince from all the pack of you!
A knot you are of damned blood-suckers!
VAUGHAN
You live that shall cry woe for this after.
RATCLIFF
Dispatch; the limit of your lives is out.
RIVERS
O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,
Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
Richard the second here was hack’d to death;
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give thee up our guiltless blood to drink.
GREY
Now Margaret’s curse is fall’n upon our heads,
For standing by when Richard stabb’d her son.
RIVERS
Then cursed she Hastings, then cursed she Buckingham,
Then cursed she Richard. O, remember, God
To hear her prayers for them, as now for us
And for my sister and her princely sons,
Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
Which, as thou know’st, unjustly must be spilt.
RATCLIFF
Make haste; the hour of death is expiate.
RIVERS
Come, Grey, come, Vaughan, let us all embrace:
And take our leave, until we meet in heaven.
   Exeunt
Â
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read more orginal Richard III text:
Richard III Act 1, Scene 1
Richard III Act 1, Scene 2
Richard III Act 1, Scene 3
Richard III Act 1, Scene 4
Richard III Act 2, Scene 1
Richard III Act 2, Scene 2
Richard III Act 2, Scene 3
Richard III Act 2, Scene 4
Richard III Act 3, Scene 1
Richard III Act 3, Scene 2
Richard III Act 3, Scene 3
Richard III Act 3, Scene 4
Richard III Act 3, Scene 5
Richard III Act 3, Scene 6
Richard III Act 3, Scene 7
Richard III Act 4, Scene 1
Richard III Act 4, Scene 2
Richard III Act 4, Scene 3
Richard III Act 4, Scene 4
Richard III Act 4, Scene 5
Richard III Act 5, Scene 1
Richard III Act 5, Scene 2
Richard III Act 5, Scene 3
Richard III Act 5, Scene 4
Richard III Act 5, Scene 5
See more Richard III resources >>