[Politics History & Theatre] Immigration Ian McKellen performs Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More, Act II, Scene 4 (1593), at The People Speak event, London
TL;DR 🤣
[media=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEAeOshUGQ&t=3s&pp=2AEDkAIB]
Note this play was a 1593 collaboration with
Key Contributors
Shakespeare: He is believed to have written a portion of the text, particularly the speech you mentioned, which addresses themes of xenophobia and compassion.
Anthony Munday: A significant contributor, Munday's writing shaped much of the early material that would become part of the play.
Henry Chettle: He is also believed to have had a hand in the play's development, contributing to its final form.
Samuel Rowley: Involved in the latter stages, Rowley's work helped complete the overall narrative.
The play remains an example of collaborative effort, reflecting various voices and styles, which collectively bring depth to the themes addressed.
[media=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEAeOshUGQ&t=3s&pp=2AEDkAIB]
Speech from Sir Thomas More.
"Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs with their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation.
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silenced by your brawl,
And you in rough of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I'll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes feed
Would on one another.
O, desperate as you are,
Wash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,
That you like rebels lift against the peace,
Lift up for peace, and your unreverent knees,
Make them your feet to kneel to be forgiven!
You'll put down strangers,
Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And lead the majesty of law and lie,
To slip him like a hound. Say now the king (As he is clement, if th' offender mourn)
Should so much come to short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England—
Why, you must needs be strangers: would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But chartered unto them, what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers' case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity.
"Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs with their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation.
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silenced by your brawl,
And you in rough of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I'll tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes feed
Would on one another.
O, desperate as you are,
Wash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,
That you like rebels lift against the peace,
Lift up for peace, and your unreverent knees,
Make them your feet to kneel to be forgiven!
You'll put down strangers,
Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And lead the majesty of law and lie,
To slip him like a hound. Say now the king (As he is clement, if th' offender mourn)
Should so much come to short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England—
Why, you must needs be strangers: would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But chartered unto them, what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers' case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity.
Note this play was a 1593 collaboration with
Key Contributors
Shakespeare: He is believed to have written a portion of the text, particularly the speech you mentioned, which addresses themes of xenophobia and compassion.
Anthony Munday: A significant contributor, Munday's writing shaped much of the early material that would become part of the play.
Henry Chettle: He is also believed to have had a hand in the play's development, contributing to its final form.
Samuel Rowley: Involved in the latter stages, Rowley's work helped complete the overall narrative.
The play remains an example of collaborative effort, reflecting various voices and styles, which collectively bring depth to the themes addressed.
61-69, M
