Edward
By earth, the common mother of us all,
By Heaven, and all the moving orbs thereof,
By this right hand, and by my father’s sword,
And all the honours ’longing to my crown,
I will have heads, and lives for him, as many
As I have manors, castles, towns, and towers.
Treacherous Warwick! traitorous Mortimer!
If it be England’s king, in lakes of gore
Your headless trunks, your bodies will I trail,
That you may drink your fill, and quaff in blood,
And stain my royal standard with the same,
That so my bloody colours may suggest
Remembrance of revenge immortally
On your accursed traitorous progeny,
You villains, that have slain my Gaveston.
And in this place of honour and of trust,
Spencer, sweet Spencer, I adopt thee here:
And merely of our love we do create thee
Earl of Gloucester, and Lord Chamberlain,
Despite of times, despite of enemies.
Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, Scene 11 Lines 128-147
Edward finally grasps the severe situation he is in and that his subjects are ready to rebel against him because they do not feel he is doing a good job as King. The nobles have killed his beloved Gaveston and his judgment is no longer clouded and he see the true nature of his people. He realizes that as a King his rule should never be undermined and must now turn to violence to be heard. Although he is doing this mainly to avenge Gaveston’s death, you can tell that he not one to just sit by the sidelines and be taken advantaged of. He wants his people to know that he should be feared and that the nobles are the ones who are evil.
