Dublin Core
Title
Eleanor
Subject
Eleanor of Aquitaine from the play The Lion in Winter.
Description
While Eleanor of Aquitaine was an historical figure, I am focusing my observations of her character from the James Goldman play.
Creator
James Goldman
Source
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Publisher
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Date
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Contributor
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Rights
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Relation
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Format
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Language
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Type
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Identifier
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Coverage
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Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Eleanor: What's the matter, Richard?
Richard: Nothing.
Eleanor: It's a heavy thing, your nothing. When I write
or send for you or speak or reach, your nothings
come, like stones.
Richard: Don't play a scene with me.
Eleanor: I wouldn't if I could. I'm simpler than I used
to be. I had, at one time, many appetites.
I wanted poetry and power and the young men who
create them both. I even wanted Henry, too, in
those days. Now I've only one desire left...
to see you king.
Richard: The only thing you want to see is Father's vitals on a bed of lettuce. You don't care who wins as
long as Henry loses. You'd do anything. You
are Medea to the teeth, only this is one son
you won't use for vengeance against your husband.
Eleanor: How my captivity has changed you. Henry meant
to hurt me. He's hacked you up instead.
(touches Richard's chin with one hand) Men
coveted this talon once. Henry was eighteen
when we met, and I was Queen of France. He
came down from the North to Paris with a mind
like Aristotle's... and a form like mortal sin.
We shattered the Commandments on the spot.
I spent three months annulling Louis, then in
May, in spring, not far from here, we married...
young Count Henry and his Countess. But in
three years' time I was his Queen, and he was
King of England. Done at twenty-one... five
years your junior, general.
Richard: I can count.
Eleanor: There was no Thomas Beckett then, or Rosamund...
no rivals, only me. And then young Henry came,
and you, and all the other blossoms in my garden.
Yes. Had I been sterile, darling, I'd be happier
today.
Richard: Is that designed to hurt me?
Eleanor: What a waste. I've fought with Henry over who
comes next, whose dawn it is... and which son
gets the sunset, and we'll never live to see it.
Look at you. I loved you more than Henry, and
it's cost me everything.
Richard: What do you want?
Eleanor: I want us back the way we were.
Richard: No, that's not it.
Eleanor: All right, then. I want the Aquitaine.
Richard: That's the mother I remember.
Richard: Nothing.
Eleanor: It's a heavy thing, your nothing. When I write
or send for you or speak or reach, your nothings
come, like stones.
Richard: Don't play a scene with me.
Eleanor: I wouldn't if I could. I'm simpler than I used
to be. I had, at one time, many appetites.
I wanted poetry and power and the young men who
create them both. I even wanted Henry, too, in
those days. Now I've only one desire left...
to see you king.
Richard: The only thing you want to see is Father's vitals on a bed of lettuce. You don't care who wins as
long as Henry loses. You'd do anything. You
are Medea to the teeth, only this is one son
you won't use for vengeance against your husband.
Eleanor: How my captivity has changed you. Henry meant
to hurt me. He's hacked you up instead.
(touches Richard's chin with one hand) Men
coveted this talon once. Henry was eighteen
when we met, and I was Queen of France. He
came down from the North to Paris with a mind
like Aristotle's... and a form like mortal sin.
We shattered the Commandments on the spot.
I spent three months annulling Louis, then in
May, in spring, not far from here, we married...
young Count Henry and his Countess. But in
three years' time I was his Queen, and he was
King of England. Done at twenty-one... five
years your junior, general.
Richard: I can count.
Eleanor: There was no Thomas Beckett then, or Rosamund...
no rivals, only me. And then young Henry came,
and you, and all the other blossoms in my garden.
Yes. Had I been sterile, darling, I'd be happier
today.
Richard: Is that designed to hurt me?
Eleanor: What a waste. I've fought with Henry over who
comes next, whose dawn it is... and which son
gets the sunset, and we'll never live to see it.
Look at you. I loved you more than Henry, and
it's cost me everything.
Richard: What do you want?
Eleanor: I want us back the way we were.
Richard: No, that's not it.
Eleanor: All right, then. I want the Aquitaine.
Richard: That's the mother I remember.
Original Format
The storyline of The Lion in Winter is focused around the power struggle between two warring parents. Each one is attempting to secure succession to the throne of England through a favored son. The children become both the pawns and the prize of this conflict. Eleanor's favored son, Richard, has a tangled and problematic relationship with her. In the above dialogue, the reader/view can witness this interaction. At one point, Richard even refers to Eleanor as Medea.