Helena Bonham Carter: Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane

Lady Jane Grey

Dr. Feckinham: And what would you be prepared to die for, Lady Jane?
Jane: I would die to free our people from the chains of bigotry and superstition.
Dr. Feckinham: What superstition did you have in mind?
Jane: Well, for example, the idea that a piece of bread can become the body of our Savior, father.
Dr. Feckinham: Did he not say at his Last Supper, "Take, eat, this is my body"?
Jane: He also said, "I am the vine, I am the door." Was he a vine, was he a door?
Dr. Feckinham: Who has been teaching you to say such things?
Jane: Don't you think I could have thought of them myself?

Jane: [translating Greek] The soul takes flight to the world that is eternal -
[thinks, corrects herself]
Jane: invisible. But there arriving she is sure of bliss, and forever dwells in paradise.

[Jane, a Protestant, watches Lady Anne Wharton curtsy and cross herself before holy bread, believed by Catholics to contain the true presence of Christ]
Jane: Why do you curtsy?
Lady Anne: I am curtsying to the Host, my lady. To Him that made us all.
Jane: Oh, I see! So God made you, and the baker, apparently, made God!

Guilford: Go on, ask me.
Jane: What?
Guilford: What I want.
Jane: What do you want?
Guilford: Oh, I think you know. I want a world where men are not branded or sent into slavery because they can't grow the food they need to eat. Go on.
Jane: Well,
[smashes goblet]
Jane: it's done.

Guilford: Tell me, did you see his chest?
Jane: Yes, it was marked.
Guilford: No, it wasn't. It was branded. A mark burnt into him with a red-hot iron.

Jane: You gave them all that money and they just threw it back at you?
Guilford: Money? Do you know what's happened to the value of money?
Jane: No.
[Guilford slides Jane a coin]
Guilford: What's that?
Jane: A penny.
Guilford: No, it isn't. It's a shilling.
Jane: It can't be, shillings are made of silver.
Guilford: Should be, used to be. But not now. Which is why a shilling isn't worth a shilling any more. You've really no idea what's going on, have you?

Dr. Feckinham: It is a privilege to talk to anyone whose love of learning shines like yours.
Jane: It is my only pleasure, Dr. Feckinham.

Jane: All gone?
Guilford: All gone.
Jane: All those great lords and bishops with their solemn pledge to serve me even unto death. Nine days.
Guilford: You should have kept the keys.

Guilford: [together, naked in bed] Did you know about it?
Jane: What?
Guilford: What we've just done.
Jane: Well, only in terms of the broadest general principles. Unlike you.
Guilford: Not exactly.
Jane: What?
Guilford: You're referring to my lady of the night.
Jane: Well, yes, I was.
Guilford: Passed out.
Jane: Who was?
Guilford: I did. Got to the bed - and then - blank. Total failure. Terrible embarrassment.

Guilford: Jane, we're like a coin.
Jane: How?
Guilford: With a head on one side and a lion on the other. Heart of England. And one side alone is worth nothing, but *together*, we might find it possible to stay untarnished. That the strong can still be good.