Act 2, Scene 4

Another Part of the Field.

[Excursions. Enter RICHARD and CLIFFORD.]
Richard Plantagenet (Gloucester)
1031 Now, Clifford, I have singled thee alone.
1032 Suppose this arm is for the Duke of York,
1033 And this for Rutland; both bound to revenge,
1034 Wert thou environ'd with a brazen wall.
Lord Clifford
1035 Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone.
1036 This is the hand that stabbed thy father York,
1037 And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland;
1038 And here's the heart that triumphs in their death,
1039 And cheers these hands that slew thy sire and brother
1040 To execute the like upon thyself;
1041 And so have at thee!
[They fight. Warwick enters; Clifford flies.]
Richard Plantagenet (Gloucester)
1042 Nay, Warwick, single out some other chase;
1043 For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1031archaic vocab
“I have singled thee alone”
'Singled' is a hunting term: to single an animal is to cut it off from the herd or pack so it can be pursued alone. Richard is casting himself as a hunter and Clifford as the prey separated for the kill.
TLN 1034archaic vocab
“environ'd with a brazen wall”
'Environ'd' means surrounded or encircled (from Old French 'environner'). 'Brazen' means made of brass — proverbially the hardest, most impenetrable metal. Richard is saying that even if Clifford were ringed by an unbreakable brass fortress, he would still come for him to avenge York and Rutland.
TLN 1036rhetorical device
“This is the hand that stabbed thy father York, And this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland”
Clifford repeats the construction 'this is the hand that...' twice in succession — a figure called anaphora (the same opening phrase repeated in consecutive clauses). Far from denying the murders, he boasts of them, turning his hands into trophies of Lancastrian revenge. The rhetorical symmetry also mirrors Richard's own paired grievances in the lines just above ('this arm is for the Duke of York, / And this for Rutland').
historical The Wars of the Roses
TLN 1042rhetorical device
“single out some other chase; For I myself will hunt this wolf to death”
'Chase' is a hunting term for the quarry being pursued, and calling Clifford a 'wolf' casts him as vermin that must be destroyed rather than an honorable opponent. The language completes the hunting frame Richard opened at TLN 1031 ('singled thee alone'), framing his personal vendetta as a righteous extermination.
historical The Wars of the Roses