Which
else would post until it had return’d
These
terms of treason doubled down his throat.
-Thomas
Mobray, Duke of Norfolk
Richard II Act
I, scene i Line 57
Here’s a little
more context for this line:
‘First,
the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free
speech;
Which else would post until it had return’d
These terms of treason doubled down his
throat.’
The single
line (the last one above) really needed the three previous ones to make sense.
What we have here is the very beginning of Richard II with two guys trash
talking each other. This is Thomas Mobray’s reply to being accused of treason.
He and his accuser, Bolingbroke, have been called before the King where
Bolingbroke has taken the opportunity to call Mobray a traitor: ‘With a
foul traitor’s name I stuff thy throat.’
Today’s random lines is Mobray’s response to that. First saying that he can’t
speak with full freedom out of respect for the King, Mobray then throws the
treason charge right back at Bolingbroke. It’s pretty much an ‘I know you are,
but what am I?’ response. And by the way, it’s Bolingbroke who comes back at
the end and takes over the throne to become King Henry IV. So who’s treasonous
in the end? And who’s mocking who whilst begging their voices (see post from
six days ago).
Well I’ve
got the fully annotated, with tons of analysis, copy of Four Histories that I
used when I was taking a course on Shakespeare working on my MAT. It covers
Richard II, Henry IV (parts one and two), and Henry V. These three guys ruled
in succession from 1377 to 1422. And Will’s plays about them are more or less
historically accurate, but always dramatized to make it a better show. Of
course, with the way things went back then with overthrows and tortures and
beheadings I’m not sure how much dramatization you needed to make it more
interesting. And the Brits, by the way, are for the most part pretty up on their
knowledge of the monarchs. They have some little ditty that kids learn in
school that lists out all 65 monarchs that helps them memorize them all. So
that’s 65 monarchs starting with Egbert in the year 802 all the way up to
today’s Elizabeth II. There’s a song about the 44 U.S. presidents that I heard
in a grammar school show once, but I know I never learned it. Heck, I just had
to google U.S. presidents because I didn’t even know what the total number was.
Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
No comments:
Post a Comment