Mojo, The Bard, & Me

What are you talking of debating? In few words,--

If you’ll not here proclaim yourself our king,

I’ll leave you to your fortune, and be gone

To keep them back that come to succour you: Why shall we fight, if you pretend no title?

-Sir John Montgomery

 King Henry The Sixth Part III       Act IV, scene vii Line 53

Yet, as we may, we’ll meet both thee and Warwick.--

-King Edward

 King Henry The Sixth Part III       Act IV, scene vii Line 85

Well, believe it or not, we’re in the Henrys for not only the sixth, but also the seventh straight day. And not only that, but I have managed to strike within the same short act on two consecutive days. And since I was still working on polishing up yesterday’s post when I rolled this second line from Act IV, scene vii, I’ve decided to combine two day’s post into one. Yes, it’s a bold and innovative idea! We’ll look at both lines, and perhaps the whole scene, since it’s pretty short anyway.

This scene is dominated by Edward IV who will be securely ensconced on the throne by the end of this play, and he will still be there when then next play in the chronology, King Richard the Third opens. In fact, at this point in this play both Edward and Henry are listed as kings in the script. Remember if you will, in this soap opera of the monarchy, that the crown passes from Henry the VI to Edward the IV, then back to Henry the VI, then once again back to Edward IV. So I guess you could argue that they would be Henry VI and VII and Edward IV and V? But they didn’t see it that way. Well I’m not quite sure which round of passing we’re on, but the crown is getting ready to pass from Henry to Edward in this scene.

It seems that Edward is a bit hesitant and has decided to wait a bit, hoping for a peaceful changing of the crowns. But that’s when this John Montgomery fellow shows up. He’s there to fight for Edward the King, not Edward the Duke. That’s what he’s saying above in the What are you talking of debating? quote. He's pretty much saying to Edward 'You gonna fish or cut bait?' When Edward realizes that he’s going to lose Sir John if he doesn’t start fishing, he changes his mind and decides to go for it. His line thee and Warwick (‘thee’ is Edward’s brother Clarence), the second quote above, is about the fact that he’s decided make the challenge and tomorrow he’s going to be meeting his brother and Warwick (I’m not too familiar with this Warwick guy) when he challenges, and perhaps battles, Henry for the crown. Apparently both Clarence and Warwick are on Henry’s side.

See, that’s why we need those name tags that say who you are, whose side you’re on, whether or not you’ve switched sides, and a few other things. This, by the way, is the middle of the War of the Roses, which is what the three Henry VI plays, and the Richard III play are really all about. And just to reiterate, in this War of the Roses, the red rose guys were the grandkids, and great-grandkids of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster (he dies in Richard II right after he gives his famous …This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle.. speech) and the white rose guys are the grandkids and great-grandkids of Edmund Langley the Duke of York (Lancasters vs Yorks). And remember, John of Gaunt and Edmund Langley were brothers, so that all these guys fighting each other are cousins. And just to make it even a little more interesting, the mother of Edward and Richard who are both Yorks, was herself a Lancasterian. Or is that Lancastersherian? Whatever it is, she married the son of her mother’s first cousin. With the amount of inbreeding going on it’s amazing all these folks weren’t completely insane. Which isn’t to say that they didn’t have their share of imbeciles on the family tree.

And that pretty much sums up King Henry The Sixth Part III, Act IV, Scene vii.

Questions? I have one. Do you suppose there’s any chance we can roll a non-Henry line for tomorrow?

This is a page of my book How To Fish In Salt Water. My mom and dad gave me this book when I was a kid. I figured it was relevant for today's post because of the 'fish or cut bait' reference. Looks like that guy in front has hooked a keeper, but I have no idea what that guy in the back of the boat is doing.