We
took him setting of boys’ copies.
-Smith
King Henry The Sixth Part II Act IV, scene ii Line 84
Just to be clear, I’m kind of estimating these line numbers.
My compilation notes the official (at least, I think it’s official) line number
at the top of the page, and then I count down to the line number that I’ve
randomly picked to give you the semi-official line number. But the way it’s
printed I’m not always sure. So today’s line is either actually line 84, or
something close. Maybe 83 or 85. I’m not sure.
Anyway, Henry the Sixth and Jack Cade. Jack was the leader of a popular revolt, a
revolt of the people. He’s not really a part of the Rose War which was royal
against royal. So let’s see if we can tell what he’s talking about.
Right then, I listened to the scene right there. I wish I
could figure out how to put an audio file on this post. I’ll work on that. In
the meantime…
So Jack Cade is drumming up a rebellion. Smith the Weaver is
one of his followers at the moment and he’s the guy doing the talking. This is
a crowd scene and Jack’s doing a lot of yelling and a lot of what he’s saying
appears to be nonsense. At this point in the proceedings they’ve brought forth
the Clerk of Chatham and it appears that they’re going to be scapegoating this
guy because he’s an example of the establishment because of the fact that he
can read and write. And that’s the gist of today’s Random line. If he was
setting boys copies then he knows how to read and write. And so they hustle him
off to hang him. Now there’s some justice for you!
Oh well. Tomorrow, back to Coriolanus.
See? My book is telling me that the lines here are 54-98 (it's at the top). So I count down to the line that I randomly picked. But when it's prose like this I'm not always sure I'm getting to the correct official line number. Oh well. Anyway, as you can see I couldn't come up with any better picture for today. I'll try to do better tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment