Our
thunder from the south
Shall
rain their drift of bullets on this town.
King Phillip
King John Act
III, Scene i Line 411
Yes, that’s right, line 411. And the scene goes to line 598,
so that’s a pretty long scene.
Now it’s Interesting that there was only one John among the
English kings. It seems like a pretty common name. A bunch of Henrys, and
Georges, and Edwards, and more. But only one John. Interesting.
Anyway, this is King Phillip talking, but he’s the king of
France, not England. Though King John (of England) is here as well. In this scene
they’re together with their people outside the gates of Angiers, a town in
France. I find this scene a bit confusing because what it boils down to is that
John and Phillip have decided to join forces to level the town. And they’re
just talking now about the specifics of the attack. Apparently Phillip’s going
to take care of attacking from the south, though I’m still not sure why
Phillip, the king of France, is going to join forces with John, the king of
England, to level a French town. Can you see why I might be confused? And the
‘drift of bullets’ that he’s talking about is apparently cannon balls. I’m not
sure if this might not be another of Will’s anachronisms or not, but I guess
we’ll just let that one slide.
This is an old walled town in France that I was visiting with the girls a few years back. I remember mentioning to them at the time that it made me think of this scene in King John at the gate of Angiers, and they said 'Geez Dad, you're absolutely right, we were thinking the same thing.' And then they went into a laughing fit for the next ten minutes, so I'm not so sure they actually meant what they said.
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