Mojo, The Bard, & Me

You are my father, for methinks in you

I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father,

Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd

A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties

Pluck'd from my arms perforce and given away

To upstart unthrifts?

  

-Henry Bolingbroke

King Richard The Second               Act II, Scene iii, Line 118

Well, I'll admit that today's line is a little long, but it’s not a tough line, so I don’t feel bad springing it on you.

This is Henry Bolingbroke talking to his uncle. Henry’s father was John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster who died earlier in the play. Henry is talking to Edmund of Langley, who is the Duke of York and also John of Gaunt’s brother. And just to be clear (or perhaps to muddy it up a bit), the father of Richard the Second (the current King that Henry Bolingbroke will shortly be overthrowing) was another brother of John and Edmund. His name was Edward the Black Prince (no, he was a white guy; not sure where the name came from) and he died before he ever got to be king. But since The Black Prince was the first born of King Edward III, his son Richard the Second got to be king. And now we’ll be having Richard’s first cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, having something to say about the royal succession.  But back to the line.

Right now Henry is back in England after being banished by King Richard II, and he’s being confronted by Uncle York (Edmund), who was left in charge by Richard whilst the latter went to Ireland on business. Now Henry is calling Uncle Edmund ‘father’ because he says he reminds him of his dad ‘old Gaunt’. Henry tried calling his uncle ‘uncle’ a few lines earlier. In fact he called him ‘gracious uncle’, and the response he got to that was

Tut, tut! Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle: I am not a traitor’s uncle.

In other words, Uncle, schmuncle, buddy! So I can see why Henry’s going for the surrogate dad angle now. But don't worry, by the end of the play, Uncle York will come around to Henry’s side. For now he’s going to at least play neutral. After all, Henry’s got a good point. Right after he was banished, his father, old Gaunt, died. And before that body was cold Richard was claiming all of Old Gaunt's assets. Of course we’re talking about assets that should have rightfully passed to John of Gaunt’s son, Henry Bolingbroke. So now Henry is back, out of banishment, and ready to claim those assets that were ‘ pluck’d from my arms perforce and given away to upstart unthrifts!’  Can you imagine? Upstart unthrifts! Well them’s fightin’ words!

And spoiler alert: Henry’s going to decide that he wants a bit more than his dad’s assets; he’s going to decide he also wants Richard’s crown.

This is a limited edition, signed print of a painting by J.F. Lansdowne. Relevance? It was my dad's asset. But I didn't have to raise an army, or argue with my uncle to get it. Actually, after dad passed away no one else wanted it. So I just ended up with it.