--He
could be contented,--why is he not, then?
-Hotspur
King Henry the Fourth
Part I Act II Scene iii, Line 4
He’s not exactly
saying what you might be thinking that he’s saying. This is the opening lines
of the scene. Hotspur is alone and reading a letter from some rando (we never
actually get the name of the letter writer) who’s writing to tell Hotspur that
he’s not going to join the rebellion. Hotspur is reading and reacting to the
letter. Here’s the beginning of scene three. This opening soliloquy is written
in prose:
Warkworth Castle.
Enter HOTSPUR solus, reading a letter,
HOTSPUR
‘—But, for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented to be
there, in respect of the love I bear your house.’ He could be contented,--why
is he not, then? In respect of the love he bears our house:--he shows in this,
he loves his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me see more.
Hotspur goes on to read the whole letter and react to it, line by line. Right after he finishes, his wife shows up and tries to get out of him why he’s been so out of sorts lately. Of course, it’s because he’s been working up this rebellion, but he doesn’t want to tell her about it.
I think he should
have just told her what’s going on. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment