Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not.

 

Davy

King Henry the Fourth Part II              Act V, Scene i, Line 45

Davy is a really minor character, a servant of Justice Shallow, himself a minor character. The exchange betwixt the two is not to add anything major to the play, but rather to… well I guess I’m not really sure what it’s doing. 

The scene is one where Falstaff is arriving back home after fighting in the war, and Justice Shallow is welcoming him into his home. Most of the scene is the Justice rattling on about this, that, and the other thing, whilst interacting with Davy. I’m afraid we’d need to have a more intimate knowledge of the play to understand the significance of this scene.

But we don’t have that intimate knowledge, do we? Or do we really need it? 

This is a history play about the reign of King Henry the Fourth. The major players, with the exception of Falstaff, are actual historical figures. The main action of the play, though dramatized, is based on actual historical events, but, as noted, Falstaff makes up a significant portion of the play and he is a fictional character. Naturally, much of players he interacts with, including Shallow and Davy, are fictional as well. It helps to have fictional characters that the author can do what ever he wishes with when he’s trying to add humanity, and the realities of humanity, into a play about historical events. 

So let's just conclude that this scene is all about enhancing that humanitarian reality.

Well, I looked around for a pic to post, and I just couldn't come up with anything. You'd think that humanitarian reality would be something that would be easily illustratable, wouldn't you?

I Guess not. Sorry.