Today’s Totally Random Lines
Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.
Earl of Northumberland
King Henry the Fourth Part I Act I Scene iii, Line 138
Well here we are, the day
before Thanksgiving. And we’ve got a nice clear line. Nothing difficult to
understand here. I guess we can be thankful for that.
Of course, we don’t know what the king has done to make Northumberland’s brother’s nephew mad. I’m not even sure who Northumberland’s brother or his nephew are . These are things I usually refer to as context, and often I’ll go about dutifully researching and reporting on this to you. Context.
Will I do that today? Hmmm, good question. I have to admit, I’m a little curious.
Uncle, adieu:--O, let the hours be short,
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport!
There then, what’s that? Well it’s a rhyming couplet, isn’t it. And where do we almost always find rhyming couplets? As the last two lines of the scene, that’s where. So what’s that mean? Yes, that’s right, I read/listened to the whole scene just now. I guess I was more curious than I realized.
Anyway (yes, like it or not, here comes some context), as noted, Northumberland’s brother is Worcester, and his nephew is the infamous Henry Percy, aka Hotspur. So it’s Hotspur who has been made mad by the king. I don’t think it’s worth going into a lengthy explanation of what made Hotspur so mad. Considering his name, Hotspur, one might conclude (and rightly so) that it doesn’t take all that much to set Hotspur off:
Good morning Hotspur.
What do you mean by that! Why, I’ll give you a good morning! Take it back, take it back!
Anyway, Hotspur goes on and on about what dirty rotten SOB the king is, and by the end of the scene he, his uncle, and his father are plotting a revolt. That’s what he’s talking about with the fields and blows and groans applauding our sport in the rhyming couplet
And there you have it. Today’s line with context. No need to thank me.
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