Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

If thou, that bidd’st me be content, wert grim,

Ugly, and slanderous to thy mother’s womb,

Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,

Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,

Pacht with foul moles and eye-offending marks

I would not care, I then would be content;

For then I should not love thee; no, nor thou

Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown.

But thou art fair; and at thy birth, dear boy,

Nature and Fortune join’d to make thee great;

Of Nature’s gifts thou mayst with lilies boast

And with the half-blown rose: but Fortune, O!

She is corrupted changed and won from thee;

Sh’adulterates hourly with thine Uncle John;

And with her golden hand hath pluckt on France

To tread down fair respect of sovereignty,

And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.

 

Constance

King John       Act III, Scene i, Line 48

 

Okay, that's a long one. No sense complaining; let's just get at it.

The line previous to this is Arthur, the son of Constance, saying to his mother,

I do beseech you, madam, be content.

Previous to that, Constance had been on a rant about the horrible peace deal that had been struck with France. It seems that much of the kingdom has been given up and she’s upset because her son, Arthur, who is the heir to the throne of the childless King John, stands to inherit a much lesser kingdom than she thinks he should be getting. That is her issue, and that is what she’s talking about in Today’s Lines.

So what’s she saying to Arthur? She’s saying that if he was born ugly, stupid, and worthless she wouldn’t love him, and he wouldn’t deserve the crown. But he’s not, he’s born to greatness, and nature and fortune dictate greatness for him. However, his worthless Uncle John (again, that’s King John), has corrupted fortune and worked to make sure that the England that Arthur will inherit as ruler will be subservient to France.

And there you have it. Overbearing mother, or a concerned parent with a valid gripe? You tell me.  

Overbearing my butt! This lady is right on. 

I would certainly hope that someone would stick up for me if you were going to screw up all that I'm going to be inheriting from you when you kick the bucket. 

Mojo, you're not going to be inherit....   oh, never mind.