Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

My life itself, and the best heart of it,

Thanks you for this great care: I stood i’the level

Of a full-charged confederacy, and give thanks

To you that choked it.

 

King Henry

King Henry the Eighth      Act I, Scene ii, Line 1

Henry is thanking Cardinal Wolsey for rooting out a conspiracy that could have taken the life of the king. The only problem with this is that the accused, Buckingham, is innocent and that it’s Wolsey who is the rotten apple in the bunch. Oh well, that’s politics eh?

But rather than digress into a discussion of modern day Wolseys and Buckinghams, let take a look at Will’s language instead. I think we’ll find that much more satisfying.

I stood i’the level of a full-charged confederacy, and give thanks/To you that choked it.

There’s three parts to that that I’d like to look at separately:

I stood in the level,

A full-charged confederacy,

You that choked it.

He stood in the level. I’m not sure if the level is synonymous with a gun sight, or whether it’s something else, but it is an interesting phrase, much more interesting and prosaic than saying that he faced it. And, no, don’t throw that no unneeded words nonsense at me. Strunk and White does not apply to William Shakespeare.

A full-charged confederacy. No, it’s not just some guy who’s got some treasonous plans, it’s a confederacy, and a full-charged one at that; not just some half-assed thing.

You that choked it. That’s right, Wolsey didn’t just stop it, he choked it, he throttled it, he put his hands around the throat of the confederacy and squeezed the airpipe shut until it was dead. 

So you see, if you take a close look, you can really appreciate Will’s language. And you can enjoy it.

 

Or you can just sleep through it.