Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And that shall be the day, whene’er it lights,

That this same child of honour and renown,

This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,

And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet.

 

Prince Henry     

King Henry the Fourth Part I  Act III, Scene ii, Line 140

This whole scene is a father-son talk between King Henry the Fourth and Prince Henry (who will eventually become King Henry the Fifth). King Henry spends the first hundred or so lines telling his son what a disappointment the lad is and how he wished that Hotspur were his son instead of Henry. Hotspur is a rebel, but also a great warrior and he’s the same age as the prince. The prince tells his dad not to worry, and that he will redeem himself by taking down the rebel Hotspur. Prince Henry starts his retort saying that the king will be proud of his son when he sees him in battle. And that shall be the day, per Today’s Lines, that he meets up with Hotspur. The prince goes on to say that he’ll beat Hotspur and take on the latter’s honours. Well, that’s all the king needs to hear, and he declares,

A hundred thousand rebels die in this:-

Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein.

And now everybody’s happy and ready to march off to war. Isn't life great. 

 

I catch the sarcasm Mr. Blagys, or as you like to call it - cyniscasm, but really, that’s all it takes? The kid's been hanging out with his buddies in bars for the first two acts, and now he tells Pops that he’s gonna kick Hotspur’s butt, and so the old man is all happy? I dunno; sounds a little hokie to me.

 

Hokie? Now it’s you who’s second-guessing the Bard, eh Mr. Sunbeam?