What are
you talking of debating? In few words,--
If
you’ll not here proclaim yourself our king,
I’ll
leave you to your fortune, and be gone
To keep
them back that come to succour you: Why shall we fight, if you pretend no
title?
-Sir John Montgomery
King Henry The Sixth Part III Act
IV, scene vii Line 53
Yet, as we may, we’ll meet both thee and Warwick.--
-King Edward
King Henry The Sixth Part III Act IV, scene vii Line 85
Well, believe it or not, we’re in the Henrys for not only
the sixth, but also the seventh straight day. And not only that, but I have
managed to strike within the same short act on two consecutive days. And since
I was still working on polishing up yesterday’s post when I rolled this second
line from Act IV, scene vii, I’ve decided to combine two day’s post into one. Yes,
it’s a bold and innovative idea! We’ll look at both lines, and perhaps the
whole scene, since it’s pretty short anyway.
This scene is dominated by Edward IV who will be securely
ensconced on the throne by the end of this play, and he will still be there
when then next play in the chronology, King
Richard the Third opens. In fact, at this point in this play both Edward
and Henry are listed as kings in the script. Remember if you will, in this soap
opera of the monarchy, that the crown passes from Henry the VI to Edward the
IV, then back to Henry the VI, then once again back to Edward IV. So I guess
you could argue that they would be Henry VI and VII and Edward IV and V? But
they didn’t see it that way. Well I’m not quite sure which round of passing
we’re on, but the crown is getting ready to pass from Henry to Edward in this
scene.
It seems that Edward is a bit hesitant and has decided to wait a bit,
hoping for a peaceful changing of the crowns. But that’s when this John
Montgomery fellow shows up. He’s there to fight for Edward the King, not Edward
the Duke. That’s what he’s saying above in the What are you talking of debating? quote. He's pretty much saying to Edward 'You gonna fish or cut bait?' When Edward
realizes that he’s going to lose Sir John if he doesn’t start fishing, he changes his
mind and decides to go for it. His line thee and Warwick (‘thee’ is Edward’s
brother Clarence), the second quote above, is about the fact that he’s decided make
the challenge and tomorrow he’s going to be meeting his brother and Warwick
(I’m not too familiar with this Warwick guy) when he challenges, and perhaps
battles, Henry for the crown. Apparently both Clarence and Warwick are on Henry’s side.
See, that’s why we need those name tags that say who you
are, whose side you’re on, whether or not you’ve switched sides, and a few
other things. This, by the way, is the middle of the War of the Roses, which is
what the three Henry VI plays, and the Richard III play are really all about.
And just to reiterate, in this War of the Roses, the red rose guys were the
grandkids, and great-grandkids of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster (he dies
in Richard II right after he gives his famous …This royal throne of kings, this
scepter’d isle.. speech) and the white rose guys are the grandkids and
great-grandkids of Edmund Langley the Duke of York (Lancasters vs Yorks). And
remember, John of Gaunt and Edmund Langley were brothers, so that all these
guys fighting each other are cousins. And just to make it even a little more
interesting, the mother of Edward and Richard who are both Yorks, was herself a
Lancasterian. Or is that Lancastersherian? Whatever it is, she married the son
of her mother’s first cousin. With the amount of inbreeding going on it’s
amazing all these folks weren’t completely insane. Which isn’t to say that they
didn’t have their share of imbeciles on the family tree.
And that pretty much sums up King Henry The Sixth Part III,
Act IV, Scene vii.
Questions? I have one. Do you suppose there’s any chance we
can roll a non-Henry line for tomorrow?
This is a page of my book How To Fish In Salt Water. My mom and dad gave me this book when I was a kid. I figured it was relevant for today's post because of the 'fish or cut bait' reference. Looks like that guy in front has hooked a keeper, but I have no idea what that guy in the back of the boat is doing.