One Hundredth Post

Today is the one hundredth post. It has been 102 days since we started, so we’ve only missed posting on two days, and both those two days came in the last week. I had hoped to go one hundred days straight without missing a day, but that was just not to be.

Hopefully you’ve noticed that there is no line of Shakespeare at the beginning of this post. I’ve decided that instead of adding a new line, we should spend this post looking back on the first one hundred posts. So, what have we learned in 102 days.

We’ve found some really fabulous lines, some of them were great as soon as we laid eyes on them, and some of them took a bit of work to find the greatness. And we’ve found some lines that were just plain difficult to work with. My four favourites are

What need the bridge much broader than the flood

Nothing

O world, thy slippery turns

Good Michael, look you to the guard tonight

We've learned quite a bit about Shakespeare’s works. Coriolanus, for one, is a play that I didn’t even know existed and now I know it pretty well. Also I’ve gained a pretty good working knowledge of all the kings that make up Shakespeare’s history plays from Edward III to Richard III.

We’ve found that the random system seems to work pretty well. In one hundred days we’ve sampled all but three of the thirty-seven plays in my compilation along with two poems and some sonnets. We’ve also found that the random system can be quite quirky.

We’ve decided that the random system does make a certain sense in that it gets us to spend time in places that we might otherwise never spend the time. And we’ve found that some of those places are certainly worth spending the time.

We’ve seen firsthand how relevant much of Will’s work is to our world in 2016. We shouldn’t be surprised.

We've come to realize that it takes a bit of time to post on a daily basis. Perhaps too much time. We'll have to give this some thought.

This and more we’ve learned. We intend to move forward with the Daily Lines. I expect we’ll be making some changes as we go, but for now we’re still enjoying doing it. And that’s what counts.

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.

Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,

That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.--

 -Joan La Pucelle

Setting – Camp of the Duke of York in Anjou

Present – York, Warwick, La Pucelle, a shepherd, and others

King Henry The Sixth Part I          Act V, scene iv   Line 61

And the next words out of Joan's mouth (who is speaking of herself in the third person here) is that she is pregnant. That’s her privilege and her infirmity, and something that she hopes will keep the English from killing her. I’m pretty sure that she’s not really pregnant, just saying that to try to save her own skin. In any event, it doesn’t work as they haul her off to be burned at the stake.

So it’s a little interesting that her pregnancy is her ‘privilege’. I’m not sure what law she’s referring to. I guess some fifteenth century code that says you can’t kill pregnant women? We’d have to defer to James or Stephen or one of those experts on that one. In any event, this scene paints a pretty unflattering picture of Joan. First she denies her father (an old shepherd who comes up to claim her as his daughter), then she claims to be a virgin with immaculate properties, then she claims to be pregnant (changing three times the name of the father), and finally exits cursing the English. I’ve got to do some research (because I don’t see James or Stephen chiming in to help me out) but I’m thinking that Joan of Arc is not really a highly regarded figure in England, at least not at the time that Will was writing these tales.

Now, what of this ‘infirmity’ and ‘privilege thing? In one breath she declares pregnancy to be nearly an illness, and at the same time something that gives her entitlement? I think that’s a little bit interesting. I’m not sure that present day sensibilities would allow us to refer to pregnancy as either of these things.

In the meantime, some programming notes here.

First, we missed posting a new post last night for the first time since we started in August. And I was so excited that 100 straight days was coming up. Oh well. I'll get into the reason for the lapse next week, can't do that now.

Second, this is five days in a row of Henrys. Of course, there are six Henry plays, so that’s not entirely amazing. However, this is the third Totally Random line spoken by Joan, and the second in the past three days. So that’s a little bit interesting. And again, who knew that Joan was even a part of Will’s works? Well, I’m sure a bunch of people knew it, but I know I didn’t. 

This is a pic of me at Grant's tomb. Another random pic? No sir! In my research on Joan of Arc I found, to my great surprise, that there is a Joan of Arc Park, complete with a statue of Joan on horseback, on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It just so happens that I was exploring that area this time last year. Unfortunately I did not get to the Joan of Arc Park (I did not know at the time that it existed), but I did get to Grant's Tomb and since it is only about a mile away I decided that a pic from there would be appropriate. I hope you agree.

What’s he?

-Duke of Orleans

Setting – The French camp near Agincourt

Present – The Constable of France, the Lord Rambures, Orleans, and others.

King Henry The Fifth      Act III, scene vii Line 101

Tonight, a short line and a short post. Clearly, it isn’t much of a line to work with. I do think it’s interesting that we’re on our fourth day in a row of Henry plays, but today’s line is a bit a bit, well, there’s just not much to it. What’s he? I think the Duke is simply saying ‘who?’ The ‘who’ he’s referring to is the Dauphin. No, not the dolphin, the Dauphin. The Dauphin is the title of whoever is next in line for the throne of France. I don’t know if it has any relation from a semantics standpoint to the word dolphin, but I doubt it.

We knew going in to it there’d be days like this, so we’ll just take the day, and the line and be done.

No, no! I said Dauphin, not dolphin.

There goes the Talbot, with his colours spread,

And all the troops of English after him.

 

-Joan La Pucelle

Setting – The plains near Rouen

Present – Charles, the Bastard of Orleans, Alencon, Joan, and forces

King Henry The Sixth Part I          Act III, scene iii  Line 32

I’m not quite sure why he’s the Talbot. I always did like the ‘u’ in colours… and favourite, and all those other ‘ou’ spellings that get you the red underline in Word. It’s just so British.

In any event, here again is Joan La Pucelle, AKA Joan of Arc. It seems that the Talbot is one of the big English guys and he’s marching up and down France causing all sorts of problems for the Frenchies. Joan is about to get her hands on the Duke of Burgundy and have a bit of a chat with him. It seems that Burgundy, a Frenchman, with his followers has sided with the Talbot. I’m not at all clear why. But once Joan has a talk with Burgundy he promises to come back to the French side. And so things seem to turn in the French direction again.

Joan refers to Talbot here ‘with his colours spread’ and a little earlier ‘like a peacock sweep along his tail’. So apparently this Talbot fellow has a bit of showiness about him, and causes just a little bit of fascination on Joan’s part. Can it be that she has a begrudging crush on him? Well, if Sir Richard can have a man crush on Hal, why not Joan on the Talbot?

Is that the Talbot? No wait, that's Gaston!

Ay, but she’s come to beg; Warwick to give:

She, on his left side, craving aid for Henry;

He, on his right, asking a wife for Edward.

She weeps, and says her Henry is deposed;

He smiles, and says his Edward is install’d;

 

-King Henry

 

Setting - A chase (woods) in the north of England

Present - Two keepers with cross-bows, and Henry

King Henry The Sixth Part III       Act III, scene i    Line 45

From Henry IV Part I we skip all the way to the end of the Henry plays, Henry VI Part III. Remember now that the succession of Kings goes Richard II, Henrys IV, V, and VI, Edwards IV and V, Richard III. Remember also that Will did not do a play on either of those Edwards (apparently he did one on Edward III who preceded Richard II, but that’s another story). Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because Will covered a bit of both of the Edwards in his other plays. Edward IV is on the throne by the end of Will’s Henry VI Part III. And the play Richard III starts with one of the Edwards on the throne, I’m not clear which. Now, how exactly these transitions take place is complicated and I still don’t have all the facts straight. But what I do know is that the king of France gets involved. That’s who the ‘his’ is above. Warwick is working on the king of France on Edward V’s behalf, and Margaret (Heny VI’s wife) is the ‘she’ who is working on Henry VI’s son’s behalf (Coincidentally also named Edward. Could this be any more confusing?). And today’s lines is Henry talking to himself about all of what’s going on. He’s probably as confused as we are and going over all of these facts to try to straighten it out in his own head. Of course the final bit of confusion to sprinkle in here is that Will did not stick completely to the historical facts so that when I go to the history books to figure out what’s going on with whom I sometimes just manage to get a little bit more confused.

Anyway, now that I’ve completely lost you, where do we go from here? I guess, in a sense, since you don’t know where you are anymore, any direction taken is just as good as any other. Okay then, let’s talk Henrys. These three Henrys (IV, V, and VI) are the only father, son, grandson succession in this whole section of British history that Will’s trying to cover. But even though that seems as though it should be pretty clean and straight-forward, it’s not. Unfortunately Henry IV took the throne from Richard II, his first cousin. And Henry VI is going to lose it, re-gain it and lose it again to another cousin, who’ll then lose it to another cousin. All cousins here. And we find out through these plays that even though Henry IV was strong enough to take the throne from his cousin Richard II, he still wasn’t a very good king. And Will gives us the next Henry, number V, as the guy who is really the strong king and spends his time winning battles in France. Henry VI (the guy talking today) is the third Henry and apparently he’s not a very strong ruler either. Remember, way back in September we had the first line of today’s play, Henry the Sixth Part III, and at that time they were running around looking for Henry, so we knew he was in trouble from the get go.

All right then, perhaps I’ll leave you there. Henry VI is wandering through the woods talking to himself about the fact that his wife is in France begging the French king for help in holding on to his throne. That’s the long story short of it.

No, this isn’t Henry wandering in the woods, it’s my friend Ronny wandering in the woods. He looks a little confused too, but I’m pretty sure he’s not worrying about any succession business.

He gave you all the duties of a man;

Trimm’d up your praises with a princely tongue,

Spoke your deservings like a chronicle,

Making you ever better than his praise

By still dispraising praise valued with you;

 

-Sir Richard Vernon

 King Henry The Fourth Part I      Act V, scene ii    Line 57

Today we’re back to the history plays. Yes, we got away from these guys for a while, but since they make up about a quarter of my compilation we were bound to get back to them sooner or later. Our Totally Random line(s) is Sir Richard Vernon describing to Hotspur (Harry Percy), the manner in which Prince Hal issued his challenge. Hotspur assumed it was with contempt, but Sir Richard is explaining that Hal issued it very modestly. Sir Richard goes on for several more lines after this to the point that Hotspur finally asks Richard if he’s got a crush on Prince Hal. Well, not exactly, but he sort of says that. And it’s a fair question considering the way Richard is going on and on about Prince Hal.

Now this is a pretty common practice of Will to take something and really run and run and run with it. Richard’s reply goes on and on and on about how nice Prince Hal is being in offering this challenge to Hotspur. It’s eighteen lines (of which we have five for today’s Totally Random lines) of an answer to Hotspur’s question. The question is ‘When Hal issued the challenge did he do it with contempt?’ It’s literally a yes or no question to which Richard gives a ‘Tony, long-story-short’ answer. Tony was a guy that I worked with (really nice guy) who would tell stories that went on forever with a level of detail that no one needed, and all throughout the story Tony would be saying ‘long story short…’. And we would all be thinking (sometimes saying) ‘Tony, there’s nothing short about this story!’ So I can just imagine Hotspur breaking in around line five or six of Richard’s replay with ‘Okay Tony, I get it! Hal’s a nice guy, fine!’ But of course he doesn’t do that. He does give a pretty good response to Richard though. ‘Cousin, I think thou are enamoured on his follies.’  i.e. ‘Dude, are you in love with this guy, or what?’

Long story short, these houses have lawns for roofs. Don't ask me how that works, or whether they have to mow their roofs, or what that has to do with today's post. I just thought it was an interesting picture.