King John

 I.1.5-16: Already Shakespeare has established the various characters and their foils.  I remain of the opinion that this efficiency and clarity is one of his most singular gifts.

23-28: Perhaps setting up a conflict between sight and sound in this play?

31-42: If so, then Eleanor is decidedly on the side of Sound.

57-58: And John on the side of Sight.

88-91: I am already excited to find evidence for my reading.  "Accent," draws Eleanor's attention, while John trusts only his "eye".

141-151: Philip seems to plead the case of Sight.

174: Likely to be important later in the case of  Chance v. Truth.

160, 205: Philip/Bastard/Richard has adopted a policy of "No, after you."

245-280: For Richard, and perhaps he is the voice of this play, sound follows sight, and voice follows countenance, as in nature.  The Truth, of which he speaks, however, is still of unknown provenance.

 

II.1.15-16: Perhaps another dichotomy, heart and hand?

33: If so, we know where Constance and Austria fall.

50-51: The opposite order than that John predicted.  Constance's voice travels quickly.

58-59: But John's presence, even more so.

66-68: Are more than Richard here described?

79: Unlooked for, but not unheard.

121-134: Twas ever so between daughters and mothers in law.  Interesting that the "blot" is upon the supposed bastards here, and not upon the sires--the opposite of a similar conversation in I.1.

180-181: Slander and injury, sound and sight.

206-207: The trumpet and the tongue, to follow that which has already been decided in the eye.

235-239: Bullets against words.

285: What signifies this interjection? Not clear yet of what it presages.

300-304: A hilarious dig at Austria, and well suited to Richard's character.  He is his father's son withal.

312-336: Little difference between the two "trumpets".

365-375: One king is very like another.  Only the battle of confusion against peace will determine the outcome.

389-412: A confusion that Richard diffuses, to reveal a peace of his own making.

425-432: Which leaves Richard to claim the East.

474-488: A victory for Sound?

526-531: Ay,no, for Sight indeed!

 533-544: Blanche hedges her bets, whether it be sight or sound that prevails.

588-626: A new contestant: Commodity!  One whom Richard has already disavowed, but is prepared to embrace should the feeling be mutual.

 614-615: My favorite lines so far in this play: 

    And why rail I on this Commodity?

    But for because he hath not wooed me yet.

III.i.13-16 A nice summary of Constance's character, emphasized by ending four lines in a row with the same "fears", something that Shakespeare never does without cause.

32-34: One wonders whether it will be possible to find the overlap of this conflict between belief and life resonate with that between sight and sound.

39: If so, it is this: that belief and sound have triumphed, remaking life and sight in their image.

54-60: And this is reflected in the workings of Nature and Fortune as well. Any other author, one might be attempted to accuse of namedropping philosophical constructs in the hopes of appearing deeper to shallow ears.  It is already clear here, though, that the parallels are consistent and prefigure something even truer ahead. The battle, at least in Constance's eyes, rages between sight, life, and Nature on the one side, and sound, belief, and Fortune on the other with the latter currently prevailing.

78-86: And whose declaration, whose version of reality, will prevail?  If sound exert its authority over sight, then Constance has the upper hand.

137: Philip the Bastard may be the best role here, if not the juiciest.

153-166: John declares himself for sight, and laughs at words.

170: The connection made between Commodity and sight, adding the former to the ranks of the latter.

216-220: Blanche pipes up ever so briefly, to declare herself for sight, and in a way that reveals her beautifully.

219-226: The addition of faith and need crowds the battlefield.

234-262: Philip knows not how to declare, revealing the conflict between sight and sound to be unclear in his mind.  The vow of friendship and marriage, the curse of the Pope, both are of the latter materiel after all.  Perhaps all is sound, and sight is merely what we make of it.  If so, then the loudest voice shall prevail.

263: Is this, then, the thesis?  All form is formless, order orderless.

273-308: Pandulph's word salad may seem purposefully dizzying, as befits a man of the cloth, but is at least consistent with his allegiance to Commodity.

335: My reading is suddenly trembling under its own weight.  Philip here seems to declare for sound, the pleadings of chatterboxes, and the first-sworn oath, rather than the very literal hand that he holds, John's temporal threat, and furthermore of practical gain.  If this play ends badly for John, then my reading is correct.  If not, the obverse.

III.ii: It doesn't look good for Philip, and by extension for my reading.

 

III.iii.27, 35: How telling.  Twice John forbears to speak.  What does this forbear?

50-53: Aha!  sight and sound are not enemies after all, at least in John's estimation.  They are both of them lying offshoots of Sense.

70: And John is revealed in a word.  Sense is treacherous to him because he makes it so.

 

III.iv.21: Constance is surely determined to be right.  Her recent advice proving fatal, she falls back upon her former words.

39-40: Constance's complaint is that her voice was not strong enough to shape reality.

94: Philip is on to something here.  Constance may simply like to grieve.

115-126: It remains to be seen is Pandulph is the voice of fate here, or an empty cleric.

128-143: Thus far, at least, he speaks practical truth.

161-162: The imagery here calls me back to my earlier reading.  The judgement of heaven is phrased in terms of sound, whatever that may end up meaning.

186-187: Again, sound is thought to shape reality. We shall definitely see.