IV.i.14-26: An excellent characterization of Arthur here, and an effective, efficient, dramatic device to rouse the audience and propel the action. In my thirst for theme, I musn't forget to acknowledge little moments like this.
80-100: Sight quavers. this would be a tricky sequence to navigate as an actor. Only sound has power in this world.
109-110: And so Arthur knows that his tongue is more powerful than his eyes.
115-120: And lo, his word cools the very iron.
145-147: Hubert rightly commands silence. Arthur's word is simply too powerful.
IV.ii.28-34: A marvelous speech, true and succinct in exactly Shakespeare's finest fashion. Worth committing to memory and revisiting.
48: The tongue is mightier than the sword, and words than actions, according to Pembroke. But we shall see.
68: Success! The tongue prevails, and on a level that John has yet to suspect.
79-80: Purpose and conscience are another reflection of the two warring forces in this world.
92-94: A valid question. John seems to have his hands on the shears of destiny, but there are greater forces at work here.
96: "So thrive it in your game, and to farewell," is as effective a kiss-off as I have ever heard.
126-127: The tongue again. Is it to be believed or belied?
145-159: Be careful what you wish for, John! This tongue is mighty indeed.
181-182: In this world, Mercury is indeed the greatest of the gods.
204-211: The iron and the shears are each a callback, and a metaphor.
227-234: The hand and the eye work together. The fact, and the action.
248-253: The eye is the sign, but the tongue is the signified.
275-278: The eye lies. John's helpless vacillation is a reflection of his reliance on it.
IV.iii.28: Words indeed are best. But what has prevailed here? The word or the hand?
58-60: If, indeed. It seems not to be the work of a hand, but of a tongue, and the Bastard is the only one who sees it.
94-95: Is it not the tongue alone that caused this, though?
103: The toasting-iron, significant elsewhere, is tellingly conflated with the sword.
152-167: Faulconbridge's character gains depth here. His loyalty all along has been to England alone, and now that it is lost, what remains?
V.i.1-5: The hand, not the tongue, is invoked here. Shall it prevail?
5-21: Only after is the word, and the tongue, brought to bear.
46: A wrinkle in my reading. Where in this dichotomy does "thought", intention, will, etc. fit?
55-75: The eye is a pawn in the battle between the hand and the tongue.
V.ii.8-39: Salisbury continues to be one of the best roles written here. The metaphysical conflict at the heart of the entire play is his in microcosm.
44: If so, then the conflict is summed up here as between compulsion and respect, reality and ideal. Perhaps to much of a stretch to say hand and tongue, though.
64: What a line. The Dauphin is certainly full of himself.
84-88: He's not wrong though. The word, once given, does not return until it has been fulfilled.
110: Indeed. And I take this as admonition to continue looking (probably too) deeply into what lies under the text.
124-130: Faulconbridge invokes the tongue, even while admiring the Dauphin's stance. He knows the inner, even as he proclaims the outer. Perhaps this is the central dichotomy after all.
160-163: And the Dauphin sees through it.
166: Surely the tongue is not invoked so often in the Bard's other works.
182-183: I'm genuinely eager to find out the result. Only then will my reading be clear.
V.iii.3-4: All the aforegone tempest may well turn out to be moot, which would itself be quite revealing.
13-14: A tempting juxtaposition of hot and cold, more suitable for a Galenic reading perhaps.
V.iv.9-10: Melun's turn of heart reeks of dramatic convenience--unless we take the stance that he was not wounded in battle, but by Louis' own order.
30-44: Also flimsy explanations. Obviously, there is more to Melun's change of heart.
50-55: Also difficult to reconclie with Salisbury's character. This whole scene is suspect.
V.v.16-20: Efficient and deep characterization in these few lines. An actor could really make a meal out of them.
V.vi.14: Clever Bastard.
27-35: The result of this poisoning will reveal the entire play.
V.vii.6: He does yet speak. The tongue prevails.
13-25: . . . and even exults!
34-36: Same, John. Same.
38-46: If I were staging this, I would have him sing these lines.
49-54: Galen is never far from the Bard's mind.
116-124: More prophetic than he could have realized.
All in all, I feel wonderfully misled. All of the debate, the shears, the irons, the proclamations, hands, and tongues, were for naught. Just as Fauconbridge says,
Now, now, you stars, that move in your right spheres,
Where be your powers? Show now your mended
faiths (V.vii.78-80)
None of this made any sense after all. The floods, the poison, the machinations, the Pope, all irrelevant, seemingly on a whim. Tis all a checkerboard of nights and days, after all.
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