Oh these Royals! Always fighting for power whether it is rightly theirs or not and who really knows - it's so hard to follow the lineage lines (then and now!)
So, King John's title is being questioned by the King Philip of France who supports John's young nephew, Arthur's, right to the throne. They go to Angiers, France to battle it out and claim the kingship of England. First, they ask the citizens of Angiers whom they'd prefer to be their king, the citizens say whomever is worthiest. They battle and both sides proclaim victory and ask the citizens for admittance to the town to which the citizens respond:
Act II, Scene 1
Citizen: Heralds, from off our tow'rs we might behold
From first to last the onset and retire
Of both your armies, whose equality
By our best eyes cannot be censured.
Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd blows;
Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power;
Both are alike, and both alike we like.
One must prove greatest. While they weigh so even,
We hold our town for neither, yet for both.
Of course this annoys the Kings, but the Bastard (though dubbed Sir Richard Plantagenet, he still goes by Bastard) makes a suggestion that they join forces and attack "the scroyles of Angiers" and then they can resume fighting each other! The Kings love the idea!
Act II, Scene 1
King John: Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,
I like it well. France, shall we knit our pow'rs
And lay this Angiers even with the ground;
Then after fight who shall be king of it?
Of course what I love most about Shakespeare is his language, like this descriptive:
Act II, Scene 1
King John: ...The cannons have their bowels full of wrath,
And ready mounted are they to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls;
Or this passage from Constance questioning the law when the Pope's lackey excommunicates her son, King John:
Act III, Scene 1
Constance: O, lawful let it be
That I have room with Rome to curse awhile!
Good father Cardinal, cry thou 'amen'
To my keen curses; for without my wrong
There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
Pandulph: There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
Constance: And for mine too; when law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong;
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law;
Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
And her speech on grief, personifies the feeling perfectly:
Act III, Scene 4
Constance: Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form;
Then have I reason to be fond of grief.
King John wasn't my favorite character and maybe it is as Shakespeare intended. Like many a pompous powerful personality, he refuses to take responsibility for his own orders. Such as when Hubert tells him that he killed young Arthur (he didn't actually) as he requested. King John claims Hubert misunderstood him.
Act IV, Scene 2
King John: Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears?
Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death?
Thy hand hath murd'red him. I had a mighty cause
To wish him dead, but thou hadst one to kill him.
Hubert: No had, my lord! Why, did you not provoke me?
King John: It is the curse of kings to be attended
By slaves that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life,
And on the winking of authority
To understand a law; to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns
More upon humour then advis'd respect.
Now we jump forward 160 years to another King - Richard II!!
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