Read King John & Henry VIII Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
212
accoutrement
formal trappings
213
motion
desire, impulse
214
sweet poison
i.e. flattery
214
tooth
appetite, sweet tooth
215
practise
plot
216
to … learn
i.e. learn how to spot other people’s deception by studying it myself
217
strew
be scattered
217
rising
i.e. ascent to greatness
218
riding-robes
horse-riding clothes
219
woman-post
female messenger
220
blow a horn
i.e. to announce her arrival (plays on the fact that her husband has recently been shown to be a cuckold; men with unfaithful wives were popularly imagined to wear horns on their forehead)
223
slave
wretch, villain
224
holds in chase
hunts
224
up and down
in every respect/everywhere
226
Colbrand the Giant
part of an invading Danish army defeated by Guy of Warwick, the eponymous hero of a medieval romance story
228
unreverend
irreverent, disrespectful
231
give us leave
leave us
233
Philip Sparrow
the Bastard rejects his former name (since he has been renamed “Sir Richard Plantagenet”) as a common name for sparrows (as it resembles their call)
234
toys
trifling matters
234
abroad
about, going on
234
anon
soon
236
eat
i.e. eaten (pronounced “et”)
236
eat … fast
“He may his part on Good Friday eat and fast never the worse for ought he shall get” was proverbial
236
in
of
238
do
perform, achieve/make, produce/copulate
238
marry
by the Virgin Mary
238
confess
admit/agree
239
Could get
i.e. were it possible he could conceive
240
handiwork
i.e. his half-brother, Robert Falconbridge
241
beholding
beholden, indebted
242
holp
helped
244
That
you who
245
untoward
unmannerly, improper
245
knave
scoundrel; the Bastard puns on the meaning “servant”
246
Basilisco
a character in a contemporary play who insisted on his knighthood being acknowledged
247
dubbed
knighted, by having a sword placed on the
shoulder
250
Legitimation
legitimacy
252
proper
fine/respectable
254
deny
renounce
256
suit
urging, courtship
258
Heaven
may heaven
258
charge
account/responsibility
259
issue
offspring
259
dear
cherished/grievous/costly
260
defence
resistance
261
get
be conceived
263
privilege
immunity
264
folly
foolishness/lust
265
dispose
disposal, command
266
Subjected
obedient/as his royal subject
268
aweless
fearless
268
lion … hand
as punishment for killing the Duke of Austria’s son, Richard I was imprisoned with a lion, whose heart he tore out by putting his hand down its throat
270
perforce
forcibly
273
Who
whoever
275
kin
(new) relations
277
said him nay
refused him
278
was
i.e. a sin
2.1
Location: France
2.1
before Angiers
in front of the gates of Angiers, on the Loire river
2.1
Dauphin
title for heir to the French throne
2.1
Austria
historically Leopold V; apparently wearing a lion’s skin, supposedly taken from Richard I
2
that … blood
i.e. your predecessor
4
holy … Palestine
the Crusades
5
By
i.e. at the hand of
6
posterity
descendants
7
importance
request
8
spread
display
8
colours
battle flags
9
rebuke
repress
10
unnatural
i.e. behaving in a manner that contradicts natural kinship
13
offspring
descendants
14
Shadowing
sheltering
15
powerless
i.e. without a military force behind it
16
unstainèd
pure, unblemished
19
zealous
earnest
20
seal … indenture
wax seal on a legal contract
23
pale
either adjectival (colorless) or a noun (boundary, enclosure)
23
pale … shore
i.e. the chalk cliffs of England’s southeastern coast (hence England)
24
spurns
kicks, rejects
25
coops
encloses, protects
26
main
sea
27
bulwark
fortification
27
still
always
28
confident from
self-assured against
28
purposes
plans, i.e. threats of invasion
31
follow arms
i.e. take part in military action
34
more requital to
greater recompense for
37
bent
directed
38
brows
i.e. walls/battlements
39
discipline
military strategy
40
cull
select
40
plots
positions, sites
40
advantages
i.e. military advantage in attack
43
But we will
if necessary to
43
subject to
ruled by/answerable to
44
Stay
wait
44
embassy
message
45
unadvised
rashly, without full thought or information
49
indirectly
wrongfully
50
lo
look
52
England
the King of England
52
gentle
noble
53
coldly
calmly
55
against
in preparation for
56
impatient of
angered by
58
leisure
convenience
58
stayed
waited for
59
legions
forces
60
expedient
rapid
62
Mother-Queen
Queen-Mother, i.e. Elinor
63
Ate
Greek goddess of discord and revenge
64
niece
female relative; actually Elinor’s granddaughter and John’s niece
64
Blanche of Spain
daughter of John’s sister Eleanor and Alfonso VIII, King of Castile
65
king’s deceased
dead king (Richard I)
66
unsettled humours
i.e. unruly persons, malcontents;
humours
four chief bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, choler, black choler) governing mental qualities and disposition
67
inconsiderate
reckless
67
voluntaries
volunteers
68
ladies’ faces
i.e. beardless and young
68
spleens
tempers, impulses
69
sold … backs
i.e. they have spent everything on armor and military equipment
71
make … of
risk, venture
72
braver
more splendid, finer
72
choice
selection
73
bottoms
keels, i.e. ships
73
waft
wafted, i.e. conveyed (suggesting a quick easy journey)
75
scathe
damage
76
churlish
rough, harsh
77
circumstance
details
78
parley
negotiate
79
expedition
warlike enterprise/haste
82
occasion
(needful) circumstances
83
others
i.e. troops
85
lineal
hereditary
85
own
i.e. territories/role of ruler
88
beats
drives, forces
89
if that
if
91
England’s
i.e. Arthur’s
93
toil
i.e. supporting Arthur’s cause
93
work
duty, undertaking
95
underwrought
undermined, sought to overthrow
95
his
its
96
sequence of posterity
lawful succession
97
Outfacèd
defied/intimidated
97
infant state
young majesty, i.e. Arthur
99
Geoffrey’s
i.e. Arthur’s father’s
101
abstract
essence, summary
103
brief
summary
109
owe
own
110
commission
warrant
111
articles
points/charges
112
supernal judge
i.e. God
supernal
celestial
116
impeach
challenge, accuse
118
Alack
exclamation of dissatisfaction, regret
119
Excuse … down
preventing (your) usurpation of authority is a good enough excuse
122
Out
expression of irritation and scorn
123
check
control, discipline
126
Liker in feature
more similar in physical appearance
127
in manners
(who are) in behavior/character
128
dam
mother (devil and parent were proverbially similar)
130
His … mother
Constance insults Elinor by suggesting that it is likelier that Geoffrey was a bastard than that Arthur might be one
131
an if
if
132
blots
slanders
133
grandam
grandmother
133
blot
defile/erase
135
crier
announcing officer in a law court/town crier (a mocking reference to Austria)
137
play the devil
i.e. make trouble
138
An a
if he
138
catch
seize, get hold of
138
hide
i.e. lion’s skin
139
hare … beard
“even hares may pull dead lions by the beard” (proverbial)
141
smoke
subject to smoke/disinfect/beat
141
an
if
142
look to’t
beware
143
become
earn/befit
145
sightly
appropriately
146
Alcides
Hercules (Greek hero, one of whose twelve labors involved killing a lion, whose skin he then wore); some editors emend “shoes” to “shows,” i.e. distinctive clothing
148
lay on that
i.e. inflict blows
149
cracker
boaster (playing on the sense of “supposed breaker of
shoulders
”)
149
deafs
deafens
151
straight
straight away
153
very sum
final summary, absolute essence