Henry VI part III: Act I
So …
Part III begins, as Part II ended, with Warwick, perhaps reinforcing his role as ‘kingmaker’, and with the suspicion – to be dealt with later, maybe – that Henry is a ‘Jonah’ on the battlefield. Whoever’s side he appears on (note I don’t say ‘fights’ on) he seems to suck the fighting spirit out of the army like a Dementor whose puppy has just been killed in a hit-and-run accident …
Continue reading “PTS 03/014: Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable …”
subtitled: The Middle Child, and Darth Vader
It seems an eternity since that I fell into this play, full of fears for my adopted country, and so it has been. My views on how work has impacted on my ability to blog over the last month or so probably need to wait until I’m not feeling as ‘wasp stung and impatient’ as Harry Hotspur. Anyway, as we hit the end of this play my fears for England have receded, at least. In fact, I’m struggling to feel fearful at all. I’m a spectator, but a fully engaged one.
Continue reading “PTS 02/013: The Force is strong in you, young Skywalker”
Henry VI part II: Act III
‘Small curs are not regarded when they grin’ (QUEEN MARGARET III.i.18)
Act III starts where Act II left off: the smell of blood in the water; fins thrashing as a pack of ruthless hunters circle our hapless king; bites being taken from the already-doomed Gloucester.
Continue reading “PTS 02/011: Small curs are not regarded when they grin”
Henry VI II: Act II
Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you
That triumph thus upon my misery!
(KATHERINA, The Taming of the Shrew: IV.iii.33-34)
When the nobility goes hunting; it seems they do it in packs …
Continue reading “PTS 02/010 The Early Modern Period Hunger Games?”
I wanted to reflect on the play as a whole, looking back to my ‘Expectations’ back at the end of January.
Good literature is like a magic trick. It makes you believe you are in a different time and place, and care for characters who are constructs, and react to their (also fictitious) actions as if you were a participant.
Though his actions were not visible, yet
Report should render him hourly to your ear
As truly as he moves (Pisanio, Cymbeline)
When next you hear about – or indeed deride, yourself – the fabulous, wholly unjustified level of holidays enjoyed by teachers, spare a thought in particular for this poor English teacher …
Henry VI 1: Act III
Writing about this act has been an almost painful task.
It would have been too too easy to continue with the ‘Carry On Up the Dolphin’ theme I’d adopted for Act II, but I didn’t feel up to it, aside from referencing the incorrigible overfamiliarity of Charles:
Ay marry, sweeting, if we could do that,
France were no place for Henry’s warriors. (III.iii.21-2)
Continue reading “PTS 01/004: We need Talbots, not bastards …”
Henry VI 1: Act 2 the act with that scene …
No, not the one in the garden. Surely, there’s only one thing worth talking about … in the words of Joe Jackson:
Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me,
There’s something going wrong around here.
… are the Dolphin and La Pucelle an item or not?
Henry VI Part 1: Act 1
And off we go. First-time visitor? Click here and here to find out what Ponytail Shakespeare is all about. Then come back, read, and comment – either here or at the Shakespeare Reddit sub.
On to the play, and post two of God knows how many in this project.
I wonder if I lowered my expectations too far …
To shrug and say it was fine, good, OK, would be to do the opening act of Henry VI part I a disservice. Sure, there were moments of clunkiness – not least when the French Master Gunner feels the need to declare – to himself, his son, and thereby the audience – his employment:
‘Chief master gunner am I of this town’. (I.iv.6)
But overall, it’s been an entertaining start.
Continue reading “PTS01/002: Shameful Complacency; Priapic Dolphins”
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
Why this? Why now? And why so slow? What on earth would prompt someone to commit to a read-through of Shakespeare’s plays?
I decided to do this about 6 weeks ago, let’s say about the end of November 2016. In many ways this post is a way to work through my motivations, as well as finally committing to the project.
Continue reading “Cheaper than a Harley. Easier than growing a ponytail …”
The Boar's Head, Eastcheap 