How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
ARTHUR
God shall forgive you Coeur de Lion's death
The rather that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war.
I give you welcome with a powerless hand
But with a heart full of unstainèd love.
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke. (2.1.12-17)
If power makes people do things they wouldn't do ordinarily, weakness does so even more. If Arthur were in a position of power, do you think he would be forgiving the person who killed his uncle as easily as he does here? Isn't it more likely that he'd be acting like the Bastard, eager to go head-to-head with that person (Austria) and kill him? But because he is in a weak, powerless position, Arthur has to make friends with Austria.
Quote #2
ARTHUR
Good my mother, peace.
I would that I were low laid in my grave.
I am not worth this coil that's made for me.
QUEEN ELEANOR
His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.
CONSTANCE
Now shame upon you whe'er she does or no!
His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's
shames,
Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor
eyes,
Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee.
Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be bribed
To do him justice and revenge on you. (2.1.168-179)
Throughout King John, tears and prayers are the signs of powerlessness. (It is no coincidence that, in the play, they are most often associated with women and children, the most powerless figures in the medieval society in which the play takes place.) In this passage, the theme of tears and the theme of prayers are fused into one, when Constance predicts that the "crystal beads" coming from Arthur's eyes will make heaven "brib'd" to come to his aid and do justice for him. Based on the rest of the play, how effective a remedy would you say tears and prayers are, in Shakespeare's opinion?
Quote #3
BASTARD
And why rail I upon Commodity?
But for because he hath not wooed me yet.
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand
When his fair angels would salute my palm,
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary. (2.1.615-624)
In these highly cynical lines, the Bastard suggests that people in positions of weakness only hate power because they don't have it. In this case, weakness is represented by poverty, power by wealth. Once the poor (weak) achieve wealth (power), they start to hate people who are poor (weak). Thus, the Bastard divides the world strictly into the weak on one side and the powerful on the other. He doesn't seem to think there's any middle ground, let alone any hope for a future in which everyone lives together on terms of equality. Why does he have this attitude? Is it just shaped by the time in which he lives, or does it still apply today?