The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel (62 page)

39.
vail
to lower in submission.

40.
bondmen
slaves, serfs.

41.
feculent
containing, or of the nature of, feces.

42.
Mercury … pip’st
Mercury—the messenger god—had wings on his heels. Were they attached higher (
fixed above
) on this messenger, they could blow away the flatulent stench of the words. [
RV
]

43.
pre-pardon
forgiveness before the act. Earliest known usage had previously been 1625. [
RV
]

44.
gleeks
jokes.

45.
violence
Shakespeare gives the word two or three syllables as his verse requires. Here, pronounced with three syllables. [
RV
]

46.
writing hand … secretary’s
“Secretary hand” was one of several different styles of handwriting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, more difficult to forge and therefore more suitable for confidential correspondence. [
RV
]

47.
callis-sand
sand of Calais, used for blotting. [
RV
]

48.
cistern … water
“can your leaky memory remember my message?”

49.
Ostensibly “bruised,” but I hear my father’s fondness for Crockett Johnson’s children’s classic
Harold and the Purple Crayon
, the story of a lonely boy who creates the world around him with his art.

50.
shamed to rose
embarrassed and blushing, but here bruising from the blows.

51.
ice their stones
cool off their testicles.

52.
candied
frozen.

53.
Extraught
descended.

54.
basilisk
a monster lizard reputed to paralyze anyone it looked upon. [
RV
]

55.
mickle
great.

56.
Desert … to ash
Sodom and Gomorrah [from the Book of Genesis. —
RV
]

57.
unlock
perhaps a pun on “loch”? [
RV
]

58.
upscale
climb over.

59.
roweled
spiked.

60.
jauncing
prancing.

61.
Gall’way nag
a particularly small Scottish breed of horse. Mentioned by Shakespeare again in
Henry IV, Part Two
. This also marks the second reference to Mordred as small in stature. [
RV
]

62.
carry coals
to bear indignities uncomplainingly.

63.
lese-majesty
treason.

64.
hanging letters-patent
literally, a written commission conferring Alexander his special status; in this case, Somerset is also threatening to cut off his ears. [
RV
]

65.
froward
evil or ungovernable person.

66.
Arthur Rex
“Arthur is the king.” The only Latin I know by heart. [Note: the meter comes to a halt on this line, leaving time for the action. —
RV
]

67.
lazy drone
a parasite. [Interestingly, Shakespeare uses “drone” in four other plays, twice with the epithet “lazy.” —
RV
]

68.
weasel
implying ferocity, blood-thirstiness, and deceit.

69.
intemprature
hasty, ill-considered mood. [Also, “intemperance” in other Shakespearean usage. —
RV
]

70.
gear
matter, affair.

71.
palfrey
a gentle horse.

72.
jarring
discordant, fighting.

Act I, Scene V

1.
gamesters
gamblers.

2.
mark at ten on one
lay the odds at ten to one.

3.
And finger … seat
“And try on my crown and sit in my throne.”

4.
vaulting ween
high ambition.

5.
stripe my back
flog himself as penance over his father’s murder of the Earl of Cornwall.

6.
churl
contemptible fellow.

7.
glistering
glittering.

8.
in some sort
somehow.

9.
us
Note that Arthur begins using the royal “we” here, accepting his kingship, reflecting that acceptance even in his diction. [
RV
]

Act II, Scene I

1.
trans-substanced
The Master of the Hounds commits a few malapropisms. Here, he means “transubstantiated,” the Catholic dogma of the communion transformation. Considering the religious strife of Protestant England in the 1590s, a level of Catholic mockery here is possible. [
RV
]

2.
excommasticate
again, a malapropism; here, for excommunicate. [
RV
]

3.
flesh
rile up a hunting dog with meat.

4.
crisple
to ripple, ruffle.

5.
pleasure-jack or apple-squire
hedonist or pimp.

6.
tib
a common woman’s name or a strumpet.

7.
have his will
double entendre: Have his way or have an erection. [
RV
]

8.
slop
tunic or trousers.

9.
wot not
don’t know.

10.
puttock of a wren
The wren is small and gentle; a puttock is a bird of prey. [
RV
]

11.
commodated
arranged.

12.
tarry
delay.

ACT II, SCENE II

1.
porpentine
porcupine.

2.
fell
fierce, deadly.

3.
Humber’s tide
The Saxons have invaded England along the Humber River, disembarked, and invaded York by land.

4.
conjoined
met up, joined forces.

5.
portcullised
fortified behind a portcullis, a castle gate.

6.
shiv’ring
splintering.

7.
con
learn, memorize.

8.
Absit omen
“May the omen be absent” (Latin). [“May this not come to pass” or “Heaven forbid.” —
RV
]

9.
Decline and conjugate
in Latin, reciting or listing the various endings to nouns and verbs, respectively.

10.
hard
probably cruel, harsh, rather than “difficult,” although the double meaning of difficult conjugation and declension may be present. [
RV
]

11.
Chambers
sound of cannons.

Act II, Scene III

1.
Diomedes
Diomedes was a hero in the Trojan War.

2.
Diomedes on Deinos leapt
While that’s true, the reference here is actually to the giant Diomedes, who kept four horses, mad from consuming human flesh. One of the horses was called Deinos (“the terrible”). Hercules’ labors included stealing the horses. [
RV
]

3.
endamagement
harm, injury.

4.
As I did doubt he might
A little disingenuous, since Mordred sent Alexander expressly to provoke a war. [
RV
]

5.
mien
manner, mood.

6.
upspring
upstart.

7.
beaver’s vents
the slits or airholes of his visored helmet.

8.
quartered shield … ween
The four sections (
quarters
) of Arthur’s coat of arms reveal his ambition (
ween
) to be king of all the British Isles: Wales (dragon), England (lions), Scotland/ Pictland (thistle), and Ireland (harp). [These symbols are, of course, anachronistic to the period of Arthur. —
RV
]

9.
Bannerets
pennons, military flags.

10.
escape … by postern gate
Mordred unintentionally attaches a fecal image to the northerners, likely amusing to the London audience, and likely sufficient to offend James VI, triggering the Nicolson Letter of 1598. [
RV
]

11.
obolus … debt … farm
“He will repay our injuries in greater quantity later.” From collecting (“farming”) tax or debt. An obolus was a coin of the lowest value. [
RV
]

12.
hie
hurry.

13.
gins
snares.

14.
deck
decorate.

15.
assay
to test, sample, try on.

16.
vivers
food. [True enough, but especially in Scottish dialect. In fact, the term was exclusively Scottish until the nineteenth century, demonstrating again Shakespeare’s gift for listening to the voices around him in London and imitating the dialects. —
RV
]

17.
blazon’s quartered fancies
the whimsical, wishful ambitions of Arthur’s coat of arms (
blazon
) drawn in four parts (
quartered
).

Act II, Scene IV

1.
general in my greetings
(ironic) attacking everyone he saw with equal generosity.

2.
gratulate
to greet.

3.
pounds upon my arm
a pun: pounds as weight to rest and as money to wager on Arthur’s arm. [
RV
]

4.
Pluto’s wealth
Pluto was god of the underworld and its extensive riches. [Hence, “plutocrat.” —
RV
]

5.
vict’ry-ripe
on the verge of victory.

6.
mead
meadow.

7.
Legend had it that the invaders burned their boats upon arriving in England, leaving themselves no tempting option of returning home, so each foe will have to be killed. [
RV
]

8.
broil
fighting.

9.
culv’rin
type of cannon. [Anachronistic. —
RV
]

10.
halidom
an oath, “by all that’s holy” or “by what I hold to be holy.”

11.
career
to charge, gallop.

12.
freshly … yew
as flexible and springy as wood from a yew tree (used to make bows). [
RV
]

13.
holp
helped.

14.
Named for my father’s perpetual tormentor, Ted Constantine, Hennepin County attorney and father of my best friend, Doug.

15.
The name is in Holinshed, Malory, and several other Arthur stories. Shakespeare did not select it to comment on a twentieth-century Minnesota prosecutor. [
RV
]

16.
embers
inspired, I suspect, by my father’s habit of visiting the Embers restaurant in Minneapolis, where I can imagine him writing this play.

17.
factious
seditious, secessionist.

18.
stamp royal
a kind of dance.

19.
worry
harass.

20.
agastment
fright, alarm.

21.
Petit Bretagne
Brittany, as opposed to Grand Bretagne, or Great Britain.

22.
A bit convoluted: “Though Lincoln will only be 25 percent as large a battle as the one we have just fought, even that opportunity to fight will be lost if we don’t hurry, since kids with stones will scatter the remaining enemy.” [
RV
]

23.
Arthur’s mysterious business in York is never entirely clarified in the text. I can see four alternative explanations for this: (1) The 1597 text is corrupt. (2) We are meant to see the arrival of Philip in Act IV as the denouement to a sexual adventure here in Act II. (3) There was some stage business in the original production which is now unclear to us (and modern directors will no doubt find their own interpretations). (4) Shakespeare allowed a mystery to sit at the heart of his character’s behavior, as he later did in
Othello
, for example. [
RV
]