The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel (61 page)

18.
Afeard
frightened.

19.
main
open sea.

20.
turtle
a turtledove. A symbol of faithfulness. [
RV
]

21.
conceit
idea, imagination.

22.
Joan hears sexual insinuation in his words. [
RV
]

23.
bid to weigh some caitiff’s
asked to judge some wretch’s.

24.
closets
private chambers.

25.
nigh
near.

26.
mien
appearance.

27.
belike
probably, perhaps.

28.
chamberlain
Arthur is referring to her dog.

29.
Patch
clown.

30.
Jackdaw
a proverbially stupid bird. [
RV
]

31.
stand affected
be willing, be moved to do something.

32.
folding
returning the sheep to their fold.

Act I, Scene III

1.
Heirs to the throne of Scotland were from 1398 until 1603 known as Dukes of Rothesay, much as the English heirs were the Princes of Wales. In this case, however, Shakespeare was committing both an anachronism (if Holinshed is to be believed, these events occurred in the 500s) and an error of place (wherever this ancient kingdom of Pictland was, it probably covered only what is today eastern Scotland. Rothesay is in the west). [
RV
]

2.
Alda
This seems to be an error of my father’s, as she never speaks.

3.
Alda
Likely not. Queen Alda’s silent presence in this scene is specifically requested by Shakespeare and is worth noting.
Arthur
is—as other commentators have noted elsewhere, and will no doubt be discussed in some coming work of scholarship on Shakespeare and feminism—a very feminine play, despite its clash of kings and battle scenes. Guenhera’s birth labors and marital sorrows, the abandoned mothers, and Alda’s enforced presence here—where her right to speak is openly scorned—reveal a sensitivity to women’s issues unsurpassed, in my opinion, anywhere else in Shakespeare’s works. One might even add—with only a trace of irony—the boar in I.i, which is described in terms both sexual and violent, and which is compared explicitly (“To her!”) to the shepherdess Arthur seduces and abandons. [
RV
]

4.
too hot
We are in the midst of conversation. Loth is replying to Mordred’s heated words. [
RV
]

5.
blast
blow violently.

6.
crabbed
cross, grouchy.

7.
bangstry
violence. [Perhaps especially a Scottish term, as it appears in Scottish law codes under James VI. —
RV
]

8.
Grampian mount
one of Scotland’s three mountain ranges.

9.
gall
the gall bladder, supposedly the seat of bile and anger.

10.
deathsman
executioner.

11.
Hold on
Continue.

12.
forward
prematurely.

13.
seigniory
realm.

14.
chafe
to warm.

15.
below
downstairs.

16.
Roman tower
The Tower of London (in fact begun in 1078) was popularly believed to have been left behind by the Romans. [
RV
]

17.
make … head
to raise an army.

18.
butt
a pun: Arthur will use his “head” to butt the crown. [
RV
]

19.
sway
force, authority.

20.
Mouldwarp
Mole.

21.
liberal
licentious, promiscuous. [And here pronounced in two syllables. —
RV
]

22.
whinyards
short swords.

23.
buttoned belts
armored belts. [
RV
]

24.
bluntly
stupidly.

25.
bonny
beautiful (ironic), and specifically Scottish. [
RV
]

26.
Distract
driven to distraction.

27.
parallel
remain equal to.

28.
overcharged
overburdened.

29.
ell
about a yard. [45 inches to the English, 37.2 for the Scotch! —
RV
]

30.
wind … racks
a pun. Lit: “All your talk doesn’t change things.” Fig: “All your wind isn’t strong enough to move the air [heir, i.e., Arthur].” [
RV
]

31.
with steel
with force, or at point of a sword.

32.
scratch … th’ resisting itch
to satisfy his sexual appetite, which satisfaction was literally resistant, as the earl’s wife was raped. [
RV
]

33.
David of the Jews
In the Second Book of Samuel, King David sent to war (and certain death) Uriah, whose wife, Bathsheba, David had impregnated.

34.
shade
make.

35.
blown
tainted.

36.
fracted
broken.

37.
What speaks my aunt in this?
nothing, as Alda stands silent now. Cf note to stage direction above. [
RV
]

38.
enfeoffèd
sworn as a subordinate, given land in exchange for obedience.

39.
forward
early, premature.

40.
privy
secret.

41.
false-troubled
feigning concern.

42.
If they but
On condition that.

43.
vassalage
humble subjects.

44.
smoking
steaming.

45.
lover
friend.

46.
hardly
with great difficulty.

47.
circummured
walled in securely.

48.
uplands
highlands.

49.
weens
thinks, imagines, has the ambition.

50.
puppy
foolish young man.

51.
laystalls
toilets, outhouses.

52.
Physic
doctor.

53.
drench
a drink.

54.
frame
shape, prepare.

55.
sense
Likely the sense of smell is intended here. [
RV
]

56.
toadstool
as an adjective, unique to Shakespeare. [
RV
]

57.
passioning derive
enthusiastically explain.

Act I, Scene IV

1.
Holinshed’s
Chronicles
, Shakespeare’s source for this play, says only the following: “The Britons disdainfully using the Pictish ambassadors …” It is from this seed that Shakespeare created I.iv, a most extraordinary dramatization of that simple idea. [
RV
]

2.
flexure
bent knee.

3.
perfect
complete, unquestioned.

4.
rate
measure, settle the amount of.

5.
puissance
power.

6.
Foresees
assumes, counts on.

7.
stamp
mark, proof.

8.
coulter
plough.

9.
skink
to decant liquor, or wait tables.

10.
mawks, beef, ling
three slang terms for prostitutes or loose women. [
RV
]

11.
St. George’s field
section of London known for prostitutes. [
RV
]

12.
George’s day
April 23 happens to be my birthday as well as King Arthur’s. A little greeting from my father and proof of Dana’s claim that the play is “about me.”

13.
George’s day
is also taken to be Shakespeare’s unconfirmed birthday. The mention of it as King Arthur’s birthday raises the possibility that Shakespeare was perhaps allowing himself some self-revelation here, in Somerset’s description of a man who frequents prostitutes. Perhaps Shakespeare, a man who lived for months or years at a time away from his wife, was intimately familiar with St. George’s field. More likely still, April 23 is also the foundation day of the Order of the Garter (which had Arthurian overtones), so there are many far more likely explanations for this reference than that the play was forged to honor a twenty-first-century American novelist. [
RV
]

14.
Another joke implying Arthur is sexually insatiable and Gloucester is merely his procurer:
postern gate
was slang for anal sex. [
RV
]

15.
raspberry
Prior to the discovery of this text, the earliest recorded use of “raspberry” in English dates from 1602, some five years after the play’s publication. It is such details that further convince me of its authenticity. [
RV
]

16.
“Since he’s come of age, the prince has been almost constantly engaged in sexual antics.” [
RV
]

17.
so long as that
a double entendre. The length of the prince’s new beard (reaching his thumbs) is confounded with the length of his penis. [
RV
]

18.
a tailor’s
tailors, and fools, were reputedly well-endowed. [
RV
]

19.
luxury-amazed
lust-maddened.

20.
kecksie flourish
with royal music (flourish) made by blowing on a blade of dried grass (kecksie). [
RV
]

21.
continence
self-restraint.

22.
descried
revealed, disclosed.

23.
tales lead beasts … follow
pun: tales as rumors, wagging the head. [
RV
]

24.
pate
head.

25.
choose
“He can kill you (with the edge), knock you unconscious (with the fig-shaped pommel), or just tag you for show (with the flat).” [
RV
]

26.
Puns: York (in the north), where the father (Uter) died, and where the son unnaturally wishes to die, a desire as unnatural as the sun setting in the north. [
RV
]

27.
See
Dr. Strangelove
, one of my father’s favorite movies: “Gentlemen, no fighting in the War Room.”

28.
sirrah
a term of address expressing contempt or the speaker’s authority.

29.
clog’st
burdens.

30.
chough
a bird [thought to chatter nonsense. —
RV
]

31.
absolution pertinent
“forgiveness is now more to the point.”

32.
doubt
fear.

33.
dwarfish duke
the first of several references to Mordred’s height.

34.
boisterous violence
violent rape.

35.
criminal
pronounced in two syllables. [
RV
]

36.
pillar
to support. Apparently a Shakespearean invention as a verb. [
RV
]

37.
triobular
worthless. [Literally, worth three oboli, small coins. —
RV
]

38.
left no issue
If this play was performed in the early 1590s, a childless English monarch being replaced with a Scottish one would not yet have been politically sensitive. By 1597, it certainly would have been. [
RV
]