194.
only 3 days til we are in North Carolina!!!!!!! yahoo! we will get to see one of my two best friends, her husband, her wonderful children, and we get to see Next to Normal on tour with Alice Ripley! TWICE!!! gah! it's going to be an AMAZING weekend and i just can't wait to be there. and hoppppefully the car ride will afford plenty of time for Shakespearing! yeah, that's right, i just made a proper noun into a verb. i hope to finish this play this week. woot.
act 1, scene 1
in some sort of royal formal setting, King Richard and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster are entertaining complaints brought to them by Bolingbroke (John's son and Richard's cousin) and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Lancaster. Bolingbroke and Mowbray are there to accuse each other of high treason. the accepted course to take care of a dispute of that nature is trial by combat, and the two men are ready and willing to battle it out. Bolingbroke accuses Mowbray of three different counts of treason. Mowbray denies it all, of course, with reasonable explanations. King Richard asks them to make peace. (see quote below.) the men, however, will not give in. King Richard, unhappy with the outcome, tells them they will have their opportunity to battle on September 17, Saint Lambert's Day.
so this is that formality Bevington was warning us about that open and conclude this play. i certainly hope it drops off for the rest of the play. i find this style of writing to be extremely difficult to read. anyone else?
i'm not sure i'm completely clear on the nuances of this dispute. i understand that Bolingbroke and Mowbray don't like each other and are accusing each other of various things. Richard tries to get them to let it go, but they won't. my questions are: why is it Bolingbroke turning Mowbray in for treason? what is their relationship? and what exactly does Mowbray have against Bolingbroke? i'm extremely unclear on that.
Saint Lambert's Day! how cool. so Saint Lambert's Day is September 17. September 17 also happens to be my lucky day. and i have celebrated it as such every single year since... 2000 or so. so it's cool to learn about this. i also learned that Saint Lambert was killed for upholding marital fidelity. what a cool dude. he was like- no hoes for me! i can stand behind that.
quote of the day:
'wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me;
let's purge this choler without letting blood.
this we prescribe, though no physician;
deep malice makes too deep incision.
forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed;
our doctors say this is no month to bleed.'
-King Richard
for tomorrow: the rest of act 1!
-rebecca may
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