How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #7
KING JOHN
Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye
On yon young boy. I'll tell you what, my friend,
He is a very serpent in my way,
And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,
He lies before me. Dost thou understand me?
Thou art his keeper.
HUBERT
And I'll keep him so
That he shall not offend your Majesty.
KING JOHN
Death.
HUBERT
My lord?
KING JOHN
A grave.
HUBERT
He shall not live.
KING JOHN
Enough. (3.3.62-74)
These lines come from the same scene as those in the previous quotation. At the beginning, King John is still talking in a pretty sneaky, roundabout fashion. No matter how weirdly he's communicating, though, Hubert seems to understand him just fine when he says he will keep Arthur "so / That he shall not offend your majesty." It shouldn't take any nudge-nudge wink-winking to make clear that this means Hubert will kill Arthur. Still, John doesn't seem to trust that, and he has to come right out and say "Death," and then "A grave," prompting Hubert to just say flat out: "He shall not live." What does the fact that John shifts from one way of communicating to another say about his character? Could it be a sign of his indecisiveness and lack of confidence? Or is he just making absolutely sure he's been understood?
Quote #8
KING JOHN
Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause
When I spake darkly what I purposèd,
Or turned an eye of doubt upon my face,
As bid me tell my tale in express words,
Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break
off,
And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me.
But thou didst understand me by my signs
And didst in signs again parley with sin,
Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent
And consequently thy rude hand to act
The deed which both our tongues held vile to name. (4.2.242-253)
Incredibly, after that whole complicated attempt at communication with Hubert in Act III, Scene 2 (see the previous two quotations), King John now places the blame on Hubert's shoulders for carrying out the deed. (Of course, we in the audience know that young Arthur isn't really dead, but John doesn't know that.) Here, King John makes it seem as if he had spoken in that confusing, hinting way before because he would have been too ashamed of himself to say it out loud.
The problem is that, as we just saw in the previous quotation, they ended their talk by explicitly deciding that Arthur had to die. Not only that, but apparently, in a scene that isn't depicted in the play, King John gave Hubert a stamped warrant for the deed (4.2.215)—the same warrant that Hubert showed Arthur in Act IV, Scene 1. Sorry, John, you can't wriggle your way out of this one.
Quote #9
PANDULF
King John hath reconciled
Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in
That so stood out against the holy Church,
The great metropolis and See of Rome.
Therefore thy threat'ning colors now wind up,
And tame the savage spirit of wild war
That, like a lion fostered up at hand,
It may lie gently at the foot of peace
And be no further harmful than in show.
DAUPHIN
Your Grace shall pardon me, I will not back.
[…]
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars
Between this chastised kingdom and myself
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it. (5.2.70-79, 84-88)
This exchange suggests that language is very powerful, but it isn't all-powerful. Yes, Pandolf's language (and the Pope's authority behind it) can inspire Louis to raise an army and march against England. But words won't lay siege to the English towns; Louis's army will. And, Louis seems to be saying, once that expedition is under way, it takes on a momentum of its own and can't be stopped by mere words. Maybe you could boil the lesson of this passage down to this: language is extremely powerful, but before it can take effect, you have to get somebody to listen.