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from stigmatizing and branding the Cardinal with ignominy, actually redounds not only to the honor of the Cardinal and of the cause he represented, but also to the fairness and respectability of Shakespeare himself.

King John28

Part III.—Lines 279-289.

It is religion that doth make vowes kept,
But thou hast sworne against religion:
By what thou swear'st against the thing thou
swear'st,

279

280

281

And mak'st an oath the suretie for thy truth,
Against an oath the truth, thou art vnsure
To sweare, sweares onely not to be forsworne,
Else what a mockerie should it be to sweare?
But thou dost sweare, onely to be forsworne,
And most forsworne, to keep what thou dost
sweare,

282

283

284

285

286

287

[blocks in formation]

Line 281, thing swear'st - thing swear'st by by Cap

ell, Marshall.

...

...

Line 283, the truth, - that truth by Hanmer; the proof by Staunton (a conjecture); the test by Hudson; the truth by Herr; the oath by Kinnear.

Line 283, vnsure untrue by Hanmer.

28 Folio (1623) 10. See Plate IV, p. 116.

29Only those emendations are noted which clearly influence the

meaning of the passages concerned.

Line 284, To sweare, - Who swears by Capell, Hudson In swearing by Herr.

Lines 284-285, to be... should to seem

Meaning of Words

will by Herr. 30

Line 279, religion: Man's relation to God, whence arise cer

tain duties and obligations.

Line 281, what: the promise (by what thou swear'st).

Line 281, thing: the oath (against the thing thou swear'st). Line 282, suretie: "pledge".

Line 282, thy truth: The word "truth", as used above, means the proper observance of the law. Now, since "truth" is modified by "thy", it is to be taken subjectively, that is, with reference to Philip. Therefore, it means Philip's proper observance of the law or his fidelity.

Line 283, oath: Philip's second oath, as in the foregoing line. Line 283, the truth: the proper observance of the law. Line 283, Against an oath the truth: This is clearly an instance of elliptical language. In such a case the words omitted are usually understood from the preceding line.31 Thus, if it be assumed that the words left out are "and mak'st", because the foregoing line reads "And mak'st an oath the suretie for thy truth", the elliptical phrase becomes quite clear: "and mak'st against an oath the truth." If this line, then, be taken in conjunction with the foregoing line (282), for, being an ellipsis it naturally stands in close relation to it the meaning then is an exact statement of the moral confusion caused by the very nature of Philip's second oath: You make an oath the surety for your fidelity, and you make the proper observance of the law militate against that oath. This is also in perfect

30 Horace H. Furness, Variorum of King John (Philadelphia, 1919) 225-227.

31See Edwin A. Abbott, A Spakespearean Grammar (London, 1901) n. 382 f.

agreement with line 281, for this is the exact situation created when the promise sworn is against the very idea of an oath. Futhermore, this meaning agrees with the following lines. In the subsequent part, it is not necessary to prove the statement of line 282, for every oath is a surety for one's fidelity. But the statement in line 283 that Philip has made the proper observance of the law against the oath itself is the crucial point and should be demonstrated. Admirable to say, this is precisely what is proved in the following four lines. Since then the subsequent four lines are devoted to the demonstration of the elliptical phrase, the idea could well enough be conveyed by such an ellipsis. What is more, by stating the situation (lines 282-283 a) in such cryptic language, the moral confusion, occasioned by the oath itself, is brought out, and whether the audience understood its actual nature or not, it nevertheless most certainly conveyed the idea that Philip's latter oath created a real moral confusion.

Line 284, To sweare: This phrase is to be taken in an absolute sense, that is, that the oath is sworn even though the fulfillment of the oath be now or will be contrary to the law, such as Herod's oath.32 This is the only reasonable meaning of the sentence: "Thou art unsure to swear", and this meaning is borne out by the assertion, which immediately follows: "sweares onely not to be forsworne." Philip's insistence that he is bound under oath to John makes it appear that he swore absolutely, which may never be done, for in this consists the mockery. The entire argument is based on the immorality of swearing absolutely.

Line 284, sweares: There is no subject expressed. This may be a printing mistake. But the line gives sense, for it is evident that Pandulph is simply stating a general principle, and therefore, some such word as "one" may be understood.

32Mat. xiv, 1 f.

Line 284, forsworne: To swear immorally, that is, in such a manner that it is against the very concept of the oath. An oath may then be immoral on account of its object in two ways: 1. if the object itself is sinful; 2. if the object will be fulfilled, even though it becomes sinful. This latter applied to Philip's case.

Line 285, mockerie: The mockery consists in the taking of an oath to do something bad regardless of its morality. The fact, that one is thus willing to do something bad, if the promise so demands, shows that the person has a bad will. To call God to witness such a bad will is certainly a mockery. Consequently, when one swears, it must always be with the assumed reservation that if the promise sworn becomes bad it will not be fulfilled. To swear without such an assumed reservation would be to swear absolutely as noted above.

Line 286, thou: This word has the emphasis according to the meter. Lines 284-285 is a statement of the general principle involved. Therefore in Lines 286-287 the application is to Philip.

Line 286, forsworne: In the same sense as line 284. Philip has previously argued that he is bound by oath to John in spite of the fact that it is against the law to fulfill that oath. Philip, therefore, gave reason for Pandulph's assuming that in swearing peace with John, he swore absolutely. Line 287, most forsworne: A sin is intensified when material guilt is added to the evil intention. Therefore, by fulfilling the bad oath, Philip intensifies the sin already committed by swearing immorally (absolutely).

Line 288, therefore: This introduces the conclusion of the entire argumentation.

Line 289, rebellion: This word in the conclusion has close reference to "civil war" in the proposition. The two main arguments, with their subsidiary arguments and explanations proved this state of moral rebellion: the first by showing that the ends of the two oaths conflict; the second that in the latter oath itself there was a conflict.

Paraphrase

It is man's obligation to God that makes vows kept. But you have sworn against your obligation to God by swearing to a promise, which promise is contrary to the very act of swearing; and thereby you make such an oath the surety for your fidelity, and at the same time you set the right observance of the law against the oath itself. You are unsure to swear absolutely. One swears only with the implied reservation that he does not oblige himself to do evil; otherwise such an oath, since it binds one to evil, would certainly be a mockery to God. But you swear absolutely, so that, when swearing, you have the intention of fulfilling the promise, even though its fulfillment becomes evil. Consequently, you swear only to swear falsely, and your evil intention in the act of swearing is intensified by keeping such an oath. Therefore, thy later oath, being against the first is in thyself rebellion to thyself.

Comments

Some33 seem to think that Shakespeare's argument is thus: It is the Catholic Church that doth make vows kept. Now, this latter vow is against the interests of the Catholic Church. Therefore, this latter vow is invalid. There is nothing in the speech to indicate that Shakespeare had such an argument in mind. Apparently this misunderstanding comes from a wrong conception of the word "religion." The word "religion" is certainly not taken to mean the Catholic Church, nor does such a meaning receive any confirmation from The New English Dictionary. Religion is a relation towards God, and therefore, any one who believes in

33 See, for instance, Henry Irving and Frank Marshall, The Works of William Shakespeare (New York, 1888) III, 222; and E. W. Sievers, "Shakespeare und der Gang nach Canossa", Englische Studien 20 (1895): 228-230.

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