How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #7
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. (5.2.70-78, 84-88)
This exchange between Cardinal Pandolf and Louis points out a fact about war that remains true to the present day. On the one hand, war is extremely easy to start: it can begin as a result of little more than words, what Louis metaphorically calls "breath." But that "breath" can create a huge fire that has a life of its own—and that is very difficult to put out. In this case, Pandolf can't stop what he started.
Quote #8
BASTARD
Now hear our English king,
For thus his royalty doth speak in me:
He is prepared—and reason too he should.
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This harnessed masque and unadvisèd revel,
This unheared sauciness and boyish troops,
The King doth smile at, and is well prepared
To whip this dwarfish war, this pigmy arms,
From out the circle of his territories. (5.2.129-137)
In the quotation before this one, we saw how words have some power to start war but little power to stop it. That doesn't mean that words and language don't play any role in war at all, though: in these lines, the Bastard uses language to try to get an edge in the conflict. He hopes that by throwing in a little trash-talk, he can psych out his opponents and make them weaker. This doesn't happen to work in the Bastard's case, but we at Shmoop can't see why it's a bad strategy in general.
Quote #9
MESSENGER
Be of good comfort, for the great supply
That was expected by the Dauphin here
Are wrack'd three nights ago on Goodwin Sands.
This news was brought to Richard but even now.
The French fight coldly and retire themselves. (5.3.9-13)
These lines reinforce a message that crops up again and again in King John: you can't control everything, because the world is just too complicated. Inevitably, some things are going to be up to chance. This is especially true in war, with the vast numbers of human beings involved doing things that they don't normally do. In this case, chance seems to favor King John by wrecking Louis the Dauphin's supply ships.