King John Act 3 – “ I will instruct my sorrows to be proud; For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop…”

King John Act 3 –  “ I will instruct my sorrows to be proud; For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop…”

If Shakespeare had ever wanted to write a play about King Henry VIII without actually explicitly writing about Henry VIII, then ‘King John’ is as close as he would come during Elizabeth I’s life. As the conflicts spiral upwards, in Act 3 of ‘King John’, becomes aware how close to the bone ‘King John’ comes as a play to the life of Elizabeth's father Henry VIII. I am sure that many in the audience would be engrossed in the allegorical parallels to Henry VIII’s life and reign and others would be wondering how close a playwright may come to the chopping block without losing his head.

Constance is not a happy bunny and she rails against the treachery of King Philip of France and how him uniting with King John makes him less noble.

“… trust I may not trust thee; for thy word

Is but the vain breath of a common man…”

She uses a pariah of personifications to persecute King Philip but will not give into sorrow and grief and stands (or rather sits) her ground.

“ I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;

For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop…”


The alliance of King John of England and King Philip of France is symbolized by them holding hands. Louis and Blanche are joined in marriage and great happiness and festivities are declared. Constance is the unofficial killjoy to this celebration. King Philip and Austria cannot calm her as she curses those present and the day itself. Her words seeming mad and angry at this point will be a curse that foreshadows the coming events later in the act. She seeks the help of the heavens themselves:     

“A widow cries; be husband to me, heavens!

Let not the hours of this ungodly day

Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,

Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings!”

The focus shifts to a more religious dimension. When Cardinal Pandolf enters he relates the Pope’s displeasure at King John not accepting the Pope’s nomination for the Archbishop of Canterbury. An Elizabethan audience would be tense at this point and wonder whether after examining the rights of bastards and the indiscretions of royal females in Act 1, whether the mention of ties to church and Rome in Act 3 have crossed the line of mentioning the unmentionable. Or perhaps they would be proud since the play may be advocating that England was a pre-Reformation Reformation realm. Remembering that Henry VIII and Elizabeth I had both broken their ties to the Catholic Church of Rome. King John rejects Rome’s right to stand between his divine rights. Pandolf excommunicates John and England. Constance meddles in the melee. “O, lawful let it be

That I have room with Rome to curse awhile!”


Philip is then asked to physically and metaphorically let go of King John’s hand. Austria sides with Rome. Even Louis believes that losing England as a friend is nothing compared to breaking ties with Rome. Philip pleads for Rome not to excommunicate him and France if he keeps his newly formed promises to King John and England. Pandolf is firm in his demands. Blanche is upset that her wedding day seems to about to become a day of rejection, disorder and war and pleads and questions her husband.

“Upon thy wedding-day?

Against the blood that thou hast married?

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughter'd men?”                            

She begs her new husband Louis not to go to war with her Uncle King John. Constance weighs in, again and demands the destruction of King John and England. King Philip concedes and lets go of the hand of King John and England. Philip and John exchange threats and those that met hand in hand in peace and celebration, part as enemies in war.

The Bastard revels in the day and enters with the head of Austria in his hands. Revenge and the machinations of those who desire power at any cost will rule the stage for a scene or two. The battle scene is set with King John, Queen Eleanor his mother (it always pays to keep one’s mother by one’s side in battle), the Bastard, Hubert and Arthur has been captured. An echo of future King Henry VIII is heard from the future when King John orders the Bastard to collect the wealth from the monasteries from the “hoarding abbots”.


Hubert is thanked for his loyalty and service and is reminded that he must keep Arthur (who does not seem up to much) safe and out of harms way and then King John suggests that the grave might be the safest place for Arthur to be warm and safe. This is a magnificent moment in Shakespeare using shared verse to develop character, plot and tension all at once.

KING JOHN

Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,

He is a very serpent in my way;

And whereso'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.

I could be merry now…”


A storm brews on the horizon as King Philip enters with Louis and Pandolf. The French fleet is destroyed, Angers is lost, Arthur has been captured, and the English are homeward bound in victory.

Constance enters seemingly mad (as in crazy) but she will claim the crown of grief not madness as her own, since she has heard of the capture of her son Arthur.

“Preach some philosophy to make me mad,

And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal;

For being not mad but sensible of grief…

I am not mad; too well, too well I feel

The different plague of each calamity.”

Constance exits in despair and King Philip in outrage and fear.


Louis then embraces his own “bitter shame” and claims that “nothing in this world can make me joy”. Pandolf words certainly give him no joy initially.

“ Fortune means to men most good,

She looks upon them with a threatening eye.”

Then Pandolf points out that King John will have to kill Arthur and then reminds Louis that because Blanche is his wife that he now has the best claim to the throne of England. Louis is not convinced but Pandolf points out that if people hear of the death of Arthur they will embrace Louis:

“If that young Arthur be not gone already,

Even at that news he dies; and then the hearts

Of all his people shall revolt from him

And kiss the lips of unacquainted change…”

Even Louis now can see the logic (or flattery) of this argument and he goes to plan a new assault against the English.