As we enter a Presidential election where a majority of Americans dislike both candidates, we should not fall for one myth. Good media cannot make a defeat a win or a saint a sinner. How do we know?
If Shakespeare cannot make the French or a French hero look bad, then nobody can do it, certainly not FOX and CNN. The media is not mightier than God’s truth.
In Henry VI (Part 1) Shakespeare takes on the English loss of France after the death of Henry V. The French are led by Joan of Arc, the miraculous maid, who was so amazing she impressed the misogynist and arch-secularist Mark Twain. Shakespeare was a better Christian than Twain, but too partisan to recognize Joan’s sanctity. The greatest writer in the English language turned the Saint into a witch who consorted with devils, slept her way through the French high command, and was an arch-hypocrite. By the time Shakespeare is done with Joan’s character, burning seems too good for her . . . and he has the English burn her “mercifully” as possible because she is a woman.
All of this is quite powerful, as Shakespeare always is, but it fails. If you want to dislike Shakespeare, read Henry VI Part I. Nothing he says about Joan sticks to the real Saint and he harms an otherwise interesting play. America beware: you cannot kill a saint or the moral law with media.
Shakespeare shows that the powerful in England lose France because they prefer a weak and easily controlled leader to one like Henry V, victor of Agincourt, that cannot be controlled. Henry VI is a great man who will become saintly, but he is also weak and kept weak by “his” nobles. They begin to squabble among themselves and so England loses much of what Henry V had won. The great English general Talbot is portrayed by Shakespeare as defeated, because the English cannot unite to save him.
The Biblical Moses is a meek man, but he is not weak. Henry VI is a meek man who is weak and the corrupt church of his time is content that it be so. There are always powerful religious leaders, more interested in money and power than true religion, who prefer that their followers be weak because then their graft is easy. Like Henry’s prelate, they teach goodness that is more Precious Moments than book of Joshua. Beware the Christian organization that accumulates money and power for its leader and prefers everyone else to be subordinate and puny.
Shakespeare blames the English for their defeat . . . clearly the French could not beat an Englishman . . . and this is not entirely persuasive, but the Bard was right that disunion will destroy any kingdom or organization. You cannot simply blame Henry VI: he was a child when the play begins. The nobles should have united for the good of the nation, but instead they each wanted what was best for self. A selfish people perish.
With a child-king on the throne, the time came for all good Englishman to come to the aid of their nation, but instead they came to their own plunder. Everyone wanted to be the power behind the throne and the true patriots, like Talbot, are left to die.
In our Republic, this selfishness often manifests in following the “winner” regardless of principle as the “winner” will have the treats to hand out after victory. After all, if one does not get in line, access to patronage will be cut off. Who would wish this? Patriots are left on the front lines of wars that are forgotten and die while pork is sliced up by the Parties for personal profit. Shakespeare is right: even the French can win a war if their enemies are fighting themselves. What is worse is that this corruption is a stench to Heaven. God surely will raise up even a simple peasant girl to prick the pride of the powerful and cast down the mightiest of empires. Nobody can hide the hand of God when He decides to make men mad, choosing to fight for a White Rose or a Red Rose while England bleeds. Shakespeare could not . . . and FOX cannot now.
Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us.
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William Shakespeare went to God four hundred years ago. To recollect his death, I am writing a personal reflection on a few of his plays. The Winter’s Tale started things off, followed by As You Like It. Romeo and Juliet still matter, Lady Macbeth rebukes the lust for power, and Henry V is a hero. Richard II shows us not to presume on the grace of God or rebel against authority too easily. Coriolanus reminds us that our leaders need integrity and humility. Our life can be joyful if we realize that it is, at best, A Comedy of Errors. Hamlet needs to know himself better and talks to himself less. He is stuck with himself so he had better make his peace with God quickly and should stay far away from Ophelia. Shakespeare gets something wrong in Merchant of Venice . . . though not as badly as some in the English Labour Party or in my Twitter feed. Love if blind, but intellectualism is blind and impotent in Love’s Labours Lost. Brutus kills Caesar, but is overshadowed by him in Julius Caesar. We should learn not to make Much Ado about Nothing. We might all be Antony, but if we would avoid his fate then we must avoid flattery and the superficial love of Troilus and Cressida. We are fools, but our goal should be to accept it and not to degenerate into Biblical fools during our Midsummer Night’s Dream. Richard III is a symptom of a bad leadership community, but be careful that use Measure for Measure to guide your reaction to the mess. The modern university is Iago in Othello playing on our sins to destroy the nation. You can’t accumulate your way to a great leader and personal piety in Henry VI (Part I) is not enough to make a great king.
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