How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #4
BASTARD
Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father.
Some sins do bear their privilege on Earth,
And so doth yours. Your fault was not your folly.
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Subjected tribute to commanding love,
Against whose fury and unmatchèd force
The aweless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.
He that perforce robs lions of their hearts
May easily win a woman's. (1.1.267-277)
The Bastard's words here are pretty much the reverse of Louis's words to Salisbury in Act V, Scene 2, lines 43-53—or close to it, anyway. Louis's words to Salisbury boiled down to something like this: "When you're crying like that, you're not behaving in a way that's appropriate for a man; still, because you're doing it, I can only assume that you have a good reason for it." Here, the Bastard's argument could be phrased, "When you slept with Richard the Lionheart, you weren't behaving in a way that's appropriate for a woman; still, since it was Richard the Lionheart who seduced you, that's a good enough reason for me." Here, as in Eleanor's speech from the previous quotation, the description of Richard's seduction has a violent aspect to it that may shade into what we would now consider rape. This doesn't necessarily mean Lady Falconbridge was raped (it's very unclear what actually happened), but it does show much less respect for women's choices than we would expect today.
Quote #5
QUEEN ELEANOR
Out, insolent! Thy bastard shall be king
That thou mayst be a queen and check the world.
CONSTANCE
My bed was ever to thy son as true
As thine was to thy husband, and this boy
Liker in feature to his father Geoffrey
Than thou and John, in manner being as like
As rain to water or devil to his dam.
My boy a bastard? By my soul, I think
His father never was so true begot.
It cannot be, and if thou wert his mother.
QUEEN ELEANOR
There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.
CONSTANCE
There's a good grandma, boy, that would blot thee. (2.1.123-134)
This verbal duel can be seen as the female counterpart to the insults that the Bastard unleashes against the deceased Robert Falconbridge in Act I, Scene 1, lines 128-133. There, the Bastard was judging masculinity based on the prowess of your (ahem) "will." Here, Eleanor and Constance accuse each other of falling short of the standards of fidelity to your husband that were expected of women at the time.
Quote #6
KING JOHN
If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son,
Can in this book of beauty read "I love,"
Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen.
For Anjou and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers,
And all that we upon this side the sea—
Except this city now by us besieged—
Find liable to our crown and dignity,
Shall gild her bridal bed, and make her rich
In titles, honors, and promotions,
As she in beauty, education, blood,
Holds hand with any princess in the world. (2.1.506-516)
These lines show how Blanche is used as a pawn in the political machinations of her uncle, King John, and of King Philip of France. This becomes clearest in the unexpected pairing of the most intimate aspects of Blanche's life (represented by her "bridal bed") with something that is not intimate to her at all—something that has nothing to do with her at all, in fact: the vast territories of land, like "Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers," which will "gild" that very bed. Of course, Blanche's personal qualities factor into the arrangements, too; her "beauty, education, blood" are all selling points. What do you make of the fact that her "education" is counted as a selling point? Is her education tainted by the fact that it seems mainly there to give her husband more pleasure, rather than being something done for Blanche's own sake?