“James, coming into his new and more sophisticated kingdom, has been regarded as a politically inept, while his attachment to notions of divine right monarchy has been derided by historians and teachers raised with the traditional view of English constitutional history.”

The quote relates to an over arching theme in the class of the British believing they are often more sophisticated than their Ireland and Scotland counterparts. While the quote may not be specifically about the book. It does raise the discussions that have been mentioned in class about the concept of many scholars shaping the British history with a bias. The quote was specifically intriguing due to Sharpe use of sophisticated kingdom when describing Britain.

The second way the quote relates to the class is the tracing of James’s belief that the monarch can to no wrong. Sharpe pushes the concept forward of the the James’s strong belief in divine rule, which ultimately causes his death.

“The idea horrified Elizabeth. It was easy to wish for Charles’s presence as long as he was far way in a distant country. De Silva described Elizabeth’s reception to his hint: ‘She turned white, and was so agitated that I could not help laughing to see her.'”

The quotation was interesting solely because it showed that Elizabeth was still human. More often than not, a lot of royalty are often superior, the way De Silva jokes with Elizabeth portrays her in two different ways. The first being her affability and her affection as a leader. Based on other texts, it seems rare that subjects choose to joke with the royalty unless they have a death wish. The ability of De Silva to joke with Elizabeth speaks for the love of her subject and how she successfully portrayed herself as a mother to all. The second portrayal is base on her reaction. Elizabeth’s reaction of nervousness may have been due to her not wanting to see a suitor and maintaining her image as a Virgin queen.

“seeing that the greater part of the front of the shrine had lost its plating, and horrified by the shameful circumstances of the fire, we agreed to summon a goldsmith secretly, and we made him join the metal sheets and re-affix them to the shrine as quickly as possible to avoid public disgrace (96).”

The quote shows how the abbey has a precarious position in society. While in class we have discussed the power of the church. To maintain the face of the church the caretakers were required to call a goldsmith at night to secretly patch that were impacted by the fire. Furthermore, in order to maintain the public’s faith in the church the monks proceed to lie about how the fire started claiming it to be candles and that only a few towels were destroyed. If the true damage and cause of the fire was revealed, the abbey would most likely lose the support of the public since it would be considered that god may have struck them down. The fire shows how the supernatural and public image play a role in the terms the power dynamic between church and monarchy. If the caretakers admit the church fire had more wide spread damage than what was shown, they risk residents losing hope in the christian faith or would assume that the abbey may have been sinning and it was an act of divine punishment.

“They grappled for a long time in the water, and Fraech went under. Cuchulainn dragged him up. ‘Now,’ Said Cuchulain, ‘will you give in, so I can spare your life?’

The concept of Cuchulainn is of a person who cannot lose and one who is gives off a bloodthirsty vibe. The reason for the quote is due to the concept of honor and mercy. The honor of a man is staked when single combat is invoked. Such is shown on many different occasions throughout act VI, when Cuchulainn is attempting to hold the army off. However, in Cuchulainn’s case,  it is possible to provide a point that he is not necessarily out for blood. The quote is only the first example of him asking someone to yield as to avoid spilling blood. Other such cases occur in meetings with Fergus in addition to the charioteer interaction. While all those interactions end with the death of each respective character, there was a base justification. In the above quote, the man refused to yield, thus forcing Cuchulainn to kill. The incident regarding Fergus and his escort was caused due to the escort continuing to assert his battle prowess and threatening to kill Cuchulainn, regardless of his actions. Often times these deaths are not due to the lack of compassion shown by Cuchulainn, but the constant push to for an honorable death.