must not forget to say something That my friend told me of a certain King”( 74). The draft shows further evidence of Shade’ s knowledge of the King. How would Shade know so much if not for Kinbote’ s stories of this King? And how would Kinbote know such stories unless he was intimately connected in some way to this King?
Shortly after that comment we read on to find another note from the defendant which states that“ all brown-bearded, apple-cheeked, blue-eyed Zemblans look alike, and I who have not shaved now for a year, resemble my disguised king”( 76). Again we notice how Kinbote refers to himself in a such a way as to make us question whether or not he is the King. The defendant makes these associations frequently and accurately throughout his comments. I ask you to think about your own life and certain stories from your past you hold dear. Who else could re-create the scene of that memory with great detail? No one could! The stories of the King that the defendant tells are extremely precise and intricate. For example, the comments on three words for line 171 in canto two“ A great conspiracy”( 148) are followed by pages of storytelling. Kinbote describes the country after the King had fled, and knows the ins and outs of why it occurred, what politically was happening in Zembla, and which people were enemies or friends of the crown.
In fairness to the jury I would like to present evidence for why Kinbote is not insane, as the prosecution would like you to believe. First, I will quote line 172 of Shade’ s poem Pale Fire,“ people hid the truth from me”( 39). We are able to assume,( and I will explain in greater detail later) how Kinbote’ s closest friend knew he had a secret, and never once referred to the defendant in any way that would lead one to believe he had a mental illness. The prosecution will present the following dialogue:“‘ You have hal ….. s real bad, chum,’ meaning evidently‘ hallucinations’”( 98), and expect this intelligent jury to consider this man insane based off a few interesting quirks. I will ask the jury to forgive me for not presenting more evidence for the prosecution, but frankly I could not find anything more.
I will now divulge certain phrases that cannot be overlooked in this case. First, when speaking to Shade Kinbote clearly states that he intends to“ divulge to you an ultimate truth, an extraordinary secret, that will put your mind completely at rest”( 215). Funnily enough, that is exactly what I intend for the jury. This secret truth that the defendant planned on sharing with his close friend was just that: the truth. I will be bringing forward a witness during the trial that will attest to exclaiming,( among other things) that“ King Charles wore no beard, and yet it is his very face”( 265)! This was in response to him seeing Kinbote for the first time. He said that the
61