Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

They shall be satisfied: I’ll read enough,

When I do see the very book indeed

Where all my sins are writ, and that’s myself.  

 

King Richard

King Richard the Second   Act IV, Scene i, Line 273

Bolingbroke has won. They are in Westminster Hall and everyone is present. King Richard has been brought forth and is being asked to read aloud a list of his wrong doings as a way of justifying Bolingbroke’s usurpation of the throne. Richard is quibbling about doing this, and Bolingbroke says he doesn’t have to. Northumberland remarks that the masses will not be satisfied unless Richard reads the list of his sins, and this is what Richard is responding to above. 

So that took me eight and a half lines to set up today’s three lines. Oh, and Richard has already requested a mirror, so that’s what he’s referring to when he says, When I do see the very book. He’s talking about his face. He has a nice little speech when he looks in the mirror. It’s thirteen lines. Oh what the heck.

Give me the glass, and therein will I read.-

No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck

So many blows upon this face of mine,

And made no deeper wounds! – O flattering glass,

Like to my followers in prosperity,

Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face

That every day under his household roof

Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face

That, like the sun, did make beholders wink:

Was this the face that faced so many follies,

And was at last out-faced by Bolingbroke?

A brittle glory shineth in this face:

As brittle as the glory is the face;

                       [dashes the glass against the ground]

For there it is, crackt in a hundred shivers.—

Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,--

How soon my sorrow hath destroy’d my face.

 

And Bolingbroke replies,

The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy’d

The shadow of your face.

 

Richard seems surprised,

                                      Say that again.

The shadow of my sorrow? Ha, let’s see:--

‘Tis very true, my grief lies all within;

And then he goes on, but we won't.

I’m not sure why I felt a need to give you all that. There’s a lot of what Richard has to say in this play that’s really great. I guess I just felt that here’s some of that, so that I wanted to make sure you got it. It’s pretty great just reading it, the beauty of the language; and of course there’s all sorts of meaning that can be mined out of it should you decide to put on your miners helmet with the light and dive on in.

But let’s face it: that's up to you. 

 

He doesn’t think I noticed that he snuck the word ‘face’ into that last sentence just because the whole thing was about faces and facing. 

I noticed. 

This face notices everything!

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory,

That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;

So shall you share all that he doth possess,

By having him, making yourself no less.

 

Lady Capulet

Romeo and Juliet       Act I, Scene iii, Line 95

This is early on in the play. Romeo and Juliet have yet to lay eyes on each other. Here, Juliet’s mother is telling the young girl about Paris, who has expressed an interest in Juliet. The mother is asking the daughter how she feels about marrying Paris. Juliet’s reply?

I’ll look to like, if looking liking move:

But no more deep will I endart mine eye

Then your consent gives a strength to make it fly.

That’s a little confusing, but I think it sounds like she’s game for Paris, doesn’t it? But what the heck is that first line? I’ll look to like, if looking liking move: I’ll take a look at him with the hope of liking what I see? Is that it? I think that’s it. Then she’s saying that she’ll go no further with Paris than her mother gives her consent to. But it sounds like her mother is already giving that consent, and more. I think she’s referred to Paris as a golden story, hasn’t she? Juliet’s just trying to hedge her bets. And good thing, too, because her golden story’s not going to be named Paris.

The best laid plans of mice and Lady Capulet go oft awry.

Mice?  Did somebody say Mice?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

The villain is much lighter-heel’d than I:

I follow’d fast, but faster he did fly;

That fall’n am I in dark uneven way,

And here will rest me. [Lies down] Come, thou

gentle day!

 

Lysander

A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Act III, Scene ii, Line 418

The villain noted in the first line above is Puck, and he’s leading Lysander on a chase through the woods. Well, he was leading him, but now Lysander’s done chasing and he’s going to lie down to sleep.

I forget exactly what’s going on here, as far as who’s doing what to who. But I think it’s enough to know that this is the main part of the play where everyone’s in the forest at night doing something. Lysander’s something right now is sleeping, and considering that dream is in the title of the play, one might expect that there’ll be a bit of sleeping.

And there you have it.

Playing the part of Lysander (and perfectly cast, I might add)...

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,

And strew’d repentant ashes on his head.

 

Arthur

King John                Act IV, Scene i, Line 110

Arthur, a child, is talking to Hubert de Burgh. The latter has been sent to burn Arthur’s eyes out. The former is doing his best to talk Huburt out of doing it. Arthur has noted that the fire has gone out and that the red hot poker in Huburt's hand is now cold. Huburt replies that he can heat it. No, says Arthur,

No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief,

Being create for comfort, to be used

In undeserved extrement: see else yourself;

There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,

And strew’d repentant ashes on his head.

Arthur is giving quite a bit of life and conscience to the fire. Will is great at doing that: giving life to inanimate objects. As usual, he does it with some really great language. Again, the poet playwright.

Speaking of inanimate objects...

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?

Aaron

Titus Andronicus               Act V, Scene iii, Line 185

This is actually the line before Today’s actual Totally Random Line, but the TTRL runs for six lines (which I’ll give you in a moment), so I’m giving you this easier line up front.

Aaron has just been sentenced to be buried breast-deep and to be left to starve to death. That’s what he’s reacting to above. He goes on, since he’s already said that wrath and fury should be verbalized, and here is that verbalization: 

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers

I should repent the evils I have done:

Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did

Would I perform, if I might have my will:

If one good deed in all my life I did,

I do repent it from my very soul.

There, how’s that for wrath and fury; he's not a nice fellow at all. Luckily, Lucius, Titus’s son, get’s the last words of the play after Aaron speaks. He’s not terribly nice either, talking about tossing Tamora’s body forth to beasts and birds of prey. But, thankfully, he ends this whole torrid affair on a little bit  more of an upbeat note:

Then, afterwards, to order well the state,

That like events may ne’er it ruinate.

Yeah, I don’t think anyone would want events like those that took place in this play (murder, rape, mutilation, cannibalization, etc, etc) to ever repeat. That could very definitely ruinate the state.

Of course, there are other types of actions that could ruinate the state as well, but I'm not gonna go there today.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

Signior Benedick, no; for then were you a child.

Leonato

Much Ado About Nothing    Act I, Scene i, Line xxx

I can’t believe it took me so long to figure this line out. Here’s the setup: Don Pedro asks Leonato if the young woman with him is his daughter. Leonato replies, Her mother hath many times told me so. Wise-ass Benedick chimes in, Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her? That's when Leonato replies with Today’s Line, no; for then you were a child.

How did I not get that? In case you’re as dull witted as myself, Leonato is saying that he wasn’t in doubt because Benedick was too young then to have fathered her. In other words, Leonato is saying that Benedick is a lady’s man, to put it nicely, and since he was just a child when this girl was born, he (Leonato), does not have to worry about his wife having cheated on him with Benedick. How hard is that? How did I not get that right away?

I'll bet old sleepy head over there wouldn't have got it either. I think all of this stuff is over his head anyway. 

Just kidding, buddy. Just kidding. I'm sure you got it the first time you heard it. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Madam, I was very late more near her than I think she wisht me: alone she was, and did communicate to herself her own words to her own ears; she thought, I dare vow for her, they toucht not any stranger sense.

 

Steward

All’s Well That Ends Well     Act I, Scene iii, Line 106

Steward is telling his boss, the Countess, that he was eavesdropping on Helena talking to herself. Yup, that’s what he’s saying. He’s being a bit long-winded about it, isn’t he. Four and a half lines to say I overheard Helena talking to herself.

Sometimes I wonder why the Bard will so often take so many words to communicate something that can be said with so few. For instance, the last part - she thought, I dare vow for her, they toucht not any stranger sense. Why not – I think she thought she was alone. Seven words vs thirteen. Clearly Will never read Strunk and White – No unneeded words! Just as clearly Will was the Poet Playwright. I guess we’ll leave it at that.

I can only wonder how many words Will would use to describe Mojo in this picture. I can sum it up with two words:

Complete Disinterest.

Perhaps, as you read this, you're feeling the same as Mojo here?