Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Pat, pat; and here’s a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal.

Peter Quince

A Midsummer Night’s Dream   Act III, Scene i, Line 2

Pat, pat is a relatively meaningless expression here. It could be replaced with Okay, or Now then, or absolutely nothing. And marvellous with two L’s, well that’s the way it’s spelt in my book. I suppose I should check my Folio, and perhaps I’ll do that later when I’m downstairs.

So here we have Peter Quince (yes, it only has Quince without a first name in my book, but, well, his name is Peter) talking to the rest of the guys as they meet in the forest to rehearse. The first line of the scene is Bottom asking Are we all here. Bottom likes to get as many lines as he can in this play and in the play within the play.

And, yes, it’s snowing again (here in Cheshire, not in the play). And it snowed, and it snowed…and it snowed.

That’s a Donner party reference. I don’t think that we’re quite at Donner party status yet. 

In any event (another fairly meaningless sentence starter), I’m downstairs now, and the FF has it as marvailous. Well, that’s interesting. I’m thinking that my book is just a typo. And now I've checked my E.G. Harrison Shakespeare compilation and it’s marvelous, as it should be. So I’m going to take this morning’s marvellous as a garden variety typo. What the heck.

  

Ahh, this guy is just going on and on. I'm thinking about going outside to have a smoke, Mrs. Blagys. Care to join me?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Come, come, you froward and unable worms!

My mind hath been as big as one of yours,

My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,

To bandy word for word and frown for frown:

But now I see our lances are but straws;

Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,-

That seeming to be, most , which we indeed least are.  

 

Katharina

 

The Taming Of The Shrew   Act V, Scene ii, Line 76

Katharina is the titular shrew in the play. We are at the very end of the play, and it certainly appears that she has been tamed. But has she?

I think that this is a much more complicated play than it appears to be. Taken on face value it appears that Kate has become completely subservient to her husband. Today’s Line is taken from Kate’s speech, here near the very end of the play. I might say that you should read the whole speech before passing judgement, but in fact I think you’d have to read/hear/see the entire play.

And I don’t see that happening right now. Even so, I’m tempted to give you Katharina’s whole speech, because it might open your mind a little bit. Oh, what the heck; here you go.

There are three couples in this scene and Petruchio, Katharina’s husband, has bade her tell the other two women what duty they owe their lords and husbands. Katharina is addressing the women when she speaks.

Fie, fie! Unknit that threatening and unkind brow:

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,

To wound thy lord, thy kind, thy governor:

(okay, this isn’t sounding good)

It blots thy beauty, as frosts do bite the meads;

Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds;

And in no sense is meet or amiable.

(that’s a little better?)

A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,

Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;

And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty

Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.

(interesting)

Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance, commits his body

To painful labour both by sea and land,

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;

(sounding a little better, a little more reasonable)

And craves no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks, and true obedience,-

Too little for such great a debt.

(again, not too unreasonable; you can’t forget the times that this takes place in)

Such duty as the subject owes the prince,

Even such a woman oweth to her husband;

And when she is forward, peevish, sullen, sour,

And not obedient to his honest will,

What is she but a contending rebel,

And graceless traitor to his loving lord?

I am ashamed that women are so simple

To offer war, where they should kneel for peace;

Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,

When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.

Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth

Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,

But that our soft conditions and our hearts

Should well agree with our external parts?

Come, come, you froward and unable worms!

My mind hath been as big as one of yours,

My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,

To bandy word for word and frown for frown:

But now I see our lances are but straws;

Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,-

That seeming to be, most , which we indeed least are. 

Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,

And place your hands below your husbands foot:

In token of which duty, if he please,

My hand is ready, may it do him ease.

 

And Petruchio’s response to Katharina’s speech?

Why, there’s a wench!- Come on and kiss me, Kate.

So, is your mind open enough to view this as something deserving of discussion, or am I just a jingoistic rogue to think that it even deserves a second look?

You tell me.

I believe it's gonna be jingoistic rogue, Mr. Blagys.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly, as thy did in the golden world.

 

Charles

As You Like It        Act I, Scene i, Line 119

Who is Charles talking about? He’s talking about the old duke who has been banished by his younger brother, the new duke. Like many of Will’s plays, we have two parallel stories/relationships going on. The first is brothers Olando and Oliver who open this scene in disagreement, and the second is these two dukes that Charles is talking about in Today’s Lines.

I suppose there are a few things we could take note of in Charles’s lines, the forest of Arden or perhaps the reference to Robin Hood, but I’m going to key in on his last line about the men who flock to the duke. Apparently they like to 

fleet the time carelessly, as thy did in the golden world.

First of all, fleet? Well, fleet is a common noun and/or adjective, but you don’t see it used much as a verb these days. MW Online has three meanings of the verb fleet: to fade away, vanish, or flow (that last one is labeled as archaic); to fly swiftly (like fleeting across the sky – that one is not so uncommon); or to drift (that one is considered obsolete). And my Shakespeare online glossary tells me that fleet here means to idle away or while away. That last one seems to be most like the MW Online first one.

And what about the golden world? I guess you can imagine that to be whatever you want it to, but any way you look at it, it seems good since we’re calling it golden.

I think I’ll leave you with that thought about whiling away the time (in a good sense, of course):

Fleeting the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.

For me, it brings to mind the Scarecrow, whiling away the hours, conferring with the flowers...

 The Wizard Of Oz (1939) If I only had a Brain

 

 

Mojo really enjoyed watching the Scarecrow’s song.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And so do I. -Victorious Prince of York,

Before I see thee seated in that throne

Which now the house of Lancaster usurps,

I vow by heaven these eyes shall never close.

 

Earl of Warwick

King Henry the Sixth Part III    Act I, Scene i, Line 21

 

And so do I what, Warwick? I’ll tell you what. Warwick hopes, as Richard does, to shake King Henry’s head. I’m pretty sure that both Richard and Warwick mean that they are hoping to shake Henry’s head, unattached to Henry’s body. Well, that doesn’t sound particularly good for Henry, does it? No, it does not.

Just a second, Mr. Blagys. I'm looking at the text here. Is it possible you’re jumping to conclusions? Perhaps Mr. Warwick and Mr. Richard just want to tousle King Henry’s hair. You know – like you do to me. I don’t think it’s fair just to assume they want to cut off his head. Can’t we give them the benefit of the doubt?

 

Mojo, did you read the lines preceding Today’s Line? Here, take a look.

 

Marquess of Montague

[showing his bloody sword to the Duke of York]

And, brother, here’s the Earl of Wiltshire’s blood,

Whom I encounter’d as the battles join’d.

Richard

Speak thou for me, and tell them what I did.

               [throwing down the Duke of Somerset’s head]

 

He's throwing down Somerset's head, Mojo; the detached head. Still think he wants to tousle King Henry’s hair?

Um, never mind.

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Why, boy, how is it?

 

Shepherd

The Winter’s Tale              Act III,  Scene iii, Line 88

Today’s speaker is a shepherd who’s just found a baby that’s been abandoned on the seashore by Antigonus. There’s a ton going on in this fairly brief scene, including the uber-famous stage direction Exit, pursued by a bear. Let’s take a look.

Antigonus has been charged by Leontes to take the baby and

                                      …bear it

To some remote and desert place, quite out

Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,

Without mercy, to its own protection

And favour of the climate.

In other words, abandon the baby somewhere. Leontes is convinced that the child is not his and that his wife cheated on him (wrong, and wrong). So Antigonus has one of Leontes’s ships bring him to the shores of Bohemia where he abandons the baby on the beach (with a bag of gold, of course). Just as he does so, a bear appears and chases him off (hence the stage direction). 

Now, an old shepherd appears and finds the babe. Then, in the middle of his amazement the old shepherd’s son shows up quite excited, having, 

…seen two such sights, by sea and by land!

Hence the Shepherd’s line above,

Why, boy, how is it?

In other words, what did you see?

So, what did he see? First, he saw the ship that Antigonus came in sink offshore in the storm that suddenly rose up. Secondly, he saw Antigonus get chased and then eaten by the bear. Wow, no wonder the kid is all wound up.

So there’s a lot going on here around this simple, Totally Random Line. A lot. It just goes to show you that sometimes there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. Or the ear.

That wasn't another crack about my ears, was it? 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

So I do, madonna; but to read his right wits is to read thus: therefore perpend, my princess, and give ear.

 

Clown

Twelfth Night              Act V,  Scene i, Line 297

Clown is reading a note from Malvolio to Olivia. Both Clown and Malvolio are in the employ of Olivia. Notice that in Today’s Line the clown addresses her as madonna and princess. In his previous line he says your ladyship, but in almost every other spot in this scene he simply calls her madam. I’m not sure why he's deviating from madam here, but you can bet there’s something behind that. 

Perpend, by the way, means reflect on carefully; ponder. MW online notes that it’s a word not often used, but it is not considered archaic. I guess that means that it’s a word you can use if you want. Therefore, perpend on the word perpend.

It can be pretty tough to try to figure out what this guy is perpending on.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover; and prove an ass.

 

Theseus

A Midsummer Night’s Dream     Act V, Scene i, Line 299

I no longer hate this play, and I think that is mostly because of the townsmen who perform the play within the play. Today’s Line is from the last scene of the play, and it is in this scene that the play within the play is being performed. The audience of this play within the play spends a lot of time commenting on the play within the play as it is being performed, and that’s what Today’s Line is. Lysander has just remarked that Pyramus is now dead, after the latter stabbed himself on stage and then spent several minutes dying. Thesus appears to be employing sarcasm when he says that Pyramus might yet recover, after the actor spent so much time dying, and repeating over and over again die, die, die. I guess Thesus’s comment that Pyramus might also prove an ass is his way of commenting on the overacting that took place in the act of dying.

Remember, it’s a comedy!

He says it's a comedy, Mrs. Blagys, but I don't get it.

Neither do I, Mojo. Just humor him; that's what I do.