Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

By gar, he has save his soul, dat he is no come; he has pray is Pible vell, dat he is no come: by gar, Jack Rugby, he is dead already, if he be come.

 

Doctor Caius

The Merry Wives of Windsor   Act II, Scene iii, Line 7

Yes, this is Shakespeare. Occasionally Will likes to give his players an accent. I don’t know what nationality Caius is supposed to be, but based on how he’s speaking, we can assume that Doctor Caius is not a native Englishman.

So, this is not one of those occasions where I’ll suggest that you appreciate the beauty of the language. In fact, I’m not sure what to suggest in regards to this line. We can’t just ignore it because this is the line that was randomly picked, like it or not. I’m not going to get into context because I still don’t have much of an appreciation for this particular play.

I suppose I’ll just let you figure out what you want to do with Today’s Line, even if that’s… nothing. And we all know what will come of nothing, don’t we Cordelia?

On second thought, rather than simply giving you nothing, I’ll give you a link to a previous, more interesting, and slightly related post. Hmmm, this may be a first, a link to a previous post. Oh well, enjoy.

 

Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

That you are well restored, my lord, I’m glad:

Let the rest go.

 

Helena

All’s Well That Ends Well         Act II, Scene iii, Line 149

Helena, the daughter of the deceased physician, has just cured the king. In gratitude, the king has granted Helen, who is a commoner, that she can choose any man in the court to be her husband. She chooses Bertram, but he objects that he does not want to marry her because she’s not worthy of him,

A poor physician’s daughter my wife!—Disdain

Rather corrupt me ever!

The king gives Bertram a long speech about why Bertram should take Helena, but he still refuses. At this point Helena gives us Today’s Line, in response to the king. She’s gonna cut her losses. However, now the king’s pretty pissed off at Bertram for going against him, so he insists and Bertram acquiesces to take Helena for his wife.

But he’s not happy about it.

So what do we take from Today’s Line?

Let the rest go.

Words of wisdom that are often so very useful when we are upset about things. Let it go. We get upset about so many things that don’t really matter. Helena says that the king’s recovery is the important thing here.

Let the rest go.

We could all take a lesson from my little friend here. He's getting a belly rub. That's all that really matters; so...

Let the rest go. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I found him under a tree, like a dropped acorn.

Celia

As You Like It             Act III, Scene ii, Line 240

This is Celia talking to Rosalind, and the acorn she’s talking about is Orlando. Yes, Orlando is being referred to as an acorn.

Now let me think: isn’t there someone around here that we refer to as an acorn. Who was that? Hmmmm… don't worry, it'll come to me.

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

He will not fight with me, Domitius?

 

Mark Antony     

Antony and Cleopatra       Act IV, Scene iii, Line 1

 

Antony is talking to his right-hand man Domitius Enobarbus. They’re discussing the fact that Caesar refuses to fight with Antony. Why should he when he stands a chance of losing to Antony; especially since Caesar’s army is sure to defeat Antony’s. Caesar is no dummy.

Somehow or another in all the time of doing this blog I seem to have missed that Enobarbus had a first name: Domitius. How’d I miss that? And this is a character that I’ve paid a lot of attention to over the years because I like both his name, Enobarbus, and his character, the grizzled war veteran.

So okay, Enobarbus’s first name is Domitius. 

Once more, a pic that is neither Mojo, nor relevant to Today's Totally Random Line. No, this is not Domitius Enobarbus, though he is a grizzled war veteran, of both WWII, and the eternal war of parenting. This is the original Papa Bear (believe it or not, some people think I resemble him). Why this pic? Well, though Papa Bear shuffled off his mortal coil many years ago, today is the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. Yup, born July 10, 1926. How's about that. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Your knowledge has through Ephesus poured forth

Your charity, and hundreds call themselves

Your creatures, who by you have been restored:

And not your knowledge, your personal pain, but even

Your purse, still open, hath built Lord Cerimon

Such strong renown as time shall never—

       Enter two or three servants with a chest.

 

Second Gentleman

Pericles                               Act III, Scene ii, Line 49

Apparently the two servants entering with a chest interrupt Second Gentleman, so that I don’t think we’re ever going to find out what such strong renown as time shall never do.

Cerimon (that’s the guy that Second Gentleman is talking to and about above; and I believe it’s pronounced Saruman, believe it or not) is being introduced as an amazing doctor – that’s the first three lines above. Apparently he’s also a pretty fabulous all around guy – that’s the next three. And what’s Cerimon’s purpose in this play? Oh, not much; he’s just got to bring Pericles’s wife back to life. She’s in the chest that the two or three servants are entering with.

So today’s six Totally Random lines are spoken by an anonymous henchman who’s only job in the play is to give us a description of a heretofore unknown character who’s also got just one job to do in the play (albeit, this latter character’s job of bringing someone back to life is a little more important than Second Gentleman's job. Or is it?).

Since we're talking about bringing to life, and since this is the anniversary of me being brought to life (out of vitro), we're going with a pic of.... ME!

I don't have a picture of the day I was brought to life (out of vitro), but this is about 64 years closer to that day than today.

 

Sorry, no Mojo today; his birthday is in March.

Today’s Totally Random Lines

This royal hand and mine are newly knit,

And the conjunction of our inward souls

Married in league, coupled and linkt together

With all religious strength and sacred vows;

The latest breath that gave the sound of words

The deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love

Between our kingdoms and our royal selves;

And even before this truce, but new before,-

No longer than we well could wash our hands,

To clap this royal bargain up of peace,-

Heaven knows, they were besmear’d and overstain’d

With slaughter’s pencil, where revenge did paint

The fearful difference of incensed kings:

And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood,

So newly join’d in love, so strong in both,

Unyoke this seizure and this kind of regret?

 

King Philip 

King John                 Act III, Scene i, Line 240

That’s a really long line. I decided to work with the punctuated sentence. It’s all commas and semicolons up to that final question mark, and therefore one sentence.

So, what’s King Philip saying with this really long sentence? He’s saying that he and King John just consummated a treaty, so do they really want to throw that out and go back to warring with each other. I’m not exactly sure who is pushing to throw the treaty out, or why, but the king is using sixteen lines to question that idea. Now if you look at it closely, and take a little time with the lines you can see that they're pretty clear and, of course, quite expressive, to say the least. 

Go back and take a look

The first seven lines talk about the positivity of their relationship with the new treaty.

the conjunction of our inward souls Married in league... religious strength and sacred vows... deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love

The next six talk about the horrible situation of war that existed before the treaty.

besmear’d and overstain’d With slaughter’s pencil, where revenge did paint The fearful difference of incensed kings:

And the last three lines question why they would want to go back to that.

And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood,

So newly join’d in love, so strong in both,

Unyoke this seizure and this kind of regret?

Good for King Philip!  

My little buddy's getting in some much deserved and much needed pool time. 

There'll be no worrying about being besmear’d and overstain’d with slaughter’s pencil for this fellow!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady?

Friar Francis

Much Ado About Nothing    Act IV, Scene i, Line 4

The answer to this question is a flat “No”.

This is the wedding scene. Claudio, the groom, has been fooled into believing that Hero, the bride, has been unfaithful to him. So he shows up for the wedding and when the priest asks him if he’s ready to marry, he says ‘no’. Then, somehow, the ceremony proceeds as if no one heard his answer, until twenty lines down he goes off into his speech about how Hero has cheated on him and how he wants nothing to do with her.

Give not this rotten orange to your friend;  he says to Hero’s father. He calls the bride a ‘rotten orange.’

How’s that!?

Okay, here's a Totally Random picture that has absolutely nothing to do with Today's Totally Random line; but I couldn't pass it up. 

Look at the shirt on this guy! He knows how to celebrate a holiday!

Bravo, Jon!