Mojo, The Bard, & Me

I see a strange confession in thine eye:

-Northumberland

King Henry the Fourth Part II      Act I, scene i       Line 94

This is Northumberland looking for news about his son’s fate. Lord Bardolph has just told him an out and out lie that his son is fine, but Morton has now begun to tell the truth, that Northumberland’s son, nicknamed Hotspur, is indeed now Coldspur (no, really, they use the Hotspur/Coldspur play on words which I think is pretty funny because it sounds exactly like something that I would come up with). And Northumberland sees the news coming and gives us today’s Totally Random line. And it’s a good line. Perfectly usable. In fact, I highly recommend it. If you’re trying to get someone to tell you the truth, and you feel they’re holding out a bit. That’s the time to try it out. For instance, you’re asking your son if he’s got any more homework, and you sense that he’s trying to not lie to you, and yet he’s not telling the whole truth… Let loose with “I see a strange confession in thine eye.” Yeah, actually, maybe that’s not a really good example. Well, it depends on how old the kid is. Maybe find an instance to use it husband to wife. The thing is, it will be a much better way to try to tell him/her that you don’t believe him/her. Compare “Listen, I know you’re lying to me you sorry sack of (insert your choice of expletive), now tell me the truth!” to “I see a strange confession in thine eye.” You can even swap out ‘your’ for ‘thine’ if you want to make a little more twenty-first century. But either way, it’s got a much better chance of getting to the truth without getting to fisticuffs.

Civility, that’s what I’m talking about.

                  

Okay, just a couple of program notes here:

First, today’s post is post #50 on the fiftieth day of posting. So that’s 50 in a row without missing a day. Can I get a ‘Woot, woot!’

Second, I found a great book I’m reading that I want to tell all you Will geeks about. It’s called Shakespeare’s Kings by John Julius Norwich. It’s the real (and relatively readable) history of the kings that Shakespeare wrote his plays about. It starts with Edward III (a play that is not in my compilation or in the First Folio but that has apparently been garnering recent acceptance by the experts as one of Will’s babies) and goes through Richard III. Granted there are some guys in that span who are not covered by Will’s plays, but by understanding all the history, and what all these guys did, it gives a whole new meaning to the plays. And Mr. Norwich does a pretty good job of pointing out just what, and what is not the truth in Will's version of history.