Mojo, The Bard, & Me

What is your gracious pleasure?

Seyton

Macbeth                                              Act V, scene iii   Line 29

I’m not sure who this Seyton fellow is, but apparently a lackey of Macbeth. We’re near the end of the play here, just a few pages away from Macduff showing up with Macbeth’s severed head. But for the time being Macbeth’s head is still attached to his shoulders. And the eyes in that head can see that things are starting to unravel, so he calls for his lackey and Seyton comes running asking, with today’s Totally Random line, what his boss wants. All the boss wants is news, but the news tells him that he’s in trouble.

By the way, we’re only one page further on from Lady Macbeth’s line of ten days ago. She was unraveling then, and now the whole thing is coming down on them fast.

Without getting bogged down in the details too much, I thought it might be interesting to look at the name of today’s speaker: Seyton. I couldn’t help but notice that it’s a homonym for Satan. I wonder if that’s a coincidence. It’s not really a major role, but just the same it’s the name of the guy who sticks with Macbeth throughout his devilish reign. Well, something to consider, perhaps oh so briefly.

And one more thing, do you suppose there’s any chance that somewhere along the line, either with the guys putting together the First Folio or even previous to that, someone screwed it up and the line is supposed to read ‘What is your grace’s pleasure?’ It would sound exactly the same when spoken. I don’t know, but that seems to make a little more sense. What do you think?

What do you suppose their pleasure is, gracious or otherwise?