That, trusted home,
Might
yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides
the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange:
And
oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The
instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win
us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In
deepest consequence.—
Cousins,
a word, I pray you.
-Banquo
Macbeth Act
I, Scene iii, Line 119
Good line today, folks. Here’s your context: Banquo and
Macbeth have just finished talking to the witches who told the fellows that Banquo’s
son would be king, and Macbeth himself would be Thane of Cawdor, and then king.
As soon as the witches disappear Ross and Angus show up and tell Macbeth that
he has been made the Thane of Cawdor by order of the king. Macbeth is instantly
excited, and takes this to mean that all of the prophesies of the witches will
come true. But Banquo, he’s a bit more circumspect, as noted by today’s line.
And, of course, he is wise to be so. His words are quite prophetic.
They are really good words to listen to in a general sense as well. The instruments of darkness (and you can decide what those instruments might be, and from what darkness they come) tell us truths, and win us to our harm with honest trifles, only to betray us later to a very important consequence. So maybe we should be careful about who we listen to truths from, and from whom we accept honest trifles. Think about it.
Well, I couldn't think of anything for a relevant pic today. However...this is a picture of the side of a Viking longboat taken in Oslo. You can see that some of the planks are original (dug up out of the ground at an archeological site), and some are new (added during the reconstruction). I think it's an interesting picture when you look close. Relevance? Well, the battle that Macbeth helped win, and for which he is being awarded the title of Thane of Cawdor, was fought against, you guessed it, Norway. This is laid out in the today's scene a few lines previous to today's Totally Random line. How about that?
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