Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Love is merely a madness.

 

-Rosalind

As You Like It                                Act III, Scene ii, Line 399

                     

Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do: and the reason they are not so punisht and cured is, that the lunacy is so ordinary, that the whippers are in love too. Yet I profess curing it by counsel.

That’s the whole response by Rosalind to Orlando’s telling her that he is in love. To be sure, the first five words (Today’s Totally Random Line) make for an interesting line. Don’t you think? It seems like something that you would hear quoted, and I probably have though I can’t recall it for sure.

Love is merely a madness. Albeit, a very common madness.

It’s lines as simple and complex as this one that keep me coming back to Will’s works again, and again, and again.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.—

My lord, we must entreat the time alone.

 

-Friar Laurence

Romeo and Juliet                   Act IV, Scene i, Line 40

                     

Okay, this morning we have Friar Knucklehead. His first line is directed at Juliet who’s asked if he has time to talk. With the second line he turns to Paris, telling him to beat it so that he can talk to Juliet alone.

Now here’s something interesting: If you look at today’s two lines, they don’t necessarily make much sense if just read them. Without knowing that the friar is speaking the first line to Juliet and then turning to Paris, the lines are a bit confusing. Which leads to the appropriate conclusion that although these words can be appreciated when read, they are meant to be heard when performed. And there’s no getting around that fact. I bring this up because I was reading a discussion group thread recently and one of the questions was about how to best read Shakespeare. I guess the answer is to not read it, but rather see and hear it.

In any event, once Paris is gone Juliet tells the friar that she’ll kill herself if she can’t marry Romeo, and that’s when Friar Einstein comes up with his brilliant scheme for Juliet to fake her own death. I just had a thought of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley hiding nearby and eavesdropping on this conversation. Harry would hear the plan about the potion that makes Juliet appear dead, and then he would turn to Ron and say, “That’s brilliant Ron!”

Now that I’ve had that thought, it’s got me to wondering what it would be like to write a story combining Harry Potter with Romeo and Juliet. Hmmm, that might be interesting. That would be another way of introducing the stories of Will. Or just write anyone into the story who’s there as all the action of the story takes place, either in the story, or just as an observer. Like Harry and Ron. Or as an observer who sees the story take place and then relates it to someone else.

Sure, great idea Pete. 

Or this; something like this might be a good way to introduce someone to one of Will's works. 

Another of Pete's brilliant ideas.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Cleopatra,--

 

-Antony

Antony and Cleopatra            Act I, Scene iii, Line 26

                      

That's it. Just Cleopatra. Antony is trying to interrupt Cleopatra’s rant here and get a word in edgewise, but he’s not doing too well so far. He’ll get to speak, eventually. 

It seems to me that Will paints the picture of Cleopatra as quite the flighty woman. But is she really? That’s the thing: everything and everyone that Will gives us, just like all the things and people we deal with in the real world, are multi-faceted and anything but simple. Really, nothing is simple; people and things just fool us into thinking they are sometimes. And can’t that be problematic? That was a rhetorical question. Oh yes it can.
 

Ahh, what do we have here? I'll tell you. It's a pencil that Nina and Jeff brought me back from the Maldives. It has sand in the plastic jug attached to the top.

Now I'm pretty sure that this pencil wasn't made in the Maldives. However, I do wonder if the sand in the little jug at the top is real Maldivian sand or not. I must conclude that it appears to have Maldivian sand. After all, it says Maldives on the jug. 

What do you think?

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Signior Baptist, my business asketh haste,

And every day I cannot come to woo.

You knew my father well; and in him me,

Left solely heir to all his lands and goods,

Which I have better’d rather than decreased:

Then tell me,— if I get your daughter’s love,

What dowry shall I have with her to wife?

  

-Petruchio

The Taming of the Shrew              Act II, Scene i, Line 120

                    

And Baptista assures Petruchio a satisfactory dowry, so it’s pretty much a done deal; all over but the crying. And the taming, of course. 

We’re at the beginning of Act II. It’s an odd little play, and I think it requires a bit of work to figure out. If you go into it looking for a play about nothing more than chauvinism and women being mistreated, then that’s probably what you’ll find. But if you go into it with an open mind, well there might be a little, or perhaps a lot, more for you to encounter. Perhaps.

But doesn’t that apply to so many things in life?

Well, I wanted to use a pic today that was representative of the question I ended today's post with. But I just couldn't come up with any ideas. 

So... no pic for today. 

Sorry.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

How goes the world, sir, now?

-Ross

Macbeth                         Act II, Scene iv, Line 20

                   

This is a scene on the morning after Duncan’s murder. Ross, a nobleman, is outside Macbeth’s castle talking about the murder to an old man. Macduff, another nobleman shows up and Ross greets him with today’s line. It seems, at first, a rather an odd line given that both men know that the king has just been found murdered in his bed. But the ‘now’ on the end of the question gives it that added meaning of knowing that things are messed up, but has anything new happened since the murder? Well, yes it has: the assumed murderers were killed by Macbeth, whilst Duncan’s two sons have fled. Meanwhile Macbeth has left for Scone where he will be crowned the new king. So actually, a lot has happened.

And what about Duncan’s body?

   Carried to the Colme-kill,
   The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
   And guardian of their bones.

And it’s this last bit that is yet another bit of Will’s writings that makes me think of Tolkien’s work. In this case it brings to mind Theoden’s burial.

Yes, I am convinced that Will influenced the writing of JRR. Don’t get me going on that one. And yes, I know that JRR professed a general dislike for Will’s works, but that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t schooled in them at an early age, and that they could not have subconsciously affected him. I am absolutely convinced of it, as I suppose, I am absolutely convinced of many things; most assuredly some of them right and true, and some of them less so.
So, let’s just leave it at that.

This is a close-up of a pine tree branch in our backyard. Those little things that look like berries are actually very small pine cones. 

I looked all over for something related but came up empty. Anyway, I thought this was a nice pic, so there you go.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Our love was new, and then but in the spring,

When I was wont to greet it with my lays;

As Philomel in summer’s front doth sing,

And stops her pipe in growth of riper days.

 

 

Sonnet 125                             

 

As usual I’ve given you one full quatrain of the sonnet. I found this sonnet to be quite easy to understand, though there’s probably more there than I’m choosing to see right now. One note: lays are songs. If you read Tolkien, or lots of Shakespeare, you’d know this, but otherwise you might not, and that’s why I’m pointing it out.

The whole sonnet seems simply to be saying that even though our love is no longer young, it is still just as strong, if not stronger. Yeah, simple as that. 

I could give you the whole sonnet, but I don’t really feel like typing it all out right now. I’m a bit hungry, among other things. So let’s call it a day on this matter, and I can start my day on most of my other matters.

Ta ta.

And here's where I get to spend most of that day. 

Hmmm, no wonder Walker's in no rush to get through college.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

‘Anon he finds him

Striking too short at Greeks; his antiquie sword,

Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,

Repugnant to command: unequal matcht,

Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;

But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword

Th’unnerved father falls.

 

-First Player

Hamlet                            Act II, Scene ii, Line 479

                       

Yup, had to go with the full sentence. Don’t ask me why.

This is one of the actors that’s come to perform at Elsinore and, upon meeting him, Hamlet has asked him to perform a speech he remembers from a play. Hamlet gives the first part of it, ending with

        With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus

        Old grandsire Priam seeks,

Then the player picks up with Anon he finds him, and tells about Phyrrus coming to kill old Priam. 

We could probably spend the rest of the day (and it is a nice rainy Sunday morning, so it’s tempting) dissecting this line, and the ones before and after. But I rather think not. I did listen to the rest of this scene; it ends with the rogue and peasant slave soliloquy. And that was fun.

One of these days I’m going to have to sit down (perhaps over the course of a few days) and watch Branagh’s Hamlet from beginning to end; perhaps rent it from the library. But, in the immortal words of Aragorn, it is not this day! 

So, in the meantime, I'm going to let today’s line sit. I'll leave it up to you to do your own thing with it. 

Today's pic?

 Just a gentle reminder to myself not to fret about the length of my son's hair. 

Relevance to today's Random Line? 

I dunno; there must be something. I'll leave that up to you as well. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat;

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

 

-Jean Luc Picard

Star Trek: Picard                          Final Scene

 

Leave it to Patrick Stewart to end the show, the series, the whole deal, with Shakespeare. I watched the finale of Star Trek: Picard last night and I was not disappointed. In the final scene, before they all sit down to a game of cards, Jean Luc offered a bit of Shakespeare, which I’ve given as Today’s Totally Random Lines, as his toast to the crew.

Was he talking about what they had gone through as the crew of the Enterprise? Or was he talking about what he, Patrick Stewart, and the other actors there had gone through portraying those roles over the past 35 or so years. Probably a bit of both. Either way, it’s a great, and wonderfully appropriate, quote. 

No pic today. Perhaps, just read the quote one more time. (It's Marcus Brutus from Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene iii, in case you were wondering.)

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Here once again we sit, once again crown’d,

And looked upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.

 

-King John

King John                       Act IV, Scene ii, Line 1

                     

Well, I often say to myself, here once again I sit. In fact, I think I might have been saying that to myself a few minutes ago. And if I wasn’t, well, I’ll say it now, out loud.
Here once again we sit. Not sure about the crown’d part. And I don’t see any other eyes, let alone cheerful ones. But nonetheless….
Here once again we sit.

It reminds me of a poster. I don’t remember much about the picture on the poster, just the words:
Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.
I think that describes me fairly well.
So it’s either that, or here once again we sit.

Take your pick.

Speaking of sitting: I was sitting in a waiting room the other day, and I noticed the footwear on this fellow, and I took a clandestine photo of his feet. 

I don't know who he is, but whoever he is, here he sat, looked upon by me with envious eyes. 

Thems is some comfy looking sandals!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

The deep-revolving witty Buckingham

No more shall be the neighbor to my counsels:

Hath he so long held out with me untired,

And stops he now for breath? –well, be it so.

  

-Richard

Richard the Third                 Act IV, Scene ii, Line 42

                       

Richard has decided that he will no longer trust Buckingham. I believe that Buckingham was an ardent supporter of Richard and helped him to gain the throne. But now, Richard has asked Buckingham to take care of getting rid of (killing) the princes in the tower and Buckingham is hesitant.

That’s an interesting statement of what Buckingham is to Richard: The deep-revolving, witty Buckingham. I’m not quite sure what to make of that. I wonder if it will start to crystallize for me if I dwell on it, as many of Will’s words do. Deep-revolving, witty. 

And no more shall be the neighbor to my counsels. That one’s easier to understand and absolutely wonderful. A normal human would say, I’m not going to trust him any longer. Will says he no more shall be neighbor to my counsels.

I must be crazy because I just don’t get tired of this stuff. I only wish that I could remember all the words because I’d love to be able to use this language more in my daily interactions. I’m sure if the people around me that I live with could hear me voice that thought, they would in unison cry ‘No Pete! You’re odd enough already. You don’t need more of this language!’

Well, maybe they're right. 

On the other hand, if that's the way they feel, perhaps they no more shall be the neighbor to my counsels!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

The business she hath broached in the state

Cannot endure my absence.

 

 -Antony

 Antony and Cleopatra                   Act I, Scene ii, Line 178

                     

Antony is talking to Enobarbus. They’ve just received news that Antony’s wife, Fulvia, has died, so Antony needs to go to Rome. Fulvia is the she is in today’s line. Enobarbus tells Antony that he need not grieve because there are other women that can take her place. It seems like an odd thing to say. Check it out

If there were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the case to be lamented: this grief is crown’d with consolation; your old smock brings forth a new petticoat:- and, indeed, the tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow.

The tears live in an onion! What the heck do you think of that line? And this whole bit about no need to cry over Fulvia? It seems a bit hard-hearted. But then again, Enobarbus is a crusty old soldier. Eh?

It’s also a little bit interesting that in this scene Antony’s lines are written in verse and Enobarbus’s in prose; I guess to accentuate the old soldier's lack of etiquette.

A lot of times people (myself included) wonder about the apparent inconsistency of Will’s use of verse. Much of his writing is iambic pentameter, but there’s plenty of prose sprinkled in there too. Well, in this scene we have both, and apparently for pretty good reason.

Anyway, that would be an interesting thing to say to someone who’s crying over something that you don’t feel is worth crying over. The tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow. If they were really upset about something and you said this, well, I’m not sure that would go over very well.

Perfect example!

Here's the birthday girl, aka Cakey McCakeface. Now, if the frosting on that cake turned out to be anything other than buttercream frosting, Cakey would be extremely upset, possibly to the point of tears. And if it came to tears, wouldn't I be justified in saying the tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow. I'd be taking my life in my hands, but just the same, I'd probably be justified. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,

Or as sweet-season's showers are to the ground;

And for the peace of you I hold such strife

As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found;

 

Sonnet 78                              

 

Since each of the three quatrains of the sonnets seem to hold one thought, I’ve given you the full first quatrain of Sonnet 75.

Sam is sitting tightly next to me. I’m not sure if he’s missing Walker or Nina and Jeff. Or all of the above. Interestingly enough, I think that perhaps Sam is thinking the thoughts of today’s sonnet.

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?

 

-Brabantio

Othello                           Act I, Scene ii, Line 62

 

Okay, I’m giving you a break this morning. The actual line I picked was a few lines down from this, but it was in the middle of a really long sentence. So I gave you the first line of Brabantio’s rant. He’s going off on Othello and accusing him of using foul means to steal his daughter, Desdemona. It’s a pretty good rant, and it brings up more than one discussion point. Why don’t we take a look at it, or at least a part of it.

 

O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?

Damn’d as thou art, thou hast enchanted here;

For I’ll refer me to all things of sense,

If she in chains of magic were not bound,

Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy,

So opposite to marriage that she shunn’d

The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,

Would ever have, t’incur a genral mock,

Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom

Of such a thing as thou,--to fear, not to delight.

 

That’s only about half of it. It goes on, but at least that’s the end of a sentence.

Obviously Brabantio feels that Othello used magic or something to get Desdemona to fall in love with him. Why else would she pass up  rich (understood to be white), well heeled gentlemen for a black thing like you? Oh yes, he said that.  And here’s where we run into a discussion point and perhaps a sticking point, and it rests on one word. Sooty. Soot is black. Sooty is black in color. Yes, Othello is a black man. So, yes, Brabantio went there and said that. Why would my daughter possibly fall in love with a black thing like you?

Is that a nice thing to say? Of course not. Is it a racist thing to say? Probably. Is it in reality, something that someone in Brabantio’s situation, and time and place might say? Probably. Does it work well in the context of this dramatic work? I think so.

So we've concluded that it's a racist comment and therefore objectionable (and rightly so) to many. Therefore, do we need to eliminate, or sanitize this dramatic work, or can we find a way tolerate and understand this use of the word sooty. To be clear, there are a few other references in the play to Othello's skin color, and Will does manage to utilize racial and ethnic branding in other of his works. 

Anyway, I hope that we can find a way to tolerate and understand Will's, and other artists, use of language that portrays objectionable behaviour. It would, I think, be wrong and self-defeating, to try to pretend that such behaviour does not exist. Such a pretense is a dream of a very nice world which will never co-exist with humankind. 

Oooh, a little bit heady this morning. Sorry about that.

This is a sooty albatross. 

Language is funny sometimes, isn't it?

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Ask him his purposes, why he appears

Upon this call o’the trumpet.       

 

-Duke of Albany

King Lear                              Act V, Scene iii, Line 119

 

What are any of our purposes? Eh? And what trumpet call has any of us appeared upon the call of? Anybody got an answer to that one? I’d love to hear it.

Sometimes I just take the line and apply it to my world, and ignore the story that it comes from. Sometimes that seems appropriate, like today. This morning I'm feeling particularly introspective, and I've been asking myself these kinds of questions. And that's okay.

This guy looks more ectospective (that's not a word, is it?) than introspective, but that's okay too, because today is his birthday. 

Happy Birthday Jeff! 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

No, madam; for so long

As he could make me with this eye or ear

Distinguish him from others, he did keep
The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief,

Still waving, as the fits and stirs of’s mind

Could best express how slow his soul sail’d on,

How swift the ship.    


                        

 -Pisanio

Cymbeline                             Act I, Scene iii, Line 14

 

Yup, another really long sentence; but a good one. 

First, context: Imogen, the king’s daughter, has married Posthumus, a worthy fellow, but not a royal; ergo, Posthumus gets banished.
Now Pisano is describing Posthumus’s departure to Imogen.
How slow his soul sailed on, how swift the ship.
I just can’t help it; I find this writing absolute genius. I know, you’re reading this and saying to yourself, what the heck are you talking about, Pete? Let me make a feeble attempt to help you understand what I’m talking about.

Pisanio’s got to explain to Imogen that Posthumus didn’t just wave his handkerchief as the ship sailed off; he’s got to explain how loathe that Posthumus was to leave her. So…
For as long as he thought Pisanio could see him for so long as he could make me with this eye or ear distinguish him from others he kept waving  with glove, or hat, or handkerchief (he wasn’t just standing there waving) to make it clear that he didn’t want to go - to best express how slow his soul sail’d on, so much slower than the ship he was standing on was moving.

I don’t know, did that help? Probably not. Good thing I’m not a lit teacher, eh? Oh well. Maybe read it over once or twice; Will’s words, not mine. Maybe a little of the genius of the words will start to sink in. Maybe not.

Can you see Posthumus waving from the back of this ship? 

If you can, then you've got a pretty good imagination. 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)          

                                               

No, nor mine now. – [to Polonius] My lord, you play’d once i’ th’ university, you say? 

 

-Hamlet

Hamlet                           Act III, Scene ii, Line 104

 

Okay, well this is Hamlet, the person and the play. So if it’s confusing, well, that’s because it’s Hamlet, the person and the play.
A bit earlier in this scene Hamlet’s talking alone with Horatio, the only person he trusts, and his sentences make sense. Nearly everything he says to anyone other than Horatio has riddles, or double entendre, or who knows what. Here’s the brief interchange with the king.

King
    How fares our cousin Hamlet?

Hamlet
    Excellent i’faith; of the chameleon’s dish: I eat the air, promise-          cramm’d: You cannot feed capons so.

King

     I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not               mine.

Hamlet

     No, nor mine now….

So, this is not an Early Modern English understandability problem; this is simply Hamlet speaking in riddles. Is it worth trying to figure out? Well, you can bet there’s something to be had in those words, because Will wrote them. How much time have you got? How much time have I got? I’m not retired yet, so I do have places to be eventually. To be honest, available time or not, I’m don’t think I’ve got the inclination right now to try to figure this out. So I’ll leave it to you. Good luck!

I asked Sam if he wanted to spend a little more time on Hamlet's words. This is the response I got. I'll take that to be a 'no thank you'.