Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

                       

Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;

To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;

This sensible warm motion to become

A kneaded clod; and the delightful spirit

To battle in fiery floods, or to reside

In the thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice:

 

Claudio

Measure For Measure          Act III, Scene i, Line 118

 

Claudio, who’s going to be executed tomorrow unless his sister sleeps with the magistrate, is talking about the finality of death. He goes on here talking about death, and ends with

The weariest and most loathed worldly life

That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment

Can lay on nature, is a paradise

To what we fear of death.

This is spoken by a guy who doesn’t want to die and is trying to talk his sister into sleeping with someone to save his life. So it probably seems like a good argument to Claudio.

Is it true. I don’t know. I do know that Will does spend a fair amount of time throughout his works on the subject of death. From the lines above, to Hamlet’s undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns to many others, Will gives us different ideas about death. 

Today’s idea, delivered from Claudio, doesn’t really leave much doubt. No matter how bad your life is, it’s a paradise compared to death. At least that’s the way it appears to someone about to die.

So it seems like we’ve spent the week talking about old age and impending death. Interesting.

Enough of this death and old age talk. 

Here's a picture of a life well spent.