Friday, March 29, 2024

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

The spirits that know

All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus,

‘Fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman

Shall e’er have power upon thee.’—Then fly, false thanes,

And mingle with the English epicures:

The mind I sway by and the heart I bear

Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.   

 

Macbeth

Macbeth                         Act V, Scene iii,  Line 8

 

One with sensitive and discriminating tastes, especially in food or wine.

One devoted to sensual pleasure.

Those are the two definitions of epicure from MW online. The first is the modern definition and the latter is archaic. You can sort of see how one begot the other, but it’s more the archaic version that Macbeth is using here.  

We’re near the end of the play and things are starting to turn bad for Macbeth, but he remains defiant. After all, the witches who know all have told him that no man can kill him. Right?

2 comments:

Squeaks said...

I feel like if someone said that to me "no man that's born of a woman"...I'd have questions. Why did you phrase it like that? Why does that feel like it has qualifiers? Why does that feel oddly specific? Or non-specific? He almost should have seen his fate coming.

Pete Blagys said...

Apparently you and Macbeth do not think alike.

  Today’s Totally Random Lines   I’ll wait upon them: I am ready.   Leonato Much Ado About Nothing      Act III, Scene v, Line 53...