Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Escalus,--

 

Duke

Measure For Measure       Act I, Scene i,  Line 1

That’s right, it’s the first line/word of the play.

                                     ACT I. SCENE I.

An apartment in the Duke’s palace.

Enter Duke, Escalus, Lords, & Attendants.

Duke               Escalus,--

Escalus            My Lord?

 

And it goes on from there.

This could pretty much be the first two lines of any of Will’s plays (assuming you substitute Escalus for other names depending on which play you’re talking about). These lines/words don’t really tell us anything, do they. Well, other than the fact that the first speaker is probably the superior to the second speaker, based on the way he answered. And of course we know that the second speaker is named Escalus. Okay, that’s two things. Anything else? We don’t even know yet that the first speaker is the Duke. We do if we’re reading the play, but not if we’re seeing it performed.

Right then; three words, and we know two things. 

Wait, we know that the first speaker is going to be asking something of the second speaker. We don’t yet know what it is, but based on the way he said the name, and the way Escalus answered, it’s a pretty safe bet that he’s going to be looking for something from Escalus.

Well it’s a short scene, so I just listened to it. Six minutes, eighty-three lines.

What does the Duke want from Escalus? Advice. He’s leaving town on a trip and he wants to know if it’s a good idea to put Angelo in charge whilst he’s gone. Escalus says, sure, so they call in Angelo and give him the reins.

And that’s about it. On to scene two.

But hold on a minute. There’s something interesting here. That’s right… something interesting in Shakespeare.

So the Duke, in answer to My Lord?, gives an interesting, perhaps over-wordy speech to Escalus. And this speech is anything but easy to follow. And to make it a little more confusing, right in the middle of it is this cryptic little section

Since I am put to know that your own science

Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then no more remains

But that to your sufficiency…………..

……………………… as your worth is able,

And let them work.

 

I looked at that and thought, what that heck are all those periods about. Naturally I went to my First Folio, and that had no such thing. Rather it had a comma between sufficiency and as your worth. Not satisfied, I went to my G.B. Harrison compilation. That had just the comma as well, but it also had a very interesting footnote. The note said A sentence seems to have been omitted between “sufficiency” and “able”.

Huh!

I went back, read it again, and sure enough – it does sound like something is missing there.

So my compilation, the one that I use every day, has no footnotes, but apparently to represent that something is missing, it has all these dots.

Huh!

Yes, that’s right: Huh!

That's right - fast asleep. Talk about not interested? He made it as far as My Lord?,

and that was about it.