Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

He was; I Heard the proclamation:

And then it was when the unhappy king-

Whose wrongs in us God pardon!- did set forth

Upon his Irish expedition;

From whence he intercepted did return

To be deposed, and shortly murdered.

 

Earl of Northumberland

King Henry the Fourth Part I       Act I Scene iii, Line 148

So, what to do with this? Context? Well, I can tell you exactly what’s going on if you’d like me to, but I think I’d lose you or put you to sleep in the process. Oh what the heck…

Back in the time that this took place (England in the 1400’s) it was customary in battles to take prisoners of the high-ranking guys of the opposition. Then, at a later date these guys would be ransomed back to the other side. It was a way to make some money. It seems that in today’s scene Hotspur does not want to give his prisoners to King Henry. More to the point of today’s line though, King Henry has insisted that one of the guys lost in the battle, Mortimer, will not be ransomed, and that is what Hotspur is getting upset about. Mortimer is Hotspurs brother-in-law, but Mortimer is also the fellow that Richard II (the king that current King Henry IV deposed and stole the crown from) named as his rightful heir; Richard had no kids of his own. So that makes Mortimer a claimant to the throne and threat to Henry who took the throne by force. When Northumberland says ‘He was’, the ‘He’ is Mortimer: Mortimer was proclaimed heir. The ‘unhappy king’ he speaks of in Today’s Lines is Richard. Got it?
 
See, I warned you. Still awake? The sad part is that I actually know all this stuff. English history is pretty interesting. Heck, history is interesting, particularly when you get to the human side of it. And it’s all got many human sides to it; without the humans there would be no history. And of course, Will is all about the human side of it. He’s telling his stories (his history plays) about stuff that happened about one hundred years previous. So the theater goers of his day are at least familiar with what the story is about. It would be like me writing a play set in World War I. Most (some?) of the people seeing the play would have some idea of the setting. But I wouldn’t write a play about the historical facts, I’d write it about the humans involved, and how it affected them. Like Will did.

I guess that’s one reason that people struggle with a lot of Will’s stuff. The language is one thing, but the historical setting and lack of knowledge about it is also a factor (that’s one good reason that Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare is such a great book). I guess the bottom line is that people in general need to be better educated. Wow, that’s not a comment that’s going to be well received by anyone, is it? But it gets back to the crux of that article I was reading a few days ago about the need for people to be getting educated for the sake of becoming better educated, more well-rounded humans, as opposed to getting educated to get a job. But that’s a whole ’nother rabbit hole, isn’t it? We’ll leave that one for another day.

My little buddy made it as far as "Back in the time...", and that was enough for him.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And so I was; which plainly signified

That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.

 

Duke of Gloster (soon to be Richard III)

King Henry the Sixth Part III       Act V Scene vi, Line 77

This is part of Richard’s longer, scene ending speech. He’s just stabbed Henry to death in the Tower of London. I’ll give you a bit of the speech he’s making as he stands over the dead body of the king. Keep in mind that Henry is quite dead, as he’s already received the stage direction [Dies], but not before telling Richard what a schmuck he is.

If any spark of life be yet remaining,
Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither, [Stabs him again]
I that have neither pity, love, nor fear.
Indeed, ‘tis true that Henry told me of;
For I have often heard my mother say
I came into the world with my legs forward:
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,
And seek their ruin that usurps our right?
The midwife wonder’d; and the women cried,
‘O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!’
And so I was; which plainly signified
That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.

And then he goes on for a bit, about who’s the next person in his way that he’ll have to kill.

The play after this one in Will’s history saga is Richard the Third, in which Richard (who’s just getting started here at the end of this Henry play) really takes off and becomes the dastardly deed doer that we all remember him as. Of course, historians question the portrait of Richard that Will, with dramatic license, paints so vividly black. But for the sake of drama, I guess that doesn’t really matter, does it?

So, what, if anything, is today’s takeaway?
Richard was a creep, a really bad guy? Something more? Or less? I guess the takeaway is whatever you want it to be, but just remember: no matter how many jerks you have to put up with in life, you can count your blessings that you don’t have this particular jerk to deal with.
There you go: consider it a glass half full of silver linings.

You gotta be kidding me: a glass half full of silver linings?  What a piece of work.

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Item, she can knit.

 

Speed

Two Gentlemen of Verona                     Act II Scene i, Line 304

I’m not going to go into an explanation of the scene and what’s happening, because I did that when we were in this scene just a bit ago. Here’s the link to that post. Mojo, The Bard, & Me
Apparently the fact that she can knit is just one more point in this woman’s favor.

I suppose knitting was a much more important four hundred years ago when it could account for some much needed, and much harder to come by, clothing. Now, of course, knitting is more of a hobby.

I like the first item that Speed mentions the best. Item, she brews good ale. Now that is a wench to be valued in any time.

Wench? Really? Wench?

Easy there, Mr. Mojo; that's how she was referred to in the text.

Oh, so that makes it okay? So I can call Mrs. Blagys a wench?

If you want her to open up a can of Whupass you can.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,
I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,
Both to my God and to my gracious king:
And I do think—or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure

As it hath used to do—that I have found

The very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.

 

Polonius

Hamlet                    Act II Scene ii, Line 44

Polonius is the OG long-story-short-Tony. All he’s saying here is Yes, I think I know why Hamlet’s acting so strange.

Having said that, I must say that I like, and I wish I could remember it so I could use it, a piece of long-story-short-Polonius’s line: Or else this brain of mine hunts not the trail of policy so sure as it hath used to do. Oh boy, I could use that line many times a day. I guess a lot of people my age could. Only problem is that people my age are no way going to remember something that long because, well, these brains of ours hunt not the trail of policy so sure as they hath used to do. I think that’s what they call a Catch-22. Oh well. Still, not a bad line, even though it’s a little long.

Apparently we’ve petered out on the Peter streak. But just to make sure that you’ll not be too disappointed, here’s a second helping of Walker Peter with baby Mojo; no long-story-short-Pete stuff, just a good, solid pic.

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Come, fellow, follow us for your reward.

 

Henry

King Henry the Sixth Part II         Act II Scene iii, Line 101

You will never, in a million years, guess the name of the fellow that Henry is addressing in today’s line.
It’s Peter. That’s right, Peter Thump.

After that rant yesterday about the lack of Peters in Will’s works, we come upon a Peter for the second day in a row! Totally Random! Totally amazing!

I’m pretty sure that this is a scene that I’ve never visited. I can see from my unmarked text that we’ve never picked a random line from here before. It’s an odd little scene that starts with the Duchess of Gloster being sent into exile and ends with two commoners coming before the king for judgment. And one of them is Peter Thump. That’s right, Peter Thump. Apparently, Peter Thump is the servant of Thomas Horner. I’m not exactly sure why, but it’s been determined that these two will duel to decide the outcome of a dispute. And Peter wins the duel.

So I think we’ll just end it at that for today. We’ll end it with Peter Thump, the victor, going off with the king to get his reward. 

Peter Thump.

Really. Peter Thump? 

Yes, that's right Mojo, Peter Thump.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Robin Starveling the tailor.

 

Peter Quince

A Midsummer Night’s Dream       Act I Scene ii, Line 54

This is Peter Quince taking roll call in the scene where we meet the actors of the play within the play. Quince is assigning roles as he goes, and Robin Starveling is assigned the role of Thisby’s mother.
The scenes with these actors is by far my favorite part of Midsummer Night’s Dream. And of course, who doesn’t like Bottom?

Quince is one of the few Shakespearean characters named Peter. Naturally I would notice this. And in fact, I don’t think Quince’s first name comes up much. It does in the next line when Robin Starveling answers Here, Peter Quince. However, in the cast of characters and throughout the script, Peter Quince is noted simply as Quince or Quince, a carpenter. Though on quick perusal I can see that Peter Quince is used at least five times in this scene, mostly as the players answer roll call.

I know that there are other Peter’s throughout Will’s plays, but not too many. Naturally, I always notice Peters when I run into them.
I went through grammar school and high school with a kid named Peter McGuinness. I always felt a kindredship with him, and I always felt that it was mutual because we shared the same name. We were never close friends, but we were always friends.

I can’t think of any Peters that I currently know and deal with. Except of course Walker Peter.

I'm pretty sure that Mojo has always felt a kindredship with Walker Peter.

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

What should we do with these bald tribunes?

 

Coriolanus

Coriolanus                     Act III Scene i, Line 164

Bald is foolish, and tribunes are the peoples' representatives in the senate.  

What should we do with these foolish representatives?

This scene is all about two of the smarmy tribunes confronting Coriolanus and the latter’s response to them, of which Today’s Line is only a small part.

The tribunes are indeed much more than just foolish, and every time I look at this play I am reminded of the many fools we have in D.C. today.

I can’t help it.

PULL UP, Pete! PULL UP, PULL UP!

Still a fine play, though; a very fine play. It should be taught in our schools. Assuming we still have schools going forward.

PULL UP!

This little man isn't concerned about tribunes, or schools, or much of anything else. 

His concern? Sunbeams!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

When they had sworn to this advised doom,

They did conclude to bear dead Lucrece hence,

To show her bleeding body thorough Rome,

And so to publish Tarquin's foul offense:

Which being done with speedy diligence,

   The Romans plausibly did give consent

   To Tarquin's everlasting banishment.

 

Lucrece                  Lines 1,849 – 1,855

Narrator

These are the last lines of this long poem/story, and they speak of Tarquin being banished for the crime of raping Lucrece. I’m not sure what the typical Roman sentence for rape was, but it seems like Tarquin’s getting off easy here. Lucrece, in case you didn’t know, killed herself in shame a few stanzas back.

It’s a fairly depressing poem, isn’t it. 

 

Fairly depressing?!

I’m ready to kill myself here!

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Yet this shall I ne’er know, but live in doubt

Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

 

Sonnet 144                     concluding couplet

Well, since this is the concluding couplet, I had thought that we might as well take a look at the whole sonnet, and to do it one quatrain at a time. But to tell you the truth, as I typed the whole sonnet out, I came across something more interesting: better angel. And since the whole sonnet is fairly difficult - scratch that: damned near impossible - to work with, why don’t we just take a look at better angel. 

Will mentions this angel in the first quatrain.

Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman colour’d ill.

Then he makes reference to this better angel again in the last line of the sonnet. 

Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

My good one in this last line is his better angel, though I’m not sure what it means to have his bad angel fire my good one out.

In any event, the better angels of our nature is a term made very famous by Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural address. I knew it was Lincoln, but I had to look up to find out exactly where he said it.

The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely as they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

These better angels of our nature have been referred to time and time again by speakers and writers. And the credit has always been given to Abe for creating ‘better angels’.

It’s a fine quote, and Abe was a wonderful writer and speaker, and I would love to give him credit, however…

I would be remiss if I failed to point out that Abe, whilst a great writer and speaker, was also a great lover of, and reader of - you guessed it - William Shakespeare. It’s quite well documented. So, whilst Abe is given credit for better angels, I have to believe that consciously or not, he didn’t quite make the term up.

Yup, it’s Will’s.

 

Am I your better-

Yes Mojo, you are certainly my better angel.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And, were they attired in grave weeds,

Rome could afford no tribune like to these.

 

Titus

Titus Andronicus                  Act III Scene i, Line 44

Two of Titus’s sons have just been led off to be executed for a crime they did not commit. Titus is pleading for his sons’ lives with the tribunes, who appear to be ignoring him, when Titus’s other son, Lucius, comes in. He tells his father that he is pleading in vain, and that no tribune is listening to them. Here is Titus’s full response to his son.

Why, ‘tis no matter, man: if they did hear,
They would not mark me; or if they did mark,
They would not pity me. Yet plead I must:
And bootless unto them…
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears, and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attired in grave weeds,
Rome could afford no tribune like to these.
A stone is soft as wax, tribunes more hard than stones;
A stone is silent, and offends not,
And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.—
But wherefore stand’st thou with thy weapon drawn?

That last line refers to the fact that Lucius has decided to go rescue his brothers.

I think it’s a good little speech about the quality of tribunes and of stones and of a man’s desperation. It made me think a little of the Simon and Garfunkel line… and a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries…

It also makes me think, more so, of some of today’s public officials, today’s tribunes, and how they are worth less than stones, for the reasons that Titus gives. Yes, there are days when I feel that many of our current tribunes are as dumb and deaf, and as worthless as rocks or stones.

Well put, Will.

Pull up, Pete, pull up!

Forget about pulling up, Pete… are you as deaf as rocks and stones! 

I’m down here! Let me out of this thing!

HEY!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

The great Achilles,—whom opinion crowns

The sinew and the forehand of our host,--

Having his ear full of airy fame,

Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent

Lies mocking our designs: with him, Patroclus,

Upon a lazy bed, the livelong day

Breaks scurril jests;

And with ridiculous and awkward action-- 

Which, slanderer, he imitation calls--

He pageants us.

Ulysses

Troilus and Cressida                     Act I Scene iii, Line 143

And there you have it. The Greek leaders are discussing why they aren’t winning this war. In today’s passage Ulysses is saying that one reason for this is that their best fighter,— their sinew and forehand — Achilles, is dogging it: laying around all day in bed with his boy-toy Patroclus, whilst the latter talks smack about the Greek leaders. 

Yes, that is exactly what Ulysses is saying. So, was Achilles gay? Ask Patroclus.

Wait, Achilles was gay? I'll be darned.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

No? What needed, then, that terrible dispatch of it into your pocket? The quality of nothing hath not such need to hide itself. Let’s see: come, if it be nothing, I shall not need my spectacles.

 

Earl of Gloster

King Lear                      Act I Scene ii, Line 33

The Earl is talking to his son, Edmund, about the letter that Edmund is holding and not letting his father see.

Yesterday we were looking at meter, and the question came up concerning the use of meter and prose in Will’s works. Yes, whilst much of his plays are written in the infamous iambic pentameter, there is much that is written in plain old prose, like Today’s Lines and like what you’re reading right now. And, in fact, this scene is a perfect example. It begins with Edmund alone, talking about his illegitimacy and how he’s going to get the upper hand on his half- brother by forging a letter that he will make sure his father will find. All this is in verse (iambic pentameter). Gloster enters, also speaking in verse, until he sees the letter that Edmund is trying to “hide” from him. As soon as the topic goes to the letter, the text leaves verse and goes to prose. And it remains prose for the rest of the scene until Edmund is alone again at the end where it goes back to verse for the last six lines of the scene.

Why does Will flip back and forth twixt verse and prose? I can make all sorts of speculations, but the fact of the matter is, wait for it…

I don’t…………………………knooowwwww.

And I’m not sure anyone really does. 

 

Acckk! I knew he was gonna say that. 

I just…knew!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

To gratify the good Andronicus,

And gratulate his safe return to Rome,

The people will accept whom he admits.

 

Tribunes

Titus Andronicus          Act I Scene i, Line 275

I think the tribunes (senators) are telling Titus that he can decide who’s going to be the emperor. It looks like Titus can have the job if he wants it, but I don’t think he does. In any event, he nominates Saturninus who readily accepts it.

Yes, you’re right, it’s an opening to relate this somehow to current politics and world leaders, but I’m not going to do that.

So, we’ve got some nice iambic pentameter going on this morning. Do you ever read the lines just to appreciate the meter? I do. 

I know: quirky.

In fact, I was told this past weekend that I come from a whole family of quirky people. We’re all quirky. Hmm, I guess that’s not a bad word. Is it?

Quirky? Quirky?