Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

These be the stops that hinder study quite,

And train our intellects to vain delight.

 

King of Navarre

Love’s Labour’s Lost             Act I, Scene i, Line 70

I don’t know about you, but when I read those two lines I immediately thought of the internet, and specifically, surfing and scrolling. I’m pretty sure, though, that’s not what the king is referring to. Now, do we want to get into a discussion (lecture) about the evils of getting sucked into the internet for hours of surfing/scrolling, or should we take a look at what the king is actually talking about. Yes, of course: the latter. 

So here it is: 

This is the first scene of the play where they are setting up the premise of what the play will be about, which is that the king and three of his fellows have made a commitment to spend the next three years studying. During those three years, in order to facilitate their studies, they will limit their food intake, limit their sleep to three hours a night, and forego women completely. One of the guys, Berowne, is objecting and saying that he agreed to the three years of study, but not the bit about food, sleep and women. He says he can study just fine with those things in his life, but it is exactly those three things, not the internet, to which the king is referring in Today’s Lines.

Let me just say that I think the internet is a more relevant answer to the question of what the king is referring to. 

Anyway, it’s a pretty good play because with that setup there’s all sorts of things that can go wrong. The main thing that happens in this play is that the Princess of France comes to visit the king’s court with her entourage of women attendants. But we won’t get into the details because that’s the whole rest of the play. I think the better thing to do is to just take the king’s words as a proper warning of the dangers of internet scrolling.

So next time you click on Instagram, or Facebook, or even just to use the Google, remember the king’s words, 

These be the stops that hinder study quite,

And train our intellects to vain delight.

Do - Spend your time reading.

Don't - Spend your time surfing.