Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

‘Tis strange that they should so depart from home,

And not send back my messenger.

  

Lear

King Lear                       Act II, Scene iv, Line 1

 

‘Tis strange.

It seems like lots of stuff appear to Lear as ‘strange’ in this play. He’s going to see his messenger, Kent, in the stocks momentarily, and he’ll think that strange as well. He’ll think it worse than murder.

Sometimes I wonder about Will’s characters and I think to myself that they are beyond reality. Like Lear; how can anyone be that stupid. But then there always seems to be something that shows up in my own reality that proves me wrong. Like Iago in Othello. I’m always thinking that it’s unreal that no one realizes that he’s a rat bastard until the end. But then I see someone in my world who is adored by millions even though to me it’s pathetically obvious that he’s a rat bastard. Then I realize the reality of Will’s characterizations.

So as far as Lear goes… well that’s just the way he goes.

At least he’s not a rat bastard.

I was determined to find a pic for today. I found this one that's a few years old. It's a pretty awesome evening sky out my office window.

Would Lear have found this sky strange? who knows. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night’s body be call’d thieves of the day’s beauty: let us be Diana’s foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being govern’d, as by the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

 

Sir John Falstaff

King Henry the Fourth Part I       Act I, Scene ii, Line 29

 

And so, for two days in a row, in Totally Random fashion, we have a line (or lines) from Sir John Falstaff. This is Act I, Scene ii of the play and the very first appearance of Sir John in Shakespeare’s works. In fact, Falstaff begins the scene with Prince Harry, whom he calls Hal.

Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?

They go back and forth a bit before Falstaff gives us today’s lines which paint a pretty good picture of what he’s about, or at least part of what he’s about. I’m tempted to type out a bigger section of this scene. It’s quite good, and for the most part easily accessible (understandable). Here’s a link to the scene on-line. This link has a bunch of notes at the bottom to help you with words and references that might be difficult. It’s just over two hundred lines, and it will give you a very good flavor of the character of Sir John Falstaff.

 

Shakespeare's King Henry IV 1.2 - Prince Hal in London with Falstaff (shakespeare-online.com)

 

So there you go; a little homework for you today. Enjoy!

 

No time for a pic today. Get out your reading glasses, and get going!

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Embowell’d! If thou embowel me to-day, I’ll give you leave to powder me and eat me too to-morrow.

 

Sir John Falstaff

King Henry the Fourth Part I       Act V, Scene iv, Line 111

 

Embowell’d means disemboweled, and by that I believe we’re talking about disembowelment as part of the burial process. To be truthful, I’m not completely sure about that.

However, I am sure about this: Hal has just finished fighting and killing Hotspur in the middle of a battle. Immediately after that he comes upon the body of Falstaff. Thinking Falstaff to be dead he makes a few comments over the body, ending with

Embowell’d will I see thee by and by:

Til then in blood by noble Percy lie.

Well it turns out that Falstaff was faking being dead to avoid fighting. He continues the fake until Hal leaves, and then he sits up and begins with Today’s Totally Random Line. He then goes into a discussion with himself, convincing himself that faking his own death was the right and proper thing to do. He proclaims

The better part of valor is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.

So if you ever hear someone use the phrase discretion is the better part of valor, you can just reply with Sir John Falstaff, King Henry the Fourth Part I, Act Five, Scene Four.

As usual, no need to thank me. 

And this is a picture of that person's jaw dropping in amazement when you show that you can quote exactly where Discretion is the better part of valor comes from.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

A noise within crying ‘Room for the Queen!’

Enter Queen Katherine, usher’d by the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk: she kneels. The king riseth from his state, takes her up, kisses and placeth her by him.

 

Stage Direction
King Henry the Eighth                  Act I, Scene ii

 

It was such a long stage direction, and those are so rare, that I decided to give it to you as today’s line. I think I’ve done that before, haven’t I?

This gives us something to consider about Will’s works especially, but also about drama in general: it’s all about the dialogue. I guess that’s obvious, but I think sometimes we overlook it. It does give me pause to wonder, and I think I’ve voiced this thought before too, what kind of writer Will would have been if he was writing in some other form. Well, we have a taste of this with his few long poems and his sonnets. But I can’t help but wonder what he would have been as a novelist, or even an essayist; or maybe a biographer - perhaps even an autobiographer.

In the meantime, I guess we just have to spend our time marveling at what he was able to do with dialogue. It’s an interesting thing to think about.

I've decided to try my hand at sketching, so that on those days where I can't come up with a picture I'll just torture you with one of my own.

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

As one relying on your lordships’s will,

And not depending on his friendly wish.

 

Proteus

Two Gentlemen of Verona             Act I, Scene iii, Line 61

 

Okay, first context (not that I knew it; I had to read it on my Shakepseare App): Proteus’s father asks him what’s in the letter he’s reading. Proteus answers that it’s from his buddy Valentine who wishes that Proteus would join him at the emperor’s court. And Proteus’s father asks the lad what he thinks about Valentine’s wish.
Proteus’s answer is Today’s Totally Random Line: he will do what his father wants, not what his friend wishes.

Interesting. He will do what his father wants. Well first off, he’s lying to his father because the letter is actually from Proteus’s girlfriend, but he doesn’t want his dad to know he’s reading a love letter. So in that respect, he’s already doing what he thinks his dad won’t approve of. Secondly, he has no desire to go to the emperor’s court because that would take him away from his girlfriend. Thirdly, he’s gonna do what his father wants him to do? What world is this?

You know, kids marching to their own drum, and not the tune that their parents want them to march to, has got to be as old as time itself. So, I’ve got to believe that there were people in the audience in 1590 who would have a good scoff at this line, if not an outright laugh. And of course, the line could be delivered with a number of different tones and emphases (that’s the plural of emphasis; I had to look it up) to add to the effectiveness of the line. But I digress.

Perhaps Proteus should have just been up front with his dad? And by the way, forget about being careful what you wish for, Proteus needs to be careful what his friend wishes for. Or, more precisely, he needs to be careful what he tells his father that his friend wishes for. Well now, that’s a bit convoluted, isn’t it.

My newest Blackwing. It's the Independent Bookstores special edition that Nina and Jeff brought me back from Cally. I didn't wish for it, I just got it. 

Sometimes it's best not to wish for anything, just be happy with what you've got and with what you get. 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

                 Answer my life my judgement,

Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least;

Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound

Reverb no hollowness.

Kent

King Lear               Act I, Scene i, Line 149

 

Kent is the voice of reason from the very start in this play. He states it right at the beginning, but Lear refuses to listen. If he’d just listened to his man Kent, he could have avoided pretty much the whole mess. Imagine, Lear listens and realizes that Cordelia should get as much of the kingdom, if not more, than the others. At the very least, if the other two still treat him badly he can just go to Cordelia. Of course, then you don’t get the Tragedy of King Lear, do you?

Life’s funny, isn’t it. It’s also kind of important to avoid the life-changing mistakes like the one Lear made. Also important to maybe listen to the advice of those who are close to you, those whom you trust. Lear didn’t even give Kent’s words the slightest consideration. What the heck?

Once again, two Cordelias.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And what is a stone, William?

  

Sir Hugh Evans

The Merry Wives of Windsor        Act IV, Scene i, Line 28

  

Well, for three reasons I was sorely tempted to pick another page today: this is the fifth time on this page, it’s Merry Wives (I’m not crazy about Merry Wives), and it’s the second time I’ve been in this particular conversation (in fact, I’ve picked the line following this one, so I’ve clearly spent time with Today’s Line already). But I felt like not using the Random Line picked would be a slippery slope, so I stuck with it.

Nonetheless, I could use a good hard and fast rule about when I can pick another line. One rule I stick with is to not use a line in the same paragraph that I’ve been in. By paragraph I mean an uninterrupted block of text, prose or verse. Also, I’ve more or less developed and stuck to the rule of only five Random Line picks to a page, and then I pick another page. Is that enough? Let’s see, 5 X 1249 pages = X, and X divided by 365 is 17 years and 40 days. So the 5 lines on a page rule gives me Random Lines until I’m roughly 83. Hmmm. I guess I can stick with that.

 

But I’ll tell you, all of this makes me wonder: what is a stone?

Is this a stone?