Let the Egyptians

And the Phonecians go a-ducking: we

Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,

And fighting foot to foot.

-Soldier

Antony and Cleopatra                   Act III, scene vii                   Line 63

Well at least we’ve gotten away from the history plays for the day. Although this one’s not too far removed from history, just a different time and place’s history. But I believe it’s classified as a tragedy. Either way, what we have here is another uncredited cast member, this time Soldier, giving Marc Antony the very solid advice to fight on land and not sea. I’m pretty sure that when he says ‘go a-ducking’ he means act like ducks and go out on the water (in boats). I like that: Go a-ducking. Regardless, does Antony listen? Of course not. Does it turn out well for him? Of course not. You know, it’s the little guy, the uncredited guys in life who really do know what the heck they’re talking about a lot of the time. I feel like that little uncredited guy a lot. 

So I googled Marc Antony (the Roman guy, not the play, and not the singer) and of course all I got was results for Marc Antony the singer. I had to use ‘Marc Antony Roman’ to get the guy I was looking for. I was just looking to see how well Will had stuck to history on this one. And he did a pretty good job. Oh I doubt that the uncredited soldier advised Antony to fight on land. But we do know that Antony got his butt kicked in the sea battle. What a maroon!

This is an interesting play, and Will pretty much paints the picture of a fairly manipulative, kind of spoiled brat, woman and a guy who is really obsessed with her and being led by her, and by his own stupidity, to make a lot of bad decisions. I’m not sure exactly what Will was trying to say with this play. Be careful who you fall in love with? That warning could apply to Antony or Cleopatra.

Well anyway, let’s walk away from this one with the thought that you really should give a little bit of a listen to the uncredited guys and gals. Just because they’re not the stars of the show doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about.

I asked my friend to do his interpretation of the Antony’s forces at the naval battle that ensued. He takes his roles pretty seriously, don’t you think?

Ay, to such mercy as his ruthless arm,

With downright payment, show’d unto my father.

 -Lord Clifford

 King Henry the Sixth Part III                        Act I, scene iii     Line 33

The line before this is Clifford’s buddy Northumberland telling Richard the Duke of York to yield to their mercy. Then Cliff comes out with today’s Totally Random line which tells me that York can’t really expect all that much mercy from Cliff and North. I can’t tell you exactly what York did to Clifford’s father, but I’m guessing he wasn’t too nice to him. On a separate note, that would be a good name for something, maybe a clothing retailer; Cliff & North. There’s some North Cliff stuff, a hotel and whatnot, but no Cliff & North. Anyway…

I think we’ll leave the whole Wars of the Roses thing alone for today. I’m still grappling with all the names and who’s on who’s side. I’ll get there eventually. But we can talk about today’s line without going into anymore context.

First off, pretty good iambic pentameter. But, once again, that word ‘father’ at the end of the second line is the eleventh syllable in the line. We couldn’t maybe end that with ‘dad’? I wonder if Will used ‘dad’, or if that’s a modern word. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for that word. You too. ‘Dad’, be on the lookout.

What else can we pick on? ‘with downright payment’, what do you suppose he means by that? I think we might have to find out specifically what happened when York killed Cliff’s father. That’s not happening this morning, I can tell you that. However, I’ll point out that I’ve gone back to reference previous posts when I subsequently find answers to questions like this. So if I do come up with anything I’ll mention it and try to put in some references ( I guess reference from the future post to this one, and then also come back here and pop in a reference to the future post. Again, if anyone’s out there with some info, now is the time to comment. James?)

Okay, that should do it for today.

These are some cliffs in Svalbard, meaning that they are some of the northernmost cliffs in the world. North Cliff, get it?

If she deny, Lord Hastings, go with him,

And from her jealous arms pluck him

perforce.

-Duke of Buckingham

King Richard the Third                   Act III, scene i    Line 35

Today, not only are we back at Richard III, we’re back in act three, scene one only fifteen lines from where we were last month. In that post (9/10) we were hearing from young Edward V who was entering London, assumedly to be crowned king, and wondering where his mother and brother were. They were hiding, because the mom know what was up with Richard’s plans for her two sons (not good). Well we’ve only slid down fifteen lines and now we hear that Lord Cardinal and Lord Hastings are going to be sent to go get that other brother (apparently they don’t need the boys’ mother, the one with the jealous arms). The two boys, sons of the king who just passed away, are going to be locked in the Tower of London and no one will ever be seeing them again. In fact, there’s quite a few stories, maybe legends, of exactly where these two ended up. Suffice it to say that their gooses got cooked.

So, what’s our take-away from this line? Get the kid and don’t take no for answer and use force against the mother if you need to. And apparently Lord Hastings is the strong arm here. Nice people, huh?

Well I’ve been to this Tower of London place, not inside, but I’ve seen it from the outside. We were in London for a few days and I ended up taking a real long walk, through Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace and Parliament, over the bridge and past the London Eye, along the south bank of the Thames for a few miles, back across the river on the Tower Bridge, and that got me to the Tower of London. And it’s not a tower, it’s more of a fort. Maybe there’s a tower inside the walls. But I didn’t go inside to pluck any kid from any jealous arms, so I’m not sure if there’s really a tower or not. But I am pretty sure those kids are not there these days. At least that’s what I hear.

I saw this building on the south bank of the Thames on my walk that day. Know what it is?

O day untowardly turn’d!

O mischief strangely thwarting!

O plague right well prevented! So will you say when you have seen the sequel.

-Don Pedro/Claudio/Don John

Much Ado About Nothing                           Act III, scene ii   Line 110

A few disclaimers up front. For one, I still know next to nothing about Much Ado About Nothing. And second, these are three lines spoken in turn by those three guys listed above. I could have stuck with the one Totally Random line, but I thought the sequence was pretty cool, so I gave you three lines. No need to thank me.

Now then, not knowing anything won’t stop me from giving you a little context. Maybe you think it should stop me, but it won’t.

Apparently Don John is the bad guy in this play, but remember, it’s a comedy, so he probably won’t be showing up with any severed heads. And that’s a relief! In any event it turns out that Don John (I can’t help but think of Don Johnson when I say Don John, but I don’t think it’s the same guy) has concocted some scheme where he’s going to make it look like Claudio’s fiancé, Hero, is cheating on him. Yes, that’s right, Claudio’s girlfriend/fiancé is named Hero. But let’s leave that one alone for now. So Don Johnson has told these two (I believe Don Pedro is friends to both of them) that Hero has men sneaking in her bedroom window at night. Unbeknownst to these two guys, Don John (see, I started to type Johnson there) has arranged for someone to be sneaking in the window tonight and he’s just talked these guys into going there tonight to spy on Hero. And today’s Totally Random lines is what each of them says as the scene ender.

Now if you haven’t realized by now, Will’s works (especially the comedies) are chock full of these deception/mistaken scenarios. I think the folks who did the writing for Three’s Company back in the seventies/eighties must have been avid Shakespeareans. But anyway, the line, the line.

So today’s Totally Random line is Claudio. And he’s the one who just found out that the woman he’s supposed to marry is cheating on him. And he say’s O mischief strangely thwarting! That seems like a pretty funny thing to say. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be funny, but maybe it was. This is, after all, a comedy. But it kind of seems like the right thing to say as well. His fiancé cheating on him certainly qualifies as mischief. And apparently he feels that this will thwart their relationship, or the wedding. And strange? Well yeah, if he’s not expecting it you could say it’s strange. So I guess it’s a pretty apt response if you stop and think about it. Right? And a lot more specific to the situation than just ‘Son of a bitch!’ or something like that.

I dunno, but I think this crew could cause some strangely thwarting mischief; especially that little guy in the plaid shirt in the front. I wonder if they’re dressed in that gay apparel ‘gainst the triumph-day? (see 10/4 post)

For in the marches here we heard you were

Making another head to fight again.               

-Earl of Warwick

 

King Henry the Sixth Part III                        Act II, scene i     Line 140

Okay, I give up, I’m going to read/listen (and in some cases re-read/re-listen) to Richard II through Richard III (to be clear, that’s eight plays with all those Henry plays in-between). And I’m going to see, in the process, if it really does cover those two Edwards that sneak in between Henry VI and Richard III. But in any event there’s just too much of the Shakespeare canon that’s tied up in these 8 plays. And it’s all one big story anyway. In the meantime, today’s line…

For now, short tale to make (that’s Will’s way of saying ‘long story short’), this is the Earl of Warwick catching up to Richard and Edward, just after they’ve heard the news of their father’s death in battle. But don’t ask me which Richard or which Edward this is. There are just too many names. And of course they all keep repeating. Generations of Henrys and Richards and Edwards. Ooof! Believe it or not I started to draw my own version of the family tree of Edward III down to Henry VIII. I haven’t quite finished that yet. And I’m giving up on Shakespeare’s Kings for a bit. I’ll get back to it, but I have to give it a rest for a while. When I do I’ll work my way through all these names as I work my way through Richard II to Richard III (and to be very clear, while Henry IV, V, and VI are father, son, and grandson, Richard II is some great uncle or third cousin half removed or something like that to Richard III, but certainly not his father or grandfather). So let’s not worry about who is exactly who for today. Bottom line is that a bunch of guys have come with the Earl to join Edward and Richard and there’s basically a civil war going on in England right now. And in fact, there’s a civil war of sorts going on with this whole history series. Richard II gets supplanted by his first cousin Henry IV. And while the succession runs smoothly for Henry V and VI, that’s pretty much where it ends. Henry VI’s son dies young in battle and once that happens all bets are off. And I’m pretty sure that Henry VI dies here in this play so that by the end of King Henry the Sixth Part III we’re really into Edward IV. And King Richard the Third starts with one of the Edwards as king. Got all that?

Now for the record, it looks like today’s two lines are both pretty much impeccable iambic pentameter. So kudos to Will on that one. And one final note; I thought the ‘here we heard’ part of the line was interesting. Good thing it wasn’t present tense or it would have been ‘here we hear’. That might have sounded a bit awkward. Hey, you gotta look at these things closely. It’s Shakespeare!

This is the name tag I would have these guys wearing on stage with these Henry and Richard plays.

O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye   

By throwing it on any other object

Till you have heard me in my true complaint,

And given me justice, justice, justice, justice.

-Isabella

Measure For Measure                   Act V, scene i     Line 23

Okay, let’s look at this line; Justice, justice, justice, justice. I get the idea that today’s line is about someone looking for justice. Now here’s the thing; I don’t really know anything about this play. We’ve had one Totally Random line previously from Measure For Measure, but I didn’t go into the play at all on that one. So I decided to look up a quick synopsis of Measure For Measure, just so I had some idea what it was about. Wanna know what I found out? It’s a play mostly about questions of morality and justice. Go figure. Totally Random, eh? I suppose you can say that if it’s a play about justice then we would be bound to run into lines that talk about justice. But a line that says ‘justice, justice, justice, justice’? I dunno about that.

Okay, I’m gonna let you chew on that one whilst I move on to another topic, iambic pentameter. I know, I’ve ranted on the old iamb thing before, but I guess I just can’t seem to get any resolution. So here’s my issue today: If you’re going to write in iambic pentameter, shouldn’t it all be in iambic pentameter? I mean, I get that this would be a hard thing to do, but you either do it or you don’t. The first three lines of today’s Totally Random lines are almost perfect iambic pentameter (not sure about ‘object’ at the end of the second line, but…). However, the last line loses it after the first two feet. And gi Ven me (so far, so good) Ju stice? No! it’s ju Stice. ju Stice, ju Stice, ju Stice. The accent in the word ‘justice’, when properly pronounced, is on the second syllable, not the first. So what’s up with that? Did they pronounce that word differently in 1600? I guess that’s possible. I certainly don’t know. Either way though, you have to admit that this iambic pentameter thing is pretty light and loose. Again, I get it that it’s hard to make every line iambic pentameter. I can tell you that I did write a ten page paper in college that was in iambic pentameter. Obviously it was a paper about Shakespeare, Henry IV to be exact, and it wasn’t particularly easy, and it wasn’t anything of Shakespearean quality. But it was all iambic pentameter, not just some of it. It just doesn’t seem right to me that you iamb where you can and just lose your iamb as needed; slip out of it and back in as needed? Then it’s not really iambic pentameter, is it?

So that’s my rant for the day. And I’ll leave you with the question: What’s with Will’s iambic pentameter? Why is it so imperfect? You tell me.

Yes, you're right; not iambic pentameter. I believe the verse is called anapestic tetrameter. If you don't recognize this verse and illustration you most certainly suffered through a deprived childhood. You'll also note the Theodore does a pretty darn consistent job with his meter.

Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly,

You do not hold the method to enforce

The like from him.

-Charmian

 Antony and Cleopatra                   Act I, scene iii     Line 6

First off, and before we get too far into today's Totally Random line, what about this ‘methinks’ thing. I mean, all you have to do is start off with, or heck even midway through throw in, a ‘methinks’ and you’re putting a Shakespearean spin on it. And why not? You don’t even have to own the Shakespeare part of it, you can just use it and own it for the way it sounds. It sounds good. At least I think it does. But anyway, the line…

So with our first step into Will’s only play set in Egypt (I think it’s his only one. James?) we have a pretty good line because it speaks to a major theme of the play and that is the way that Cleopatra is doing her best to wrap Antony around her little finger. And it seems to be the right hand men and women who want to bring this theme to our attention. In fact, if you go back a few pages to the first lines of the play you’ll see Philo, one of Antony’s friends, talking about this same thing. But today’s Totally Random speaker is Charmian, Cleopatra’s attendant, and she’s reacting to the queen’s commands to basically go spy on Antony. Cleopatra’s been telling Charmian the different things to tell Antony depending on what kind of mood he’s in. And I believe Charmian’s Totally Random line is just saying that if you really love the guy, then be straight with him. But Cleopatra response to this is to tell Charmian that she’s a fool. So while the role of Cleopatra speaks to cleverness, but also the deceitfulness of women, I think that the simple honesty of Charmian speaks to the goodness of women. As in a lot of cases with Will, he’s not painting a picture to tell us how it is, he’s painting of picture with a little bit of everything in it so that we can decide on how it is. Clever fellow that Will.

Now, as a little bit of a post script on today’s blog, this is one of the first plays that I read while listening to the Arkangel Shakespeare CD (yeah, CD; can you believe it?). Cirian Hinds plays Antony. If you don’t recognize the name you would recognize the face and the voice if you heard it. He’s really good. So I’m plugging Arkangel again just because I feel they’re that good. Especially if you’re trying to introduce someone to the written Shakespeare. Get them to listen/read it. You won’t regret it.

What the… What’s that guy doing back? But okay, that’s Ciaran Hinds he’s pointing to. Recognize him? I mean Ciaran, not the guy in the funny outfit.