There goes the Talbot, with his colours spread,

And all the troops of English after him.

 

-Joan La Pucelle

Setting – The plains near Rouen

Present – Charles, the Bastard of Orleans, Alencon, Joan, and forces

King Henry The Sixth Part I          Act III, scene iii  Line 32

I’m not quite sure why he’s the Talbot. I always did like the ‘u’ in colours… and favourite, and all those other ‘ou’ spellings that get you the red underline in Word. It’s just so British.

In any event, here again is Joan La Pucelle, AKA Joan of Arc. It seems that the Talbot is one of the big English guys and he’s marching up and down France causing all sorts of problems for the Frenchies. Joan is about to get her hands on the Duke of Burgundy and have a bit of a chat with him. It seems that Burgundy, a Frenchman, with his followers has sided with the Talbot. I’m not at all clear why. But once Joan has a talk with Burgundy he promises to come back to the French side. And so things seem to turn in the French direction again.

Joan refers to Talbot here ‘with his colours spread’ and a little earlier ‘like a peacock sweep along his tail’. So apparently this Talbot fellow has a bit of showiness about him, and causes just a little bit of fascination on Joan’s part. Can it be that she has a begrudging crush on him? Well, if Sir Richard can have a man crush on Hal, why not Joan on the Talbot?

Is that the Talbot? No wait, that's Gaston!

Ay, but she’s come to beg; Warwick to give:

She, on his left side, craving aid for Henry;

He, on his right, asking a wife for Edward.

She weeps, and says her Henry is deposed;

He smiles, and says his Edward is install’d;

 

-King Henry

 

Setting - A chase (woods) in the north of England

Present - Two keepers with cross-bows, and Henry

King Henry The Sixth Part III       Act III, scene i    Line 45

From Henry IV Part I we skip all the way to the end of the Henry plays, Henry VI Part III. Remember now that the succession of Kings goes Richard II, Henrys IV, V, and VI, Edwards IV and V, Richard III. Remember also that Will did not do a play on either of those Edwards (apparently he did one on Edward III who preceded Richard II, but that’s another story). Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because Will covered a bit of both of the Edwards in his other plays. Edward IV is on the throne by the end of Will’s Henry VI Part III. And the play Richard III starts with one of the Edwards on the throne, I’m not clear which. Now, how exactly these transitions take place is complicated and I still don’t have all the facts straight. But what I do know is that the king of France gets involved. That’s who the ‘his’ is above. Warwick is working on the king of France on Edward V’s behalf, and Margaret (Heny VI’s wife) is the ‘she’ who is working on Henry VI’s son’s behalf (Coincidentally also named Edward. Could this be any more confusing?). And today’s lines is Henry talking to himself about all of what’s going on. He’s probably as confused as we are and going over all of these facts to try to straighten it out in his own head. Of course the final bit of confusion to sprinkle in here is that Will did not stick completely to the historical facts so that when I go to the history books to figure out what’s going on with whom I sometimes just manage to get a little bit more confused.

Anyway, now that I’ve completely lost you, where do we go from here? I guess, in a sense, since you don’t know where you are anymore, any direction taken is just as good as any other. Okay then, let’s talk Henrys. These three Henrys (IV, V, and VI) are the only father, son, grandson succession in this whole section of British history that Will’s trying to cover. But even though that seems as though it should be pretty clean and straight-forward, it’s not. Unfortunately Henry IV took the throne from Richard II, his first cousin. And Henry VI is going to lose it, re-gain it and lose it again to another cousin, who’ll then lose it to another cousin. All cousins here. And we find out through these plays that even though Henry IV was strong enough to take the throne from his cousin Richard II, he still wasn’t a very good king. And Will gives us the next Henry, number V, as the guy who is really the strong king and spends his time winning battles in France. Henry VI (the guy talking today) is the third Henry and apparently he’s not a very strong ruler either. Remember, way back in September we had the first line of today’s play, Henry the Sixth Part III, and at that time they were running around looking for Henry, so we knew he was in trouble from the get go.

All right then, perhaps I’ll leave you there. Henry VI is wandering through the woods talking to himself about the fact that his wife is in France begging the French king for help in holding on to his throne. That’s the long story short of it.

No, this isn’t Henry wandering in the woods, it’s my friend Ronny wandering in the woods. He looks a little confused too, but I’m pretty sure he’s not worrying about any succession business.

He gave you all the duties of a man;

Trimm’d up your praises with a princely tongue,

Spoke your deservings like a chronicle,

Making you ever better than his praise

By still dispraising praise valued with you;

 

-Sir Richard Vernon

 King Henry The Fourth Part I      Act V, scene ii    Line 57

Today we’re back to the history plays. Yes, we got away from these guys for a while, but since they make up about a quarter of my compilation we were bound to get back to them sooner or later. Our Totally Random line(s) is Sir Richard Vernon describing to Hotspur (Harry Percy), the manner in which Prince Hal issued his challenge. Hotspur assumed it was with contempt, but Sir Richard is explaining that Hal issued it very modestly. Sir Richard goes on for several more lines after this to the point that Hotspur finally asks Richard if he’s got a crush on Prince Hal. Well, not exactly, but he sort of says that. And it’s a fair question considering the way Richard is going on and on about Prince Hal.

Now this is a pretty common practice of Will to take something and really run and run and run with it. Richard’s reply goes on and on and on about how nice Prince Hal is being in offering this challenge to Hotspur. It’s eighteen lines (of which we have five for today’s Totally Random lines) of an answer to Hotspur’s question. The question is ‘When Hal issued the challenge did he do it with contempt?’ It’s literally a yes or no question to which Richard gives a ‘Tony, long-story-short’ answer. Tony was a guy that I worked with (really nice guy) who would tell stories that went on forever with a level of detail that no one needed, and all throughout the story Tony would be saying ‘long story short…’. And we would all be thinking (sometimes saying) ‘Tony, there’s nothing short about this story!’ So I can just imagine Hotspur breaking in around line five or six of Richard’s replay with ‘Okay Tony, I get it! Hal’s a nice guy, fine!’ But of course he doesn’t do that. He does give a pretty good response to Richard though. ‘Cousin, I think thou are enamoured on his follies.’  i.e. ‘Dude, are you in love with this guy, or what?’

Long story short, these houses have lawns for roofs. Don't ask me how that works, or whether they have to mow their roofs, or what that has to do with today's post. I just thought it was an interesting picture.

He’s flung in rage from this ingrateful seat

Of monstrous friends; nor has he with him to

Supply his life, or that which can command it.

 

-Flavius

 

Timon Of Athens                            Act IV, scene ii    Line 24

Timon has flown the coop, and he left without his backpack or anything else and headed up into the hills away from everyone. That’s what this boils down to. Now I don’t know too much of Timon Of Athens, but I do know that it’s a story of a kind hearted soul who gave all his friends the shirt off his back. And later on, when his money was all gone, he found that he had no real friends, and no one would help him out. And at that he lost his kind heart and walked away from it all.

Now If you don’t mind, I’m going to continue one more day on the theme of the week’s events. But rest assured that I’m keeping it pertinent to today’s line.

I can’t help but feel that this week’s loser in the general election has got to feel a little like Timon at this point. Can you imagine spending your life in service to people only to be refuted in the end by the people? And not only refuted, but to have a paragon of sloth and ignorance chosen over you? It would not surprise me at all to learn that she had headed up into the hills never to be heard from again. I know that I would be tempted to do that. I’m guessing, though, that even if she did that she would certainly not go without her backpack. And her contingent of secret service (former first lady; remember?). And no, in reality I don’t believe we’ve heard the last of her. And hopefully her end does not mirror Timons.

All right, that’s all I have to say about that, and hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have my head back on my shoulders and back into Will’s game. It got knocked off a bit by the results of Tuesday, but I’m slowly recuperating. I’ll do my best, and I don’t think I’ll be flung in rage. After all, I have much still with me to supply my life and to stay in command of myself. Yes, I most certainly do.

This is me heading up into the hills about twenty years ago. We hiked up from down below on the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Up in the upper left hand corner, sort of out of the picture, is Farewell Gap. If you go through that gap you're in the High Sierra back country. We didn't go that way. We hiked up to Lower Franklin Lake, camped out for one night, and headed back the next day. And there was no rage involved at all.

O God! That one might read the book of fate,

And see the revolution of the times

Make mountains level, and the continent,

Weary of solid firmness, melt itself,

Into the sea!

 -King Henry

 King Henry the Fourth Part II      Act III, scene i    Line 45

Well this is a pretty pertinent quote for today’s state of affairs. It sounds like Henry wants to see the future, but that he wants to see all things come to an end. It sounds quite fatalistic and pessimistic.

I would say that there are more than just a few people in our country today who are feeling this way. Probably about sixty millions of them. And that’s not surprising considering that we have now decided to put a misogynistic, bigot, imbecile in charge. However, my own personal feelings are more optimistic. Don’t get me wrong, I can understand if you want to see the mountains level and the continent melt into the sea. I get it. And this fellow, clearly proven to be a morally corrupt idiot with the maturity of high schooler, might just make you want this to happen. So how can I be optimistic?

I’m optimistic because our country’s government has not been working for quite a while, and definitely needs something to reboot it. Perhaps this, as unpleasant as it is, will help the reboot.

I’m optimistic because I don’t believe the imbecile is too far-right (or far-left) regardless of his party affiliation, but rather more centrist (though I’m not sure he even realizes this, or knows what the word ‘centrist’ means). So that is better than having an extremist in charge.

I’m optimistic because I believe that this ego-driven imbecile will want to be considered a great leader and because of this will try to actually do some good things. I also believe the office of the president in and of itself tends to elevate the occupant’s way of thinking.

I’m optimistic because I believe the election of the moron will be a wake-up call to all of us regarding what can happen if we don’t care more about what’s going on.

I’m optimistic because I believe there are many, many good men and women faithfully serving our country and I believe they will continue to do so, keeping us safe, in spite of the imbecile.

And finally, I’m optimistic because I have to be. I want this grand experiment of democracy to continue. I have children who need it to continue, and I believe it will continue. I believe this is a great country, much greater than any one imbecile.

So it’s absolutely amazing that we managed to come up with this Totally Random line today. And I apologize for going a little more off course than I usually do. But isn’t it once again fantastic to see how timeless Will’s words are. Timeless or not, though, don’t take the line too seriously, and please don’t be Henry. Be optimistic.

Of course, being a little prayerful wouldn’t hurt either.

God bless us all! I know that he will.

Away! by Jupiter,

This shall not be revoked.

-Lear

King Lear                            Act I, scene i        Line 180

And here he goes again. The only other time we had a line from Lear (the character, not the play) he was spouting about coining and being the king. But that was much later in the play. Today we’re in the first scene of the play. Lear has just disowned Cordelia (bad move) and now he’s banishing Kent (equally bad move). It seems that Lear pretty much does everything in the first scene of the play to screw himself for the rest of the play. And we spend the rest of the play watching this self-screw job play out.

At the very least, though, we get a nice expletive that we can use. And it’s a pretty darn clean one as well, by Jupiter! By way of context (in case you’re interested), he’s telling Kent to beat it, by Jupiter, and that he’s not going to change his mind about banishing him. This might be another one of those instances where the audience is looking at what’s going on and saying to themselves (or out loud) ‘Lear, you boob, Cordelia and Kent are the good ones! Idiot!’ You know that at this point Goneril and Regan are already chuckling to themselves. Now I don’t mean to come off as being too critical of Will, but honestly, sometimes the way he sets stuff up, or the things he has some of his main people doing, seem to lack a little bit of credibility. Do you agree? On second thought, I guess all I have to do is look at the people around me, or the news headlines (which by the way I’m still doing a pretty good job of avoiding ever since I started doing these blog posts, except for lately with this damn election) to realize that this stuff is not that unbelievable at all. Yes, after contemplation, by Jupiter, I take it back! In a very real sense it seems like half the  country just said 'Away! by Jupiter, this shall not be revoked' to what could have been their Kent or Cordelia last night in favor of an imbecile. Yes, this stuff is entirely believable, and Will is indeed timeless. Oh my!

Myself, I'm doing fine, because luckily I have two Cordelias. So I'm not going to worry about it, by Jupiter!

Now, God delay our rebellion! As we are

ourselves, what things are we.

 -First Lord

 

All’s Well That Ends Well            Act IV, scene iii   Line 17

 

It occurred to me this morning, while contemplating on this line, the genius of the Totally Random Daily Shakespeare project. And what I mean is this; By taking these lines randomly there is not one line in all of Shakespeare’s works that is deemed unworthy of our study. They are all up for grabs. And accordingly, if we go at it long enough we’ll look at every single line that Will wrote (admittedly that’s going to take quite a while; I think it was estimated at 342 years). The other way that we could accomplish this would be to go in order, play by play, line by line. Now you could easily argue that this would make more sense. But I beg to differ. For one thing, if we were trying to work our way through one play this way we would find it much too tedious. Can you imagine? It would have taken about ten days to get from the beginning of this scene to where we are now, which is a little less than a quarter of this page in my compilation. It would be almost impossible to keep ourselves from moving faster through the play. And so we would never end up being able to give each line the attention that it gets by being singled out in the Totally Random manner. Further, I’m sure you must agree that doing it this way is much more adventurous and interesting. Yes, this is clearly the way to go. Now, today’s line…

Today’s line is an exclamation which could just have easily been “What a piece of work!” They’re talking about Bertram who is the main character in this play. These guys are no-names and this beginning of the scene is meant to give us, the audience, a bit of an update on Bertram’s state of affairs. They’re telling us that Bertram got a letter from his mother in which she’s laid into him about treating his wife poorly. They’ve told us the king is mad at him (I’m not sure why the king is mad). And finally they’ve told us that irrespective of these things, Bertram is now busy spending time with some new lady in town that he just met. So today’s Totally Random line is really nothing more than an exclamation. We’re not talking about any specific rebellion here any more than we’re talking about any specific cow when we say ‘Holy Cow!’ It’s basically ‘Holy Cow’ (Now, God delay our rebellion), ‘What a piece of work!’ (as we are ourselves, what things we are).  

So we’ve basically picked up two exclamations here that are perfectly usable, and can be used separately or together. I would suggest separately. I think ‘God delay our rebellion’ should be used very non-specifically. Again, like ‘holy cow!’.  But ‘as we are ourselves, what things we are’ is basically a kind of non-specific, and yet you know what I’m thinking, response to, and about, what someone has done.

‘Did you hear that Lucy went to the casino last week and lost fifteen hundred dollars at the roulette table, and then picked up some twenty-five year old guy and spent the night with him!?’

‘Oh my God! As we are ourselves, what things we are!’  

See, we might have passed right over that line and missed out on the opportunity to appreciate it. God delay our rebellion, Totally Random!

When a moose sticks his head in your car window it qualifies for a "Now, God delay our rebellion! As we are ourselves, what things are we!"