Our thunder from the south

Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.

King Phillip

King John                                            Act III, Scene i    Line 411

Yes, that’s right, line 411. And the scene goes to line 598, so that’s a pretty long scene.

Now it’s Interesting that there was only one John among the English kings. It seems like a pretty common name. A bunch of Henrys, and Georges, and Edwards, and more. But only one John. Interesting. 

Anyway, this is King Phillip talking, but he’s the king of France, not England. Though King John (of England) is here as well. In this scene they’re together with their people outside the gates of Angiers, a town in France. I find this scene a bit confusing because what it boils down to is that John and Phillip have decided to join forces to level the town. And they’re just talking now about the specifics of the attack. Apparently Phillip’s going to take care of attacking from the south, though I’m still not sure why Phillip, the king of France, is going to join forces with John, the king of England, to level a French town. Can you see why I might be confused? And the ‘drift of bullets’ that he’s talking about is apparently cannon balls. I’m not sure if this might not be another of Will’s anachronisms or not, but I guess we’ll just let that one slide. 

This is an old walled town in France that I was visiting with the girls a few years back. I remember mentioning to them at the time that it made me think of this scene in King John at the gate of Angiers, and they said 'Geez Dad, you're absolutely right, we were thinking the same thing.' And then they went into a laughing fit for the next ten minutes, so I'm not so sure they actually meant what they said. 

Being at Greenwich,

After your highness had reproved the duke

About Sir William Blomer,--

Surveyor

King Henry The Eighth                                   Act I, Scene ii     Line 191

And then the surveyor gets interrupted by King Henry. The eighth. King Henry the Eighth. That is to say, the eighth Henry. We’ve spent quite a bit of time on Henrys IV, V, and VI because between them Will wrote six plays. He skipped over number seven, and wrote just one on the eighth Henry, and it was to be one of Will’s last plays. Remember now the Henry the Eighth was the father of Queen Elizabeth and that Elizabeth was alive when Will did about half of his writing (she was dead and buried when he wrote Henry the Eighth). So Will had to be careful and probably would not have used her father as a subject for one of his plays while she was still alive. All those other Hanks were a few generations back, and thus a little safer as play fodder. Not that he didn’t have to be a little careful about them as well.

So today’s line is from the Surveyor who is being questioned by Henry about the Duke of Buckingham. Now I’m not sure what politics are going on here, but I believe the Surveyor is the guy who takes care of Buckingham’s estate. So he’s got some info for the king about what Buckingham’s been up to. And I don’t think the king’s particularly happy with old Buck. In fact, I think that Buck might be making an early exit from this play. But I’m not sure. I guess you could up and read the play yourself if you want to find out.

This, believe it or not, is the top of the brick wall that surrounds the back yard of Buckingham Palace. And while the palace is not named after the Buckingham referred to in today's line, I'm going to nonetheless consider it relevant for today's pic. And I'm also going to say that the surveyor of this Buckingham estate has got quite a job on his hands.

a knave very voluble;

Iago

Othello                                 Act II, Scene i     Line 241

And just like that, back to Othello. It’s like a roller coaster ride, isn’t it? Just getting whipped around from one place to another. 

Anyway, this time it’s Iago talking and I had some thoughts on this guy. Iago never once seems to say anything particularly truthful and yet constantly he’s being referred to as ‘honest Iago.’ It’s almost to the point where it’s incredulous. Like, what was Will doing here, and why have people bought into this play? Are we to assume the he had been something different prior to the time of the play, something good that grew a good reputation, and that just now he’s turned rotten (talking about Iago here, not Will). That doesn’t seem plausible because he’s just too rotten and too good at being rotten for that to make sense. 

In today’s Totally Random line Mr. Rat-Fink Iago is talking about Good Michael Cassio. He’s talking to Roderigo, who’s no angel  (and apparently no Einstein) either, and of course Iago is bad mouthing Good Michael. He’s calling him a voluble knave, which is an insincere, simplistic scoundrel or rascal. Pot, kettle, black!!! 

I couldn't think of anything particularly clever, so I'm giving you a picture of Edwin Booth (yes, John Wilkes's brother) portraying Iago. It's from my A.L. Rowse Annotated Shakespeare book. Apparently Edwin was quite the Shakespearean actor.

From all such devils, good lord, deliver us!

Hortensio        

The Taming of the Shrew                  Act I, Scene i      Line 66

Well it’s a good stand-alone line, and perfectly usable, and eminently understandable, in today’s world. In fact, all too usable in today’s world. But in the play I believe that Hortensio is alluding to the Katharina, the titular shrew. So we’re only 66 lines into the play (not counting the two scene induction – another story for another day) and we’re already seeing Katharina (I like to refer to her as Kate, as in Kiss Me Kate) being referred to as the devil. Well we could talk about the stand-alone line, or we could talk about the play. Yeah, you guessed it, I don't know too much about this play.

Well, that's not exactly true. I've read and listened to this one. I just haven't done it recently. But it's a good one, and it's a comedy. So if you're going to start getting upset that we're referring to a woman as a shrew (or the devil), well maybe you should at least try to take a look at more of the play before you pass judgement.

In the meantime, well, you can use this line as a stand-alone for any situation you find appropriate. Even Will if you're so inclined.

Agreed, not the devil. Just the same, someone that I might want to be delivered from. How about you?

He had two sons: if this be worth your hearing,
Mark it: the eldest of them at three years old,
I' the swathing-clothes the other, from their nursery
Were stol'n, and to this hour no guess in knowledge
Which way they went.

First Gentleman

 Cymbeline                                          Act I, Scene i      Line 58

This line is sort of interesting to talk about. This is two gentleman talking, and this is the very beginning of the play. They’re the first two guys to show up on stage, in the garden of the palace of Cymbeline, and they’re here to give an introduction to the audience. Oh they’re speaking to each other, one asking questions, and the other giving up the facts, but their only purpose is to give the audience a heads up as to what’s going on. It’s interesting because Will uses this feature in some of his plays to one extent or another, and in some plays he just skips it all together and assumes that you, the viewer of the play, know what’s going on and what the back story is. This particular line is telling us about the king’s two sons who went missing as a baby and a toddler over twenty years ago. As I said, in some of Will’s works we just skip any kind of intro, and in some we get a pretty extensive one like we have here. In fact, this is definitely one of the most extensive that I can think of. And one of the only ones where the introduction is done by two no-names who have no other part in the play. So what do you think about that?

I was thinking about going through all Will’s plays, or maybe just the comedies, and making note of which ones had this sort of intro and which ones didn’t. But I thought better of that exercise.

In the meantime, do you want to read the whole conversation between these two gentlemen? Here it is. This pretty much gives you the set up for the whole play. Which, I suppose is only going to be relevant to you if you plan on reading and/or seeing the play. So, on second thought, never mind.

Boy, we’re just not getting anywhere with this line today. Let’s cut our losses.

What do you suppose would be the intro by the two gentleman for this scene of Tarzan holding up a Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency pencil while the snow piles up outside?

   Second Gentleman-

                  So what's with the guy with no shirt and the big pencil?

    First Gentleman-

                  Oh that's just Tarzan. I believe MEMA hired him as their new spokesperson.

    Second Gentleman-

                  Ay, sooth!

            

Ay, and greater wonders than that.

Orlando

As You Like It                                     Act V, Scene ii    Line 27

And greater wonders than that. Greater than what? Do we need to know? This is from Act V, Scene ii of As You Like It and it’s an exchange between Orlando and Rosalind. I know this play, but not really well, and I don’t remember exactly what’s going on in this scene. I can tell you that the preceding line is Rosalind saying

Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to swoon when he showed me your handkerchief? 

So apparently Orlando is referring to her pretending to swoon when he talks about greater wonders.  But beyond that I’m really not sure what he’s referring to. And do I care? No, not really. And if you asked me why, what would I say. I’d probably say that I’m not that interested in this line today. It’s true, I care about other things besides Shakespeare. To which you might ask, ‘You, Pete, what could you possibly spend your time on besides Shakespeare? Maybe watching television?’ And of course I’d reply, ‘Ay, and greater wonders than that.’

                                                                   Ay, and greater wonders than that.

For treason is but trusted like the fox,

Who, ne’er so tame, so cherisht, and lockt up,

Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.

Earl of Worcester

King Henry The Fourth Part I                       Act V, Scene ii    Line 10

Today we have hit upon a line that could easily have been picked unrandomly. Ay sooth, I suppose that unrandomly is not a word. But nevertheless…

I say that about today’s line because it’s a saying that can be used in any number of situations (especially within Will’s realm). So it’s not like those lines that are just part of a larger conversation and really don’t stand on their own; like yesterday’s line and for that matter like the majority of the stuff that we come up with randomly. So it’s a good line and its purpose is to explain a characteristic, in general terms, of treason, and it does so by talking about a fox. The Earl of Worcester is saying that unless the fox is tamed and locked up he’s gonna be a fox and  he’s gonna eat that chicken. So nobody’s gonna trust a fox. And once a loyal subject (such as himself) has been treasonous, no king is gonna trust that subject again. So they’re kind of screwed.

Now granted, treason doesn’t actually come up all that much in modern day to day living. But the simpler, more pedestrian form of treason, let’s call it betrayal, does. It’s pretty easy to betray someone’s trust or to have your own trust betrayed. And once you betray someone’s trust you’re kind of in that same boat as that fox; that is to say you’re not going to be trusted. So it’s a good line and it stands on it’s own. How about that?

This is Nutsy, and I think she looks a little like a fox. And as you can see, she's tethered so that she can't jump from the basket she's in. No, you just can't trust that little fox-like Nutsy.