So, thanks to all at once and to each one,

Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone.

-Malcolm

Macbeth                               Act IV, Scene viii, Line 75

And these are the last two lines of the play Macbeth. Traitorous, treacherous Macbeth is dead (see this post from last August) and Malcolm has the last words in this play. And of course, he ends it with a rhyming couplet. Well, it sort of rhymes. Maybe Scone does rhyme with one. I’m not familiar with this place, Scone. I know that the pastry doesn’t really rhyme with one, but maybe the place does.

In any event, it’s a pretty upbeat two lines for a very much downbeat play. They don’t call it a tragedy for nothing. But really, these lines seem like they could be from Mary Poppins, don't they? I guess Will wanted to send the theater goers home in a little bit better spirits than they otherwise might have been after watching two hours of murder and mayhem. Pretty thoughtful of him, eh?

And speaking of Mary Poppins, here's me with Mary and Bert. Well, okay, maybe not the real Mary and Bert, but the closest I'm gonna get. And no, they didn't say anything about any scones. Nice kids though.

If your honour judge it meet, I will place you 

Where you shall hear us confer of this, and by an 

Auricular assurance have your satisfaction; and 

That without further delay than this very evening. 

-Edmund 

King Lear                               Act I, Scene ii, Line 95 

So today we're looking at language; in particular, auricular assurance. Whoa, who says things like that? Seeing is believing, but in this case, hearing is believing. Do you think you would ever use this? Have you ever said, 'I need to hear it with my own ears.'? If you did, would you consider replacing that phrase with 'I need auricular assurance.'? For sure, it's a mouthful.

  

But what about context? Edmund is one of the Rat-Finks in this play, and he's in the process of tricking his father, Gloucester, into turning on his brother Edgar. Now the interesting thing here, and probably the reason Will used such a phrase that would draw attention to it, is that Gloucester is going to have his eyes gouged out a few scenes down the road. At that point he will only have the opportunity for auricular assurance, as opposed to optical assurance (seeing is believing). So Will seems to be doing a bit of foreshadowing here. Ahh, that clever Will.    

This is my personal apparatus for auricular assurance.

Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is Dead!

-Cinna

Julius Caesar                               Act III, Scene i, Line 78

No kidding, This is today's Totally Random line. This is what they're shouting immediately after stabbing Caesar to death.
So, Happy Memorial Day everyone. And while Memorial Day is the day to honor those who died while fighting for our country (at least that's what Wikipedia says), I'd like to think that they were fighting for liberty, freedom, and death to tyranny. Isn't that what our country is supposed to be all about?

His life was gentle; and the elements

So mixt in him, that Nature might stand up

And say to all the world, “This was a man!”

 

-Marcus Antonius

 

Julius Caesar                                         Act V, Scene v, Line 73

Okay, well here’s a pretty good line. And I guess it had better be since there are only eight lines left in the play. You would think that the audience is pretty attentive at this point so you wouldn’t want to be slipping in any B-grade stuff at this point. You want strictly A-grade material here.

They’re talking about Brutus, who just died, with this line. And though the name of the play is Julius Caesar, Brutus is pretty much the main character in this play. Remember that Caesar dies at the beginning of Act Three, and Brutus died just a few lines before today’s Totally Random line.

Now, today’s quote literally sounds like something you could use in a eulogy today if you wanted. I think you’d resort to this one if you were kind of stuck and didn’t have your own A-grade material for the recently deceased. If you were talking about someone close to you, who you felt good about, you’d probably be able to come up with some more specific stuff to say. But if it was someone that you got roped into talking about, well then this would be a good line, because it’s a bit vague. Now I’m sure if we do an in-depth analysis of the play we’re going to fine that there’s really nothing random about these words and they very specifically refer to stuff about Brutus from the play. But taken on their own, well they’re definitely a bit vague. But it sounds nice, doesn’t it? Of course it does, it’s Shakespeare for God’s sake!

I've given eulogies for people a couple of times. Once I ended it with a quote from John Keats's Ode On A Grecian Urn, and once I ended it with a quote from this book. But I'll keep this Julius Caesar quote in mind if I ever end up in the eulogy situation again. It's a pretty good line. Not that I'm too excited about the thought of giving any eulogies.

These quick-sands, Lepidus

Keep off them, for you sink.

-Antony

Antony And Cleopatra                      Act II, Scene vii, Line 61

Well, I have decided to get back to Totally Random mode, and here we are back in the Roman Empire again with Antony and Cleopatra. Actually, there's no Cleo in this scene, just Antony and a bunch of Romans. Yes, I found that it just wasn’t as much fun, nor did I find I was learning a whole lot more about the play, when I restricted myself to Measure For Measure. So, justice or no justice, I've found that a great part of the fun of doing this is not knowing where in the world I might end up. Today we're on a boat just off the shores of Miseno, Italy, just a bit to the north of Naples. So after having spent the past week in Vienna, getting a little sea air is quite refreshing.

I think that in today’s line Antony is just giving Lepidus a hard time. They’re all on board a party boat and mostly half drunk. Antony’s been describing Egypt (sort of) to Lepidus and now he’s telling him about the quick-sand. I’m not sure if he’s kidding around about there being quick-sand in Egypt, or whether he’s referring figuratively to something else that Lepidus should be wary of. Or maybe he’s doing a little bit of both. I suppose today’s line is a good line that you could use, speaking figuratively, if you want to warn your friend about something. For instance, suppose your friend Mitzi is thinking about getting involved with a married man:

‘These quick-sands, Mitzi, keep off them, for you sink.’

Yeah, that would work, and I think Mitzi would get the message. Don’t you?

Wait a tick, is that my two Cordelias sinking in quick-sand? No, of course not. They're just having some fun at the beach. No worries. 

For testimony whereof, one in the prison,

That should by private order else have died,

I have reserved alive.

-Provost

Measure For Measure                         Act V, Scene i, Line 462

I’m not sure, but I think that the Provost is telling the Duke that he’s got some guy in prison who’s going to be able to back up his story. ‘And who’s this guy’, asks the Duke. Well the answer to that is Tuesday’s Totally Random line that we didn’t get to post.

His name is Barnardine, answers Provost.

All right then. I’ve stuck to the most current plan and I’ve been drawing Totally Random lines exclusively from Measure For Measure. But the week’s gotten away from me, not enough hours in the day if you know what I mean, and I haven’t been able to get around to reading/listening to more than the first act of the play. Not only that, but I’ve not posted since Monday. Add to this the fact that doing it this way is just as, if not more, confusing than going Totally Random, and oh boy!  

So now I'm feeling all confused, and I’m not sure what to do. I wish I had this guy Barnardine to back me up.

That's Barnardine? No, I don't think so. Well...I dunno... maybe?

He would not, but by gift of my chaste body 

To his concupiscible intemperate lust, 

Release my brother; and, after much debatement, 

My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour, 

And I did yield to him;  

-Isabella 

Measure For MeasureAct V, Scene i, Line 104 

Day three of Measure For Measure and there's a few things to look at here. For starters, how about that concupiscible intemperate lust? Wow, that a mouthful! And the chaste body? And let's not forget about the sisterly remorse confuting her honour. There's just a whole lot of language going on here.

So let's see; concupiscible is lustful or desirable, intemperate is lacking self control, and confutes is proves to be wrong. At least that's what they mean today. Still, keeping in mind that there are a lot of words that have changed significantly in meaning since 1600, I'm going to assume that these are the meanings of these words in todays Totally Random lines.

So Isabella is talking to the Duke about Angelo and she's saying that Angelo wouldn't release her brother unless she gave up her virgin body to Angelo's lustful, uncontrolled lust. And that after giving it some thought, her regret for her brother's situation outweighed her honour, and so she gave in to Angelo.

But not really.
In fact, Isabella tricked Angelo into thinking that she gave in to him when in fact she set him up. The rendezvous took place in the dark and it was another woman who gave up her questionably chaste body to Angelo.

Oh that Isabella is quite the trickster.

Now this book looks old enough to be assured that the meanings of the words in here are the same as the meanings of the words as Shakespeare used them. But not really. This book has a 1941 copyright. Even so, I didn't use this book today. I cheated and used MW online. Oh that Pete is quite the trickster.