For, as I hear,

You, that are king, though he do wear the crown,

Have caused him, by new act of parliament,

To blot out me, and put his own son in.

-Edward

                                   

King Henry The Sixth Part III          Act II, Scene ii, Line 92

Henry The Sixth Part III brings us to the end of the War of the Roses. So far in this play (it’s early yet) Henry is still the king, but he previously made a deal with Edward that the kingship would pass to Edward when Henry dies. This was agreed to despite the fact that Henry has a son (also named Edward, just to make it a little more confusing). Now recall that Henry’s wife, Queen Margaret, is a take-charge lady, and she’s not to happy about her son being disinherited from the throne. And it is Margaret that Edward is addressing right here. He’s saying that she is the real power, even though it’s Henry that wears the crown, and that she has seen to it that the agreement whereby Henry will be giving up the throne has been dissolved. And Edward’s not too happy about that. So, what’s going to happen here? 

To blot me out. That’s putting it quite plainly, and also quite clearly. No one wants to be blotted out. Blot him out. Indeed!

 

Ooof! No one wants to be blotted out!

Every man’s conscience is a thousand swords,

To fight against this guilty homicide.



-Earl of Oxford

                                   

King Richard The Third                 Act V, Scene ii Line 17





First of all - what a great line! Every once in a while we really hit one, don't we!

Now, I believe that the guilty homicide Oxford is talking about is killing King Richard. So apparently Oxford has some misgivings about the killing and he’s expressing this with the image of a thousand swords. That’s a lot of swords. This killing, by the way, has yet to happen so that Oxford is being hesitant about going forward. The rest of the group here, Herbert, Blunt, and Richmond, are quick to convince Oxford that there’s nothing to worry about and that the rest of the country is behind them. And they do, indeed, move forward.



So, irrespective of this scene and what’s going on in it, the image of one’s conscience as a thousand swords is a fabulous one. I can think of plenty of times when I let my mind, my conscience, rule me into an action (or inaction), and it would seem that referring to my conscience in these instances as a thousand swords is a pretty accurate image.



Whilst Oxford was speaking figuratively, here’s a more literal interpretation of the Earl of Oxford feelings: it's a thousand literal swords (well, they’re actually rifles and a few bayonets, not swords, and probably somewhat less than a thousand, but okay). Anyway, WP and I had been discussing this scene and the Earl of Oxford's 'thousand swords' comment as we walked through the Oslo WWII Resistance Museum, when we came upon this display of rifles that had been put together to represent the Resistance. 

So I thought, what a perfect opportunity, and I asked WP to emote the feelings that Oxford was expressing, but to combine that feeling with the feeling of the physical threat of a real thousand swords (guns). 

I think he pretty much nailed it. What do you think?

Marry, well remember’d,

I reason’d with a Frenchman yesterday,

Who told me,-- in the narrow seas that part

The French and English, there miscarried

A vessel of our country richly fraught:



-Salarino

                                   

The Merchant Of Venice               Act II, Scene vii Line 27





So here’s today’s question: Is every word that has ‘ed’ on the end pronounced with an emphasis, and a full syllable, on those two letters? For example: miscarried. It would appear that it is pronounced mis-car-ee-ed; four syllables. I say this because that’s what it would take in this instance to complete that line in proper iambic pentameter. I also say that because the word reason’d in today’s selection is pronounced as a two syllable word to make the verse work. And to make it a two syllable word it’s got the apostrophe d, instead of the two letters ‘ed’. Presumably if it was spelled ‘reasoned’ it would be pronounced with three syllables: ree-sun-ed.  I make this comment also because Will’s works are full of verbs that end with apostrophe d. And therefore, the word stopped, for example, is pronounced with two syllables: stah-ped. And the word stop’d, or stop’t, would be pronounced with one syllable: stopt. 


I don’t think I’ve made this generalization about the full syllable effect of ‘ed’ before. I’ll have to keep an eye on that and see if I’m right. 

Comments?

The guys in this picture are some Frenchmen, but I didn't see them yesterday, and I didn't get a chance to reason with them. They were getting ready for Palm Sunday Mass and we were at the top of the south bell tower, so reasoning with them was a little out of the question. And I'm afraid, in respect to this picture, there is no ship that has miscarried, but rather the church in this picture. Care to guess where this picture is taken?

An if my father please, I am content.

-Margaret

                                   

King Henry The Sixth Part I              Act V, Scene iii Line 127

I think that this is the first time we see Margaret, she who is to become Henry’s wife and play an important role in Parts II and III. The Earl of Suffolk has just come upon her in his battles in France and is bewitched by her beauty. He’s decided that it would be a good idea to bring her back to England to become King Henry’s queen (though it would appear that the Earl has some personal designs in mind for her himself). He proposes this idea to Margaret and today's Totally Random line is her response.

Well that was easy.

So Margaret appears to be an example of a child (well, a grown child) who's not going to do anything unless her father says it's okay. I guess we could contrast this with the father in the previous blog post (me) who was bidding my ears a little while be deaf because I felt that my child wasn't exactly doing what I wanted him to. So would I want to trade my kid for Margaret? No, not really. He's a good guy no matter what.

 

No, not exactly a current pic. But that's him, an his father is pleased with this picture.

O, let my sovereign turn away his face,

And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this slander of his blood,

How God and good men hate so foul a liar!



-Thomas Mowbray

                                   

King Richard The Second                Act I, Scene i Line 111





This is the beginning of the play, and here’s Thomas Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk, talking to King Richard about Bolingbroke. Mowbray and Bolingbroke have brought their dispute to the king for Richard to mediate it. The short version of the four lines above is that Mowbray is calling Bolingbroke a liar. But of course, Will doesn’t often give us the short version, does he? And I'm afraid I'm not going to give you the short version today either.

It seems that I couldn't think of anything further to write about this, and I couldn't think of any picture to add. Until now. I've come up with some relevant comments, and maybe even a picture, but it's going to take a stretch, so you'll have to indulge me. Or just stop reading here.

In between starting this post, and attempting to continue it, I had the experience of watching my son do a bit of piano playing whilst he was watching and listening (with headphones) to a youtube video on his phone at the same time. Now you might think that it would take some degree of talent to play a piano, reading the music, whilst at the same time watching and listening to an unrelated video. Well, yes, maybe it does. But that's the point. If he's good enough to do that (and don't get me wrong, he doesn't sound that good when he's playing that way) then he's got to possess some degree of musical talent. And I think he does. But if he's got this talent then why the heck doesn't he actually put a little serious effort into it. And, in fact, why can't he do anything whilst he's awake without watching damn videos whilst he's doing it. The piano thing this evening got me so frustrated that I went in the other room, closed the door, and watched tv. And I really do love (usually) listening to him play piano. But I was so frustrated that I turned away my face and bid my ears a little while be deaf to his piano playing. 

Oof, that was a long way to go for today's somewhat tenuous tie-in. And yes, it's not a very good tie-in. But it is a legitimate use of the lines and with pretty much the same meaning as today's line, albeit turning and bidding for completely different reasons than why Mowbray is telling Richard to turn and bid. So be it.

Yup, here's the little wiener at his first recital. He's currently playing stuff a bit more demanding than Mary Had A Little Lamb. And his feet touch the ground now too. 

          Then, tell me,

Who’s the next heir of Naples?

-Antonio

                                   

The Tempest                          Act I, Scene ii Line 241

This is Antonio talking his buddy, Sebastian, into killing Alonso. But don’t worry, this is a comedy so nobody will get killed. 

By the way, this scene is covered quite well in The Rarer Action, in case you were interested.

Why, I could wish him to be my master, or rather, my mistress.



-Boult

                                   

Pericles, Prince Of Tyre               Act IV, Scene v Line 159



This morning I took the time to read all of scene v. It’s pretty interesting. This is the scene where Marina has been sold by the pirates to a house of prostitution and she ends up preaching to all the customers and converting them into God fearing, law abiding citizens. The owners of the house have realized that she’s bad for business and they’ve instructed the servant, Boult, to go take Marina and…well… break her in, so to speak (whilst Will uses figurative language, crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable, he’s also pretty explicit). But before Boult can take her away, she asks him a question: what canst thou wish thine enemy to be? And Boult’s answer is today’s Totally Random line: Why, I could wish him to be my master, or rather, my mistress. This appears to be Boults way of saying that he doesn’t like the people he’s working for (the owners of the brothel), and doesn’t’ think much of them. But Marina’s not buying that, and she comes right back at Boult telling him that he’s worse, a lot worse, than his master and mistress.



Neither of these are so bad as thou art,

Since they do better thee in their command.

Thou hold’st a place, for which the pained’st fiend

Of hell would not in reputation change:

Thou are the damned doorkeeper to every

Coistrel (knave) that comes inquiring for his Tib (whore);

To the choleric fisting (beating) of every rogue

Thy ear is liable; thy food is such

As has been belched on by infected lungs.



Ouch! That’s disgusting!

Boult responds by asking her, given his situation, what does she expect him to do? And she answers:



Do anything but this thou doest. Empty

Old receptacles, or common shores, of filth;

Serve by indenture to the common hangman:

Any of these ways are yet better than this;

For what thou professests, a baboon, could he speak,

Would own a name too dear.



Do anything! Take out the garbage, help out with executions. A monkey could do your job!



Again, ouch! A monkey could do what you’re doing! It doesn’t’ get much more insulting than that. And yet, somehow with all these insults she manages to convince Boult that she could be put to better use, and more profitable use, by doing skilled work, not prostitution. And they head off to go sell this idea to the master and mistress of the house. Go figure!



I thought that the language in this scene was pretty vivid, so I wanted to share it with you. What do you think?

For what thou professests, a baboon, could he speak, 

Would own a name too dear. 

You're no better than a monkey. And that's one pretty funky looking monkey!