Swear his thought over

By each particular star in heaven

-Camillo

                       

The Winter’s Tale                             Act I, Scene ii, Line 423

This is near the beginning of the The Winter’s Tale. King Leontes is already completely convinced that his wife is having an affair with his friend King Polixenes (spoiler alert: Leontes is nuts and there is absolutely no affair going on). Leontes tells one of his guys, Camillo, to murder Polixenes. Camillo is convinced there is no affair, and then he runs into Polixenes. The latter realizes something’s amiss, and he gets Camillo to tell him what’s going on. Camillo tells Polixenes that Leontes thinks he has toucht his queen forbiddenly. Below is the exchange that follows:

Polixenes-

                        O, then my best blood turn

To an infected jelly, and my name

Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!

Turn then my freshest reputation to

A savour that may strike the dullest nostril

Where I arrive, and my approach be shunn’d,

Nay, hated too, worse than the great’st infection

That e’er was heard or read!

Camillo-

                        Swear his thoughts over

By each particular star in heaven and

By all their influences, you may as well

Forbid the sea for to obey the moon,

As or by oath remove, or counsel shake

The fabric of his folly, whose foundation

Is piled upon his faith, and will continue

The standing of his body.

I kind of like the best blood turn to infected jelly and also A savour that may strike the dullest nostril parts. I don’t know, but there’s something a little bit funny about that savour thing. Of course, the you may as well forbid the sea for to obey the moon is a pretty good line as well. In fact, that one is pretty usable.

Is congress ever going to stop with the partisanship and get something constructive done?

You may as well forbid the sea for to obey the moon.

One other note here: In today’s line we hear of blood being turned to infected jelly. In Lear when Regan (or was it Goneril?) is gouging out Glouster’s eye’s she refers to them as vile jelly. Vile jelly. Infected jelly. I wonder if Will ever talks about jelly in any good context? Did they even have real jelly for spreading on bread back around 1600? They must have had it!

 

 Now this here is some jelly that is neither vile nor infected. It's just delicious.

They are all couch’d in a pit, hard by Herne’s oak, with obscured lights; which, at the very instant of Falstaff’s and our meeting, they will at once display to the night.

-Mistress Page

                       

The Merry Wives Of Windsor          Act V, Scene iii Line 14

The first thing that struck me in these lines is Herne’s Oak. If you’d like a pretty good explanation of this oak and it’s part in this play, here you go http://theshakespeareblog.com/2012/12/the-legend-of-hernes-oak/

Much better than I could do. In fact, that’s a pretty good Shakespeare blog if you’re looking for one.

By the way, this is the third time we’ve picked a Totally Random line from this short, twenty-four line scene. So that’s kind of interesting. We should know this scene by heart at this point, shouldn’t we? Spoiler alert: We don’t.

 

Here's WP couch'd and looking at his PC. So in today's line they were all sitting on a couch down in a pit by Herne's Oak, in the dark, ready to jump out at Falstaff? A couch in a pit? Well that just doesn't sound right. Does it? I told you we didn't know this scene.

Aye, aye. Thou wouldst be gone to join with Richmond:

I will not trust you, sir.

-Richard

                                   

King Richard The Third             Act IV, Scene iv, Line 490

This is Richard III talking to Lord Stanley about Richmond. Stanley has just volunteered to go and round up his friends to help Richard in his fight against Richmond. And Richmond is Henry, the Earl of Richmond, who is to become King Henry VII (father of Henry the Eighth if that helps). So Richard knows that Richmond is coming for the throne and he’s a little worried right now about who’s on his side and who isn’t. Of course, you have to realize the Richard III was not the most trustworthy soul, so it’s not surprising that he doesn’t trust anyone else. But to be fair, in this case I don’t think he was wrong in not trusting Stanley. I will not trust you, sir. Well, that’s pretty straightforward.

 

Yes, that's me sitting in a rather large tree stump. And that building behind me? Monticello. Relevance? Absolutely! It's all about the trust. 

This is the home of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president. Smart? Yes! Founding Father? You bet. Trustworthy? Not one bit. If I were to face him I would say I will not trust you, sir!

The guy was a weasel. Don't believe me? Look it up.