These griefs and losses have so bated me,

That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh

To-morrow to my bloody creditor.--

-Antonio

The Merchant Of Venice                                Act III scene iii, line 33

Today’s line has in it a mention of the famous ‘pound of flesh’. Of course, this is Shylock’s payment for Antonio having forfeited on the loan. It’s such a well-known term that it can be used today to refer to anything that is considered extreme in payment. I’m trying to think of an example, but I’m coming up blank. Maybe you can think of one?

By the way, in this context ‘bated’ means diminished and ‘spare’ to be stingy about. Antonio is saying that he’s so overcome at this point that he won’t care about giving up the pound of flesh. He says that now. Wait until tomorrow when Shylock shows up with the knife.

 Do you suppose Shylock's knife looked anything like this?

To thee I do commend my watchful soul,

Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes:

Sleeping and waking, O, defend me still [sleeps].

-Earl of Richmond

King Richard The Third                    ct V, scene iii, line 116

Richmond is saying a little bit of a bedtime prayer here, and a prayer for success in the battle that’s going to take place tomorrow.

This is an interesting scene because within this one scene we keep flitting back and forth between two tents. One tent has King Richard and his people, and the other tent has the Earl of Richmond (who’s going to become Henry VII) and his people. These are the two leaders of the opposing forces in the Battle of Bosworth Fields that's going to be taking place in the morning. 

Right after Richmond falls asleep ghosts begin to appear. Each ghost comes and to Richard’s tent first, and talks to him. Then comes over to Richmond’s tent and talks to him. I can’t help but wonder how this play was staged in 1590. I suppose they had two tents back to back and somehow represented that they were far apart from each other. 

I’ve never seen this play, but I’ve heard it referred to as the play that brought Shakespeare into the limelight. It was written fairly early in his career and apparently it was his first big hit. After this Will was a star. What do you think of that?

Sam considers himself a bit of a thespian, so I let him take a crack at today's Totally Random line. I have to admit that he mumbled a bit with the lines, so it was a little hard to understand him. But when he got to the 'sleeps' stage direction he absolutely nailed it.