O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Cristian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature’s journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

-Hamlet

Hamlet                                    Act III scene ii line 34

This is the last sentence of the ‘Speak the speech’ speech that Hamlet gives to the players. It’s a couple of paragraphs long where he’s telling the players, who are going to be putting on a play for the court, how to act. In this last sentence, above, he’s going on about some of the bad actors that he has seen. Strutted and bellowed! Those are good words.

So I guess there are a lot of different ways to go about discussing the ‘Speak the speech’ speech, or even just this one sentence in the last paragraph. But I have work to do right now, so I’m going to leave it to you. It’s a good sentence, albeit a bit long. So do what you will with it. Strut and bellow if you like!

 

This is WP's one hand performance at the roman amphitheater in Merida, Spain. It's wonderfully understated, don't you agree? And not one bit of strutting or bellowing.

Heaven be my witness you do, if you suspect me in any dishonesty.

-Mistress Ford

The Merry Wives Of Windsor             Act IV scene ii line 123

I’ve been trying to do some reading in my Shakespeare criticism books in the past few days to see if I can figure out what is so great about this Falstaff character. So it's fortuitous that I randomly picked a line from Merry Wives today because, after all, this is a play that was specifically written as a vehicle for Falstaff. But I believe I managed to pick a scene without Sir John in it. Oh well, I think I’ll talk about my search anyway.

Since it is Harold Bloom more than any of them who seems to think that Sir John Falstaff is such an incredibly important character, I started with his book and I’ve got to tell you that Professor Bloom is either on a higher level of thought processing, or just bad at explicating ideas (I’ve got to believe it’s the former), because I have a very hard time following his train of thought. So I didn’t read his whole chapter on Henry IV. Instead I switched over to the other Harold, Harold Goddard. And he’s a little easier to read. Not funny papers easy, mind you, but definitely easier than Harold number one. But I don’t have any conclusions yet. I haven’t gotten all of the way through Goddard yet, so I’ve got more reading to do. And of course I still have Marjorie Garber left, and there might be some stuff in the Asimov book. And I have some other books that have Henry IV analysis. So we’re not done yet. Bottom line, I’ll have to get back to you on this Falstaff question, but sooner or later I should be able to tell you what makes Falstaff such a great character. And I’m going to tell you in language you can understand, not Bloomese.

So, in the meantime should we spend a few minutes on Mistress Ford’s line? Nah. 

 These are the four books that I rely on for a lot of my info. Each one of them has a chapter for each of the plays, and each one of them has a slightly different approach to talking about the plays. I have a lot of other books, but none that are as comprehensive as these four.

Nay, ‘tis no matter, sir, what he ‘leges in Latin. if this be not a lawful case for me to leave his service, look you , sir, he bid me knock him and rap him soundly, sir: well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so, being perhaps, for aught I see, two and thirty, a pip out? Whom would to God I had well knock’d at first, Then had not Grumio come by the worst.

-Grumio

The Taming Of The Shrew             Act I scene ii line 30

Admittedly, this is a little bit tough to read. But if you read the whole scene, and it’s not very long, it’s pretty easy to see what’s going on. And if you do read it, perhaps you’ll be like me and the first thing that will come to mind after reading it is the Abbott and Costello Who’s On First gag.

Petruchio tells Grumio, the servant, to knock at the gate of Hortensio’s house to see if he’s home. Grumio misunderstands and thinks that Petruchio is telling him, Grumio, to hit him, Petruchio, not the gate. Grumio, being the servant, is quite reluctant to hit Petruchio, and so they go back and forth with this for several lines, adding a little slapstick in for good measure. Who’s on first?

I think it’s pretty interesting that the guy who brought us the tragedy and brilliance of Lear and Hamlet is also responsible for bringing us the low brow humour of The Taming Of The Shrew, and, albeit very indirectly, being the progenitor of an Abbott and Costello routine.

And so, today’s pic is not a pic but rather a link to a short video. Here you go.

What he will do graciously, I will thankfully receive.



-Marina



Pericles                                               Act IV scene v line 59





Marina is Pericles daughter, and I believe she got separated from him in a shipwreck. At this point in the story she has somehow ended up with some hooligans who have sold her into slavery as a prostitute. But I don’t think she realizes yet that she’s supposed to be a prostitute. She’s just been asked by the guy in charge to ‘use him kindly’. The ‘him’ being referred to is a customer that has shown up at the bordello. ‘Use’ means, um, well, I suppose perform for him. You know. And I’m not sure Marina really knows what’s expected of her. Or maybe she does know. Either way, today’s Totally Random line is her answer to 'use him kindly', and it could be her answer either way, though it would have a different connotation depending on what she knew or understood. Actually, the more I look at it, the more I think she doesn’t really understand what the customer is coming in for, because I don’t think she’s willing to thankfully receive from him what he intends to give, no matter how gracious he is.


I think the misunderstandings here are being played for laughs since this is a comedy. And with this subject matter it’s a bit of a bawdy comedy, isn’t it? Whilst he may not be as direct as stuff you see and hear now a days, Will’s material can still get quite provocative. I’m thinking that the audience would really get into this.


But Graciously and Thankfully? I don’t think either of those terms really fits in here. Or maybe I’m wrong.

Today I give you a picture of my grandmother. Whilst she would not have been associated with the bawdy scene from which we pulled today's line, she will always be associated with graciousness. So here she is graciously, and I am thankful to have had her for my grandmother.