How from the finny subject of the sea

These fishers tell the infirmities of men;

And from their watery empire recollect

All that may men approve or men detect!

-Pericles

Pericles                                        Act II, scene i, line 52

This is Pericles's response, to himself, after listening to the fishermen talk about the situation of man in the world, and relating it to the fish in the sea. They haven’t taken notice of Pericles yet. Pericles is standing on the seashore after having been washed ashore following a shipwreck. If you want to read a discussion of what the fishermen are saying, look to my post from 2017 here.

As far as Pericles's response in today’s Totally Random lines? Well the first thing that came to my mind upon reading it was poet/playwright. I don’t think there are too many playwrights who fall into this category, certainly none on Will's level, and it’s a consideration that can get easily overlooked when reading/hearing/seeing Will’s works. But sometimes there are lines in his work which really make it impossible to miss, and these are four such lines. At least, in my opinion they are.

 

Finny Fun.

 

It occurred to me that I've heard the word 'finny' used before, believe it or not. So here you go. Today's pic is a song. 

You have received many wounds for your country.

-Third Citizen

Coriolanus                                   Act II, scene iii, line 106

Wounds. This is the scene where Caius Marcius Coriolanus goes amongst the commoners to ask them for their consent for him to be their leader. Apparently, one of the things he’s supposed to do is to literally show them his war wounds. Today’s Totally Random line is one citizen mentioning these wounds and expecting Caius Marcius to show them. He does not. Other than that, though, he appears to have appeased them. Or so we think.

I have to say, almost every time I look at a piece of this play, I’m brought back to the future. 2020 politics is so much like what we see in this play. This guy, Coriolanus, does what they tell him to do, irrespective of his disdain for the common man. The commoners accept what he’s done, and it looks like we’re all set to swear him in as the leader. And then a few of the commoners’ leaders give a little push in the opposite direction and the commoners take away their blessing. I’m not painting either side of the today’s political spectrum in one particular light or another, but I am saying that all of us are so susceptible to manipulation. I wonder how much of the real truth any of us are dealing with. And then you can start asking ‘what is truth’. 

Oh boy.

Wounds.

And what about the political system that this is a vestige of, to say nothing of the current political system of this place? These are the terra cotta warriors of Xian, China. They're an army of life sized statues that were built for the grave of a Chinese emperor. Did he have wounds to show his people? He must have had something to show his people in order to get all this for his burial.

We live in a crazy world.

Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with

briers;

-Hermia

A Midsummer Night’s Dream           Act III, scene ii, line 443

Okay, here’s the four rhyming lines

Never so weary, never so in woe;

            Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers;

I can no further crawl, no further go;

            My legs can keep no pace with my desires.

Forget about context today. I like the word ‘bedabbled’. How about you? I’ll see if I can’t find a picture of something bedabbled. It just means that it is wet from being dabbled. But of course, you knew that.

Now go out today and see if you can use the word bedabbled in your life. It's a legit word. Like me, it's archaic, but legit. 

Here you go, bedabbled. I believe this is a repeat picture, but too bad. Not only are these tomato cages bedabbled, they are bedabbled by the dew (or perhaps it was rain, I'm not sure; but bedabbled nonetheless).

The French, my lord; men’s mouths are full of it:

-Bastard

King John                                    Act IV, scene ii, line 61

This is Bastard’s response to King John’s question, Hear’st thou the news abroad, who are arrived? That’s right, the Frenchies have landed in England and are on the warpath.

There’s just a ton of stuff going on here in this scene, way more than I really want to get into on a Friday morning. So, what should we talk about? Men’s mouths? Hear’st thou? Nothing? Well, nothing will come of nothing. And that, of course, shoots us right into Lear, which is not where we are. 

Oh boy.

 

Now at first glance, this may look pretty much like a picture of nothing, or at the very least, not much. But if you zoom in on the grass you'll  see something/someone. No, it's not the Frenchies, but it's not nothing either. 

If it please the eye of one, it is with me as the very true sonnet is, ‘Please one, and please all.’

-Malvolio

 Twelfth Night                    Act III, scene iv, line 24

Please one, and please all? That’s from a sonnet?

Well, I don’t know about that, but I do know that Malvolio is acting goofy in this scene, with the thought that this is going to impress and win the heart of Olivia. Of course, it’s not going to do any such thing, and she just thinks he’s gone a little bit mad. Poor Malvolio.

This Please one, and please all line made me think of Mom's philosophy on pleasing people. I paraphrase: Ya can't please everybody so don't bother trying. She was not a Bardophile, but she was certainly a pragmatist.