Must I go show them my unbarb'd sconce?             must I

With my base tongue give to my noble heart

A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do't:

 

-Caius Marcius Coriolanus

 

Coriolanus                                          Act III, scene ii, line 109

 

It’s the fabulous play Coriolanus again. Fabulous, fabulous. Caius Marcius Coriolanus is in trouble with the people because he can’t help but speak his mind. And his mind tells him that the people are pretty much just worthless rabble. But his mother, friends, and advisors have talked him into going in front of the people and telling them whatever they want to hear. He has finally decided that he will go along and do this, and that’s what today’s line is. Must I with my base tongue give to my noble heart a lie that it must bear? That’s a fabulous line. I told you; it’s a fabulous play.

 

Anyway, it really is a conundrum for him, and it’s hard to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong. On the one hand, Caius Marcius is pretty uppity, and he feels that he’s much better than the common man. On the other hand, in many respects maybe he is. And this is the honest side of him that he displays. So that makes him not the nicest guy, but at the very least an honest guy. And now he’s going to forgo that honesty and be the man that the people want. Seems like a bit of a Kobayashi Maru, a no-win scenario, for Caius. 

 

               This is my unbarb'd sconce (my bare head). Not too much thinning, eh?

A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off.

 

-Silvia

 

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona             Act II, scene iv, line 30

 

Now just to be clear, the two gentlemen that Silvia is addressing are not the titular two gentlemen of Verona. She is speaking to Valentine and Thurio. The two gentlemen of Verona are Valentine and Proteus. I’m not sure who this Thurio fellow is.

But Silvia is right, it is a fine volley of words. It’s just a bit of a quick back and forth that she’s reacting to, with Valentine and Thurio each taking shots at one another. So, yes, I believe we can call it a volley.Here's a picture of my associate from a few years back. He's climbing on some cannon at Gettysburg. These cannon would have created a volley that your probably would not want to be a part of; a volley of destruction as opposed to a volley of words.

O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.

-Duke of Illyria

Twelfth Night                            Act II, scene iv, line 42

Very interesting. Yesterday’s line was ‘Fore God, an excellent song. We didn’t have a post yesterday, so we didn’t talk about that line. But nonetheless, it is the line that I randomly picked and read yesterday. It was Cassio speaking in Othello. So, two days in a row now, we have someone talking about songs. I suppose I need to find a picture of myself singing. Umm, I’m not sure that picture exists.

I do like the four lines that immediately proceed today’s Totally Random line. This is a scene where Viola is disguised as a guy named Cesario, she’s part of the Duke’s court, and she’s got a crush on the duke. The duke, having no idea about the crush and thinking that Viola is a young man, is advising him/her that he/she must find a younger woman since,

            For women are as roses, whose fair flower

            Being once display’d, doth fall that very hour.

To which Cesario/Viola responds,

            And so they are: alas, that they are so,--

            To die, even when they to perfection grow.

And this is immediately followed by the duke getting distracted and asking for last night’s song. What do you think? Them’s is some pretty good lines. I think there’s a lot we could talk about in those four lines. If we wanted to…

 Ramble On Rose

Well I couldn't decide whether to give you a picture of a flower, or a link to a song. So I gave you a link to a song about a flower.