Who? God?

 -Lafeu

 All’s Well That Ends Well            Act II, Scene iii, Line 249

 This is Lafeu’s response to Parolles’s statement that whom I serve above is my master. Lafeu had referred to Bertram as Parolles’s lord and master. Parolles corrected him by clarifying that Bertam my be his lord, but the guy above is his master. And Lafeu responds, Who? God? To which Parolles says, Ay, sir.

Well? Thoughts?

 

I finished writing what I have above on this line, and I looked up from my desk in thought, and I saw a squirrel jumping from one tree to the next in this line of pine trees. On some days, sitting outside where I don't have to look through dirty cellar windows, I've seen a squirrel make it across the whole row of trees. It's quite interesting to watch. Unfortunately, this row of trees is scheduled to be cut down.  

What? you ask. These trees? 

Ay sir.
 

 

Please it your Grace to be advertised

The Duke of York is newly come from Ireland;

 

-Messenger

 King Henry The Sixth Part II   Act IV, Scene ii, Line 24

 

That’s an interesting use of the word advertised, isn’t it?

And may it be advertised that this is my view as I was leaving Ireland. I'm guessing that the Duke of York's view upon leaving was a little bit different.

 

and forget

Your laboursome and dainty trims, wherein

You made great Juno angry.

 

-Pisanio

 Cymbeline                               Act III, Scene iv, Line 166

 

And here we go again with the cross-dressing. I forget the exact context, but I know that Pisanio is telling Imogen she must pretend to be a man, and how to do that. He tells her she must

           Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek,

           Exposing it—but, O, the harder heart!

           Alack, no remedy!—to the greedy touch

           Of common-kissing Titan; and forget

           Your laboursome and dainty trims, wherein

   You made great Juno angry.

In other words, well I’m not sure what the other words would be. But he’s telling her to forget how to be a woman, since she’s going to have to pretend to be a man. I’m not sure what it means to expose her cheek to common-kissing Titan (is Titan bi-sexual?), but I think that her dainty trims are the feminine qualities she has that made even Juno, the queen of the gods, jealous. So, yah, act like a man, damn it!

It’s not the first time that Will has a woman pretending to be a man in his plays. Since this is one of his later plays, it might be the last.

So this is me, using the camera angle to try to look like I'm a Giant about to stomp on this building. What's this got to do with today's Totally Random line? Well, other than the fact that it's Totally Random, nothing. Hey wait, it just occurred to me: I'm pretending to be a giant. Okay, it's not the same as pretending to be a woman, or a woman pretending to be a man, but at least it's pretending. So let's conclude that it is a relevant picture. Okay?

 

I blame you not for praising Caesar so;

 -Cassius

 Julius Caesar                          Act III, Scene i, Line 214

 

Marcus Antonius has come to talk with the conspirators, and he’s going to get permission to speak at Caesar’s funeral the next day. And that will be the undoing of the conspirators. Marc Antony is a bit of a weasel. He’s not a total bad guy, but he’s pretty conniving. I’m not sure what you’d call him, or who you would compare him to in our modern times. He’s a bit of an enigma as you’ll find if you go forward and study Antony And Cleopatra. For now, though, you can rest assured that Cassius is aware of his weasel-ness. He follows up his I don’t blame you for praising Caesar with but what are you up to? Whose side are you gonna be on? Cassius is already suspicious of Antony’s intentions and he tries, in vain, to convince Brutus to be careful of Antony. Unfortunately, Brutus takes things at face value and doesn’t recognize that Antony has an agenda. And ultimately that’s not going to work out well for any of the conspirators. No it's not. 

 

This is the dashboard of my Prius and it appears to be telling me to take a break and have a cup of coffee. Now if you take that at face value you might say 'what a nice car!'. But in fact, my Prius has a bit of a hidden agenda in that it's been monitoring my driving, and I must have been going out of my lane. Therefore it's telling me to take a break because it doesn't want me smashing up the car. You could call it self-preservation. Either way, I like my Prius.

 

 

I, that am curtail’d of this fair proportion,

Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,

Deform’d, unfinisht, sent before my time

Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,

And that so lamely and unfashionable

That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;-

 

-Richard

 King Richard The Third                                 Act I, Scene i, Line 20

 

This is from the middle of Richard’s soliloquy that opens the play; the soliloquy that begins with the famous line Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this sun of York;  You’ve probably heard that part at one time or another. But as with a lot of things, that may be all that you’re familiar with. He goes on to talk about the war being over (it’s not) and that he, because of his misshapen body, is not suited to peace time pursuits which include wining and dining and pursuing the ladies. He is rudely stampt and not made to court an amorous looking-glass. He’s so ugly that dogs bark at him. Will gives us a pretty good picture of Richard’s physical appearance. And it’s fairly important because he’s going to make Richard out to be quite the villain in this play. Many historians will tell you that the real Richard the Third was not the villain that Will portrayed him as in this play. But that’s how dramatists create drama, isn’t it? 

 

 

This pic was taken at the 100 year house party that Phil threw at 258 Balmforth. He'd asked me to pick out a little bit of Shakespeare to insert into his speech. He was talking about the house and how he had grown up there, and then he got into the soliloquy (which he wasn't familiar with). This is the part where he's saying dogs bark at me as I halt by them. Well I think Phil was starting to catch on to the fact that I had played a little trick on him, and he's looking at me in this shot. I can't remember if he finished the soliloquy or not, but I do remember that he threw that mic at me as soon as he finished talking. Luckily he doesn't really have much of an arm.

 

 

I do not find that thou deal’st justly with me.

-Roderigo

 Othello                                                Act IV, Scene ii, Line 173

 

No kidding! Iago deal’st justly with no one! And yet, even though Roderigo seems to be on to him, by the end of this conversation, fifty or so lines further down, Iago is talking Roderigo into yet more skullduggery. Iago is incorrigible and everyone around him is malleable in his capable hands. What can I say? Oh honest Iago!

So we were at the Grand Canyon, and the discussion turned to today's line from Othello. I said to Ev, "pretend that squirrel is Rodrigo, and he's just said to you, 'I do not find that thou deal'st justly with me.' and now give me your best Iago look before you go into convincing that squirrel that you're really on his side." 

And this is the look Ev gave me. I think he nailed the essence of Iago perfectly. What do you think?