O, that we now had here

But one ten thousand of these men in England

That do no work to-day!

 

-Westmoreland

King Henry the Fifth               Act IV, Scene iii, Line 16

 

This is the set-up line to Henry’s speech about how glorious it’s going to be to fight in this battle. It’s the speech that includes the line

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

So here’s something to think about, and not just in relation to Will’s work: what about all those set-up lines? I’m talking about lines, like today’s, that no one remembers. Today’s is a really good example. Henry needed someone to complain about how great the odds against them were in order for him to go into his speech of how famous they’re all going to be for fighting against those odds. And he goes on about it quite a bit.

I guess some set-up lines are famous in themselves, though I can’t think of any right now. And a lot of famous lines and speeches don’t really require any set-up line. Like I think we need a bigger boat. Remember when Chief Brody says that in Jaws? There’s nobody else there right then. But he sees the shark surface, and how big it is, and he gives that line in response to that, not to anyone’s comment. Or maybe we can consider that the shark gave a sort of silent set-up line? Anyway, in Henry’s case he kind of needed the set-up line. Either way, the set-up line is underrated. At least in my opinion it is.

 

Here you go. This is the crumbling wall of a medieval town in France. Okay, it's not Agincourt where Henry gave his famous speech after that brilliant set-up line by Westmoreland, but it's the best I could do.

 

 

O Harry’s wife, triumph not in my woes!

God witness with me, I have wept for thine.

 

-Duchess of York

King Richard the Third             Act IV, Scene iv, Line 59

 

Here’s a scene where three women sit and talk about all of the men and boys they’ve lost, mostly at the hands of Richard. It’s the Duchess of York who is the mother of Richard, Edward, and Clarence, Queen Elizabeth, the wife of Edward IV and the mother of the two princes killed in the tower, and Margaret (Harry’s wife above), the wife of Henry VI and mother of a different Edward. Yes, lots of dead kings and princes to be mourned, and yes, Richard had a part in a lot of that; but not all. Margaret’s husband Henry was a Lancaster and the other two women are Yorks, but right at this minute none of the women is really caring about sides. They’re just doing what women through the ages have done, mourning the loss of their men and boys to the machinations of war. Though to be fair, Margaret has been actively involved in the fighting, not just an innocent bystander. C’est la vie. Et la mort. N’est pas?

Since we're talking about people dying, and because I threw a little French at you, here's a pic of the girls in the Pantheon in Paris. It's full of a bunch of famous dead people, though I can't for the life of me remember whose body is in the background of this picture. I do know two things: One is that whoever it is, they're dead; and two is that Richard III didn't kill them. 

 

He went hence but now,

And certainly in strange unquietness.

 

-Emilia

Othello              Act III, Scene iv, Line 131

 

And we’re back at the darned handkerchief scene. Remember? It’s the one where we had the picture of Nina and her Uncle Dave acting it out? Anyway, this is the same scene, but at this point Othello has stormed out because Desdemona can’t come up with the stupid hanky. And Emilia, Iago’s wife is referring to his storming off as ‘in strange unquietness.’ Yes, unquietness. That’s an interesting way to put it. Othello is so unquiet that he’s going to end up smothering Desdemona in his unquietness. Perhaps just a little bit of understatement? Oyyy!

There's something about this pic that I find a little bit unquieting (though I prefer the word disquieting). It's Christophe on a video call, but he looks more like a disembodied spirit from a seance. Don't you agree?
 

 

Thou dost lie in’t, to be in’t and say it is thine. ‘Tis for the dead, not for the quick. Therefore thou liest.

 

-Hamlet

Hamlet               Act V, Scene i, Line 123

 

So it’s the graveyard scene in Hamlet. First the two gravediggers are going at it, trading puns and barbs, and then one of the gravediggers leaves and Hamlet starts sparring with the one that’s still there. Hamlet has asked whose grave the fellow is digging, he replies that it’s his own, and now they’re going back and forth about lying in or on the grave. They playing with the meaning of ‘lying’ going to and fro between lying- telling an untruth, and lying- laying down.

In any event, the grave is being dug for Ophelia, but Hamlet doesn’t realize that yet. In just a few moments, still ignorant to the death of Ophelia, Hamlet’s going to go into his ‘Alas, poor Yorick’ speech. If the first part of the scene is centered on puns and bad jokes, the Yorick speech changes the pace to talk about life and things lost. Then shortly the king and others come in with the body of Ophelia to bury her, and Hamlet and Laertes almost come to blows, jumping in the grave together. Yeah, it really is a great scene and it’s got everything in it. I guess if I was going to pick just one scene to recommend to someone to get a taste of Shakespeare, this might be it.

This here is Gunther Gebel-Williams. I saw him in the New Haven Coliseum in the early 80's. If I had to pick one circus act, or circus person, to give you a taste of what the circus was about, this is the guy.

 

It is a peerless kinsman.

 

-Duncan

Macbeth             Act I, Scene iv, Line 58

 

Here’s a hot one. Duncan the king is talking about Macbeth, and he calls him a peerless kinsman. Peerless. Indeed? Well, we all know that this peerless kinsman is going to murder Duncan a few scenes down the road. Again, peerless indeed.

So, what do we call this? Foreshadowing? Nah. Irony? I don’t think so. There’s a word for it, but I’m not sure what it is. Let me know if you think of it.

Okay, talk about irrelevant. Here's a pic of the entrance to Tomorrow Land in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. It's got nothing whatsoever to do with todays post, but I couldn't think of anything, and I like this picture. Also, speaking of something that's got nothing to do with today's post, here's a listing of top 25 Shakespeare blogs that we're now on. Woot, woot. 

 My liege, his railing is intolerable:

If those that care to keep your royal person

From treason’s secret knife and traitors’ rage

Be thus upbraided, chid, and rated at,

And the offender granted scope of speech,

‘Twill make them cool in zeal unto your Grace.

 

-Cardinal Beaufort

King Henry the Sixth Part II             Act III, Scene i, Line 174

 

Okay, today’s actual line was From treason’s secret knife and traitors’ rage, but that’s part of a pretty long sentence so I gave you the whole thing. No need to thank me.

I suppose that treason being what it is, its knife would be secret, wouldn’t it. That’s a rhetorical question; no need to answer. But it’s a pretty good segue into a rant. Here we go.

I’ve recently topped two hundred and forty pounds on the scale. Now I’m over six feet tall, so I can carry a few extra pounds reasonably well; but not two hundred and forty of them. So here’s the thing: I know that I’ve gained over twenty of these pounds in the last five years, whereas I had been at a pretty steady weight before that. So I had to ask myself, ‘self, what’s changed in the past five years.’ Well it’s obvious that I’m eating more and moving less. but why? In other words, are there changes in my world which would contribute to eating more and moving less? Now here’s the segue part so don’t miss it: if I consider this weight gain a sort of treason against my better health, are there any secret knives that I can identify? So I did my best to figure out what’s in, or out, of my life in the past five years that’s different from previously. I thought of many things, some of which might be secret knives and some not. Now keep in mind, I was approaching this from the angle of identifying changes first, and then determining if those changes were relevant to weight gain. Well it occurred to me that I started this blog just about five years ago. Could the blog possibly be a secret knife? Could it? It’s certainly an interesting thought, but one that at first blush does not seem to be a knife. But if it were, and I want to lose this weight, shouldn't I be eliminating that knife by shutting down the blog? 

And here is the traitorous belly. Can this blog possibly be a secret knife of this treasonous offender? And if so, needs this blog be discontinued? To be or not to be, that is the question.

 

Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.

 

-Servant

Julius Caesar            Act III, Scene ii, Line 267

And the goose of Brutus, Cassius, and company is officially cooked. They assassinated Caesar to keep him from becoming an emperor, and now Octavius has shown up. Octavius is Caesars grand-nephew and heir apparent, and he’s going to join with Marc Antony and Lepidus to form the second triumvirate and effectively end the Roman Republic and start the Roman Empire. And an emperor was exactly what the boys were trying to avoid by killing Caesar. It just goes to show you that the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry. 

Talk about best laid plans going awry; here's old Spike, and the poor guy is having a devil of a time with his dinner, isn't he? And he's not all that much bigger than a mouse either. I guess you could say that Brutus and Cassius really stepped in their dinner when they decided to murder Caesar.