O, out of that ‘no hope’

What great hope have  you! no hope, that way, is

Another way so high a hope that even

Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,

But doubts discovery there. Will you grant with me

That Ferdinand is drowned?

-Antonio

 The Tempest        Act II, Scene i, Line 239

 

This is Antonio talking his friend, Sebastian, into killing the king, Sebastian’s brother. We’ve covered this section, though not this exact line, about two years ago. The ‘no hope’ being referred to is the fact that there’s no hope that the king’s son, Ferdinand, is alive. And since he’s not, Sebastian is the next in line to be king if anything should happen to the king. And that’s what Antonio is talking about here. I love the wording

no hope, that way , is

Another way so high a hope that even

Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,

But doubts discovery there.

 I don’t know how you can fail to appreciate the genius of Will when you read a line such as this.

Yes, you're right; I've used this pic from The Rarer Action before. But it's such a good one, and specifically drawn for today's Totally Random line, that I couldn't resist.
 

 

I know his eye doth homage otherwhere;

Or else what lets it but he would be here?

-Adriana

  

The Comedy Of Errors      Act II, Scene i, Line 105

 

This is some pretty interesting phraseology, don’t you agree? ‘his eye doth homage otherwhere;’ I like that. And ‘Or else what lets it but he would be here.’ I’m thinking Will picked those particular words and their order because of the perfect iambic pentameter that they form. This may also be true of the ‘otherwhere’ being used instead of ‘elsewhere’.

Of course, Adriana is talking about her husband Antipholus of Ephesus, and just as certainly she is mistaken in her jealousy. But then, this whole play is about mistakes, or as the title refers to them, errors.

And here we have the eraser system of the BLACKWING pencil. The black pencil on top shows the eraser intact, and the brown pencil on the bottom shows the assemblage of the eraser. It's made so that you can pull the eraser out as you use it up and thereby utilize most of the rubber of the eraser. It works fairly well. Relevance? It is one of my best ways of dealing with errors!
 

 

You have prevail’d: I will depart in quiet,

And, in despite of mirth, mean to be merry. 

 

-Antipholus of Ephesus

 

The Comedy Of Errors          Act III, Scene i, Line 36

 

Okay, how about a little context. In this scene Antipholus and Dromio, both of Ephesus, are trying to gain entry to their home, but Dromio of Syracuse is on the other side of the door and refusing to let them in. They are accompanied by Balthazar the merchant and Angelo the goldsmith. Antipholus is pretty worked up, and he’s ready to break the door down. Balthazar tells him to be patient because if he breaks the door down it will cause a scene that the whole town will know about, and it will be a slander upon Antipholus that he will never live down. Today’s line is Antipholus agreeing with Balthazar.  And that’s about all I've got for this one.

 

 

Well, I haven't posted for a bit, and the reason is that I was away. Since I couldn't find anything better for today's pic I thought I'd share a pic from where I was for the past eight days.

 

Have a care of your entertainments: there is a

 friend of mine come to town, tells me there is

 three cozen-germans that has cozen’d all the

 hosts of Readins, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of

 horses and money.

-Sir, Hugh Evans

The Merry Wives of Windsor     Act IV, Scene v, Line 74

 

Cozen is in the modern dictionary and it means ‘to deceive, win over, or induce to do something by artful coaxing and wheedling or shrewd trickery’. That’s straight out of MW online. So, for you folks who like to claim that Shakespeare’s works are written in another language – well, they’re not.

To be clear, this is two different languages; Norse and English to be precise. Yes, I did try the reindeer, and no, I did not try the whale.

 

 

I remember.

-Puck

A Midsummer Night’s Dream         Act II, Scene i, Line 154

And of course the first question must be, what does Puck remember? I’ll tell you what he remembers. He remembers Oberon telling him about the time that the latter                         

        Since once I sat upon a promontory,

        And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin’s back

        Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,     

        That the rude sea grew civil at her song,

        And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,

        To hear the sea-maid’s music.

That’s what Puck remembers Oberon telling him. And that’s a really beautiful little passage, whether you remember it or not. Read it over again, preferably out loud, and maybe you’ll see what I mean. I hope you do.

That there water behind me and my buddy is a rude sea. In fact, it wasn't all that rude at the moment that this picture was taken, but on the way back across this same stretch of water a few days later, it was pretty darn rude. And quite unfortunately there was no mermaid around to utter with dulcet and harmonious breath and make that rude sea grow civil. I certainly wish there had been a singing mermaid.