To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of worth,

For it was sometimes target to a king;

I know it by this mark.

 

-Pericles

Pericles               Act II, Scene I, Line 136

 

Pericles has just ended up on shore after being shipwrecked. The fishermen nearby have just hauled in Pericles’s suit of armor with their nets, and Pericles is asking them to give him the armor. Of course, they’ll hand it right over. How that armor managed to wash up on shore quite so quickly, well that’s another thing altogether, but I guess we’ll just have to suspend credulity for the time being.

On the other hand, what’s credulity? Well that could get us into a very long, philosophical discussion. Couldn’t it?

 

Speaking of credulity, consider Exhibit A: Here we have a picture of my two Cordelias. Now they’re both in their thirties, so even though they are my little girls, I think it’s fair to refer to them as grown women. So, does it strain credulity that one grown woman would stand on the back of another grown woman to spy over the fence at the neighbors? Well if we want to get into a philosophical discussion of it, I suppose we could ask Jess’s fiancé (Jess is the one peeking over the fence) since he is a philosophy professor. Isn’t that a coincidence. And just to make it more interesting, Jess and Andy (that’s the philosophy professor) went to see the play Pericles when they were dating early on. I was supposed to go with them but hurt my back and got sidelined. And, by the way, Andy has told me I could declare myself a philosopher if I wanted to (which I have). 

So there’s a lot going on here; certainly enough to strain, if not shatter, credulity. A suit of armor washing up on shore? Well I guess that's nothin'.

 

Sirrah, where have you been?

-Lucentio

The Taming of the Shrew     Act I, Scene I, Line 221

 

Well, not much of a line to get into, but perhaps one little tidbit of interest. Sirrah, according to both Wikipedia and MW online, is an address used with inferiors. This makes sense in today’s line since Lucentio is addressing Biondello, the latter being the former’s servant.

So I guess the next someone shows up and you want to give them a little discreet disrespect without them knowing it, you can just say Sirrah, how are you? And they’ll probably think you’re a knucklehead for using strange words.

 

I'm not sure I'd say Sirrah, how are you to this fellow. It doesn't look like he knows where he is, let alone how he is.

 

O boys, this story

The world may read in me: my body’s markt

With Roman swords; and my report was once

First with the best of note: Cymbeline loved me;

And when a soldier was the theme, my name

Was not far off:

-Belarius

Cymbeline           Act III, Scene iii, Line 57

 

This is the first scene in which we encounter Belarius and his two sons (who are not really his sons) Guiderius and Arviragus. These two are actually the sons of the king, Cymbeline. Belarius stole them, when they were itty bitty tots, when he got unjustly banished and he raised them as his own in the wilderness. With today’s lines he is talking to the boys about his younger days of being a soldier in service to the king.

Whilst that’s pretty good for context, perhaps to appreciate these lines fully I need to give you the lines that preface these. The boys (actually young men) are complaining to Belarius that they have been raised in the wilderness and they want to experience civilization. Belarius responds,

 

How you speak!

Did you but know the city’s usuries,

And felt them knowingly: the art o’the court,

As hard to leave as keep; whose top to climb

Is certain falling, or so slippery that

The fear’s as bad as falling: the toil o’the war,

A pain that only seems to seek out danger

I’the name of fame and honour; which dies i’the search;

And hath as oft a slanderous epitath

As record of fair act; nay, many times

Doth ill deserve by doing well; what’s worse,

Must court’sy at the censure:-- O boys, this story

The world may read in me: my body’s markt

With Roman swords; and my report was once

First with the best of note: Cymbeline loved me;

And when a soldier was the theme, my name

Was not far off: then was I as a tree

Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but in one night,

A storm or robbery, call it what you will,

Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves,

And left me bare to weather.

 

Apparently Belarius has not the highest regard for life in the civilized world. On the other hand, he did get betrayed, slandered, and banished. So that’s not so good, is it? 

So there’s a lot to unpack there. I think I’ll let you do some of your own unpacking. It’s all pretty easy to read and understand. So read it again and see what it makes you think about. Go ahead. I will too.

Okay, well I thought of lots of things reading those lines, and I started browsing through my pics for something that was appropriate for any one of my thoughts about this passage. But unfortunately (or not) I came across this pic and really liked it, and thought you might too. I think this is Ernie, but I get the names mixed up so I might be wrong. In any event, he's lying across my lap, and he doesn't seem to be worried about any of the things that Belarius is talking about. And maybe that's just the best way to be. 

 

Now, Tybalt, take the ‘villain’ back again

That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul

Is but a little way above our heads,

Staying for thine to keep him company:

Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.

-Romeo

Romeo And Juliet       Act III, Scene i, Line 130

 

Tybalt has just killed Romeo’s friend Mercutio. I’m not exactly sure what the ‘villain’ bit is about, but the rest is pretty self explanatory as Romeo prepares to fight Tybalt. It’s interesting that Romeo is considering that he, or perhaps both of them, might get killed in the process. That’s not exactly the words of a supremely confident fighter, is it? But then, I suppose that Romeo is really a lover, not a fighter. 

I remember discussing this line with my associate here. I said,

 "Okay Bud, show me the face of a guy who's upset that his friend has just been killed and is challenging the killer to a fight. But keep in mind that this guy is also a little bit worried that it might be himself who gets killed by challenging the killer.

So this is the look that Romeo would have as he's saying these lines. What do you think? I think he nailed it.

 

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.