Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck,

And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,

Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,

Of healths five-fadom deep; and then anon

Drums in his ear, at which he starts, and wakes;

And, being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two,

And sleeps again.

 

Mercutio

Romeo and Juliet                  Act I, Scene iv, Line 85

 

It may seem as though I’ve given you quite a bit this morning, but in fact this is only a small part of Mercutio’s speech. And the thing is that this is the third time I’ve come across this speech in my travels, and I’ve yet to do a post on it. So here we go.

Romeo, Mercutio, and a bunch of buddies are on their way to a masquerade dance where Romeo’s going to meet Juliet for the first time (though he’s not aware of this now). Romeo’s hesitant about going to this dance because of a dream he had last night. He’s just about to tell them about the dream when Mercutio interrupts and goes into this long ramble about dreams. He talks about Queen Mab, the midwife of fairies who is no bigger than an agate-stone and she goes riding in her carriage made of an empty hazel nut. He tells about all the different types of people she rides over and what she makes them dream of: courtiers, lawyers, ladies, and sometimes soldiers. Today’s Totally Random lines tell of what she makes the soldier dream of. Mercutio keeps droning on further until Romeo interrupts him to shut him up. And the thing is, after this distraction of Mercutio we never get to hear what Romeo’s dream was about. We just know that apparently it was not good. And, of course, the whole deal for Romeo, and Juliet, will not turn out good in the end. So maybe he should have listened to his own dream instead of Mercutio’s treatise on dreams. Could’a, should’a, would’a.  

 

I can't remember is this was supposed to be the soldier or not, but that's definitely Queen Mab that he's holding in his right hand. You have to look close. I had just finished reading Mercutio's speech to my young associate and he whipped this up for me. Pretty good, eh?

 

 

Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,

Live register’d upon our brazen tombs,

And then grace us in the disgrace of death;

 

King

Love’s Labour’s Lost                    Act I, Scene i, Line 1

 

And he continues,

When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,

The endeavor of this present breath may buy

That honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge

And make us heirs of all eternity.

Therefore, brave conquerors,-- for so you are,

That war against your own affections

And the huge army of the world’s desires,--

Our late edict shall strongly stand in force:

 

And it goes on. That’s right, this is the opening of the play. And the edict that the king refers to is the agreement between he and three of his friends that they will live for three years without the companionship of any women, whilst fasting and sleeping only three hours a night.

Now this brings up something truly interesting. Last night I was reading an article about Buddhism. The author was talking about how humans seek satisfaction through eating and other worldly pleasures, but that these pleasures are, at best, fleeting, leading to dissatisfaction. And this is what Buddhism understands and mindfulness meditation can help cure. To perpetually pursue satisfaction is suffering. To become aware of this process and gain distance from it through mindfulness provides relief.

So, is the king in Love’s Labor’s Lost is a Bhuddist?  You tell me.

 

Here's a picture of a worldly pleasure if ever I saw one.

 

 

This is a brave night to cool a courtesan.—I’ll speak a prophecy ere I go:

-Fool

King Lear                       Act III, Scene ii, Line 80

 

Do you want to hear the prophecy? Remember, it’s the fool speaking so that the prophecy might not make sense to you (or me). It’s fourteen lines. I think Will’s really big on the fourteen line thing even when it’s clearly not a sonnet. Or is it a sonnet?

         When priests are more in word than matter;

        When brewers mar their malt with water;

        When nobles are their tailors’ tutors;

        No heretics burned, but wenches suitors;

        When every case in law is right;

        No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;

        When slanders do not live in tongues;

        Nor cutpurses come not to throngs;

        When usurers tell their gold i’the field;

        And bawds and whores do churches build;--

        Then shall the realm of Albion

        Come to great confusion:

        Then comes the time, who lives to see’t,

        That going shall be used with feet.

Well? Comments? As ususal, there’s a bit to unpack. And of course the fool talks in riddles. As if much of Will’s work wasn’t hard enough to understand in the first place. But how about if we just take the last part, the last four lines.

The first ten lines talk about things that aren’t happening now, and the last four about what will happen when these things come to pass. Albion is England, so that England will be in great confusion and going shall be used with feet. I don’t know about the confusion in England, but I do know that Pete is confused. Going shall be used with feet. What on earth does that mean?

Okay, I found this passage explained (sort of) in one of my books. That going shall be used with feet is referred to as an intentionally absurd truism. Well, I guess that makes sense. You'll be using your feet when you are going somewhere. Okay, there you go; presumably using your feet.

These are the feet that I currently use for going. Not very exciting, are they? Absurdly true? Perhaps. 

 

What must I say?—

‘I pray sir,’ – Plague upon’t! I cannot bring 

My tongue to such a pace. ‘Look, sir, my wounds!

I got them in my country’s service, when

Some certain of your brethren roar’d, and ran

From the noise of our own drums.’

-Caius Marcius Coriolanus

Coriolanus                      Act II, Scene iii, Line 54

 This is pretty much the crux of this whole play. Caius Marcius is a valiant soldier but he has no stomach for those who are not. Well, that’s not the whole deal, but it’s a big piece of it.

I still find this wound thing curious. Apparently it is important that Caius show his war wounds to the people, and he does not want to. He doesn’t believe he should have to, and he definitely believes himself better than the people. And I suppose that will be his undoing. There’s just a lot to chew on in this play. It is for sure one of my favorites.

I was looking for a pic to post (usually the hardest part of blogging), and I came across this pic of Steve Jobs carved into a pumpkin. That in and of itself is pretty odd. But then I thought, well Jobs may be a good example of a modern day Coriolanus. I didn't know the guy personally, but based on the position he rose to in the business world, it's not outrageous to think that he might have considered himself to be above the common rabble, above those who would run from the noise of our own drums. Then again, I don't really know, do I?

 

Nothing is good, I see, without respect:

Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.

 

-Portia

The Merchant of Venice                Act V, Scene i, Line 145

 

The subject here is the music that Portia and Nerissa hear coming from their home as they arrive back there late at night. This is the final scene of the play where everyone meets back at Belmont and they’re all happy. Shylock, at this point, seems to have been forgotten by everyone, including his own daughter and probably the theater audience. 

The discussion here between Portia and Nerissa is about music and more. There’s about twenty lines of dialogue here where they carry the subject of music to talk about life in general. It’s worth a read, or a listen, but I’m afraid I have to get to work now, so I don't have the time to get into it. It does, however, afford me the opportunity of giving you a song instead of a picture for today. Here's a song that always makes me feel good. I'm not sure it has anything to do with today's post, but that's okay. Here you go. I hope it makes you feel good too.

The Gabe Dixon Band-All Will Be Well - YouTube

 

I’ll tell you what,--

-Cressida

Troilus and Cressida                   Act V, Scene II, Line 21

 

What? She’ll tell me what? I don’t know what she’s telling. I think this has to do with Cressida being given away to the Greeks as a part of some deal that’s been worked out, but I’m not sure about that. If I find out I’ll tell you what.

So here is the table of contents for the First Folio. Troilus and Cressida is included in the First Folio. And there's the spot where Troilus and Cressida should be in the table of contents: right before The Tragedy of Coriolanus. And is it there? No, it is not. And it doesn't matter what you or anyone else tells me, it's not there. 

 

 

Dined at home!—Thou villain, what sayest thou?

-Antipholus of Ephesus

The Comedy of Errors               Act IV, Scene IV, Line 68

 

This is taking place shortly after the two Ephesus guys were denied entrance to their own house (see 4/21 post), and now they meet up with A of E’s wife who’s telling him that he just had dinner with her (it was A of S who had dinner with her). So, in one sense, it’s pretty understandable that he’s going to be upset with his wife’s claim. In another sense, you would really think that by this point someone would have figured out what’s going on here. But wait, this is a comedy and we’re purposely asked to suspend our credulity. Right. Got it. Credulity suspended (see 4/27 post re credulity).

 

Here's some artwork from my nephew Will. He's the son of my illustrator Bill. Since we're talking about Comedy of Errors today, I should note the I've been trying to get going on a retelling of this one with Will as the illustrator. Obviously the kid's got talent. Now I just need to get going on the book!