Then is doomsday near: but your news is not true.

Hamlet

Hamlet            Act II, Scene ii, Line 240

 This is Hamlet’s response to Rosencrantz’s comment that the world’s grown honest. I think my response would be similar. But hey, look at that: two days in a row we have the word true. Yesterday it was the first word of the line and today it’s the last. And of course we could go to great lengths talking about truth (or in many cases, lack of it) in the news today, but I don’t think it’s worth going off on that tangent, is it?  

Keats has some line about beauty is truth, and truth beauty. So here's some truth for you: The cliffs of Svalbard.

 

True or false, it hath made thee Earl of

 Gloster. 

Duke of Cornwall

King Lear               Act III, Scene V, Line 17

 

“It” in the line above is a letter that Edmund just showed to Cornwall. The letter proves that Edmund’s father, Gloster, has knowledge of France’s army that is invading, and that he has kept this knowledge from Cornwall. So that’s not going to work out very well for Gloster, not very well at all. Edmund is a real ratfink in this play, surpassed in ratfinkiness only by Regan and Goneril. I think I did a blog about ‘ratfinkiness’ before, so I won’t get into it here. We’ll just settle for the fact that Edmund is a ratfink and leave it at that.

Can you guess who that ratfink is in this picture? That's right, it's that guy on the right photobombing us with his butt sticking out of his little black speedo. Puh-leeze!

 

No question of that; for I have seen him whipt three market-days together.

Dick [aside]

King Henry the Sixth Part II         Act IV, Scene ii, Line 54

 

No question of what? Jack Cade, talking to the crowd and convincing them of his strength and ability to lead them, has said ‘I am able to endure much.’ And Dick the butcher, speaking in an aside, says no question of that; for I have seen him whipt three market-days together. In other words, Cade can endure much but he has not proved it in battle; he has proved it by being whipped for being caught stealing stuff at market. 

Remember, that an aside means that the speaker is saying his lines sort of on the sly. The theater audience can hear what he’s saying, but the other actors on stage, particularly Jack Cade, are not hearing the aside. So this is tongue in cheek. Cade is going on and on about his royal heritage and stellar attributes whilst Dick the butcher and Smith the weaver have something to say about each of Cade’s lines. A bit of humor in this history play.

This is a pic of three cousins right after I told them we were going to act out this scene. You can see that Laura and Nina were pretty excited because I told them that they would be Smith the weaver and Dick the butcher, the two characters making the funny comments in this scene. Michael, on the other hand, realized that this would leave him playing Jack Cade, the guy the other two would be making fun of. He was, understandably, a little upset about this prospect. But being the trooper that he is, he came around and, knowing that the show must go on, he bucked up and did a darn good job as Cade. It was, in fact, one of the better Cades I've ever seen.   

 

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?