You have among you many a purchased slave,

Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,

You use in abject and in slavish parts,

Because you bought them:

 -Shylock

 The Merchant of  Venice                Act IV, Scene i, Line 90

 

Ahhh, The Merchant of Venice. It’s a very complicated play. Or perhaps it’s extremely simple. That’s the thing; it’s really hard to figure out.

In any event, this is the courtroom scene. We’re just getting started and the Duke (essentially the Judge) is trying to talk Shylock out of going through with the pound of flesh thing. He’s asked him to show a little mercy and then says How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none? To which Shylock replies

 

        What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong?

You have among you many a purchased slave,

Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,

You use in abject and in slavish parts,

Because you bought them: shall I say to you,

Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?

Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds

Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

Be season’d with such viands? You will answer:

‘The slaves are ours:’ so do I answer you:

The pound of flesh which I demand of him,

Is dearly bought; ‘tis mine and I will have it.

If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice.

I stand for judgement: answer; shall I have it?

 

So, bottom line, Shylock wants his pound of flesh. Period. End of story. It’s an interesting little speech, and this scene will go on. And we could spend the rest of the day and more discussing this scene, and this play. But not today. 

Now I would say that this is one of the most famous court room scenes in the history of drama. Off the top of my head two other real good ones that come to my mind are Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, and Jack Nicholson as Colonel Jessup in A Few Good Men. How about you? Can you think of a really good courtroom scene?

 

I’ve had two real-life court experiences (that I can think of), neither of them particularly dramatic. One of them had to do with this house. It was a two-family that I owned and the tenants on the first floor screwed me out of a bunch of rent. I took them to small claims court and won the judgement, but the court didn’t do anything to help me collect the back rent. I’m not sure what, if any, relevance that has. On the other hand, do my pictures ever have much relevance?

 

Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts:

Comfort’s in heaven; and we are on earth,

Where nothing lives but crosses, cares, and grief.

 

-Duke of York

 King Richard the Second        Act II, Scene ii, Line 79

 

This is the old Duke’s response when he shows up and the Queen asks him to speak comfortable words. The first part of this scene is the Queen moaning about how heavy sad she is. Then the Duke shows up and just adds to that. Of course, in this case they (as well as the King’s cronies, Bushy, Green, and Bagot who end the scene with a woeful adieu) are rightfully down in the dumps. Why? Because Bolingbroke has shown back up in England, and half the kingdom has gone over to his side. King Richard’s days are numbered.

In any case, that’s a pretty good, albeit a bit on the downer side, three lines, ending with …and we are on earth, where nothing lives but crosses, cares, and grief. Okay, perhaps more than a bit on the downer side.

Here are my two associates standing in front of a bunch of crosses. The bodies lying beneath these crosses are certainly feeling no cares or griefs. 

 

My name is Harry Percy.

 -Hotspur

 King Henry the Fourth Part I         Act V, Scene iv, Line 61

 

Nice simple, short line today. My name is Harry Percy. He’s known throughout this play by his nickname Hotspur. But his name is indeed Harry Percy.

He’s introducing himself to Prince Harry, and they’re going to fight. Only one will walk away alive. Can you guess which one it is?

Her name is Chestnuts Roasting By An Open Fire. She's known throughout the house by her nickname Nutsy. But her name is indeed Chestnuts Roasting By An Open Fire.

 

Each man to his stool, with that  spur as he would to the lip of his mistress: your diet shall be in all places alike. Make not a city feast of it, to let the meat cool ere we can agree upon the first place: sit, sit. The gods require our thanks.

 

-Timon

 Timon of Athens              Act III, Scene vi, Line 62

 

I didn’t want to scare you off with something too long, but there’s two paragraphs to Timon’s welcoming speech to his guests. Here’s the second one, which starts off as a meal blessing, before taking a bit of a turn. 

                        You great benefactors, sprinkle our society with thankfulness. For your own gifts, make yourselves praised: but reserve still to give, lest your deities be despised. Lend to each man enough, that one need not lend to another; for, were your godheads to borrow of men, men would forsake the gods. Make the meat be beloved more than the man that gives it. Let no assembly of twenty be without a score of villains: if there sit twelve women at the table, let a dozen of them be—as they are. The rest of your foes, O gods, --the senators of Athens, together with the common tag of people, --what is amiss in them, you gods, make suitable for destruction. For these my present friends—as they are to me nothing, so in nothing bless them, and to nothing are they welcome.—

Uncover, dogs, and lap.

                        [The dishes are uncovered, and seen to be full of warm water.]

Yah, a bit long, but worth the read. But then, what writing of Will’s isn’t?

This, if you haven’t figured it out, is the scene where Timon has figured out that all of his friends are nothing but posers. He’s invited them all for a feast and serves them dishes of warm water.

The first paragraph, today’s Totally Random line, is his welcome to his guests. At this point the guests still think they’re going to be well treated. The second paragraph, beginning with You great benefactors, begins well, but ends with Uncover, dogs, and lap, which is not quite so nice.

The scene goes on a little further and Timon devolves even further, ending with

Burn, house! Sink, Athens! Henceforth hated be

Of Timon man and all humanity!

And he exits.

So in one short scene is summarized Timon’s transformation from gracious host and lover of man, to bitter, bitter hater of mankind. And the rest of the play centers on this latter theme.

I’ve often replied to my kids jokingly when asked ‘what’s for dinner?’ with the answer, ‘Rocks and sticks’. That’s actually a little worse than Timon's bowl of warm water. And, no, none of the kids ever saw the humor in that answer. Go figure. 

Anyway, I managed to find a stick pencil in my assortment of pencils. So there you go. 

                                                                     I know not, Menas,

How lesser enmities may give way to greater.

Were’t not that we stand up against them all,

‘Twere pregnant they should square between themselves;

For they have entertained cause enough

To draw their swords: but how the fear of us

May cement their division, and bind up

The petty difference, we yet not know.

Be’t as our gods will have’t! It only stands

Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.

Come, Menas.

-Pompey

 Antony and Cleopatra            Act II, Scene i, Line 49

If I’m not mistaken, Pompey is going to be facing a military force made up of the alliance of Octavius Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus. Menas has just remarked to Pompey that Caesar and Antony have reason to be fighting with each other, and today’s Totally Random line is Pompey’s reply. In other words, Pompey is saying  we can’t count on them beating themselves; we’ll have to do our best to beat them.

I guess that’s pretty sound counsel, isn't it? And it can apply to anything, not just battles against other people. We all fight battles every day, often with situations and such. And sometimes situations change, and problems resolve themselves. But if and when that will happen we yet not know. So in the meantime it's best to face those situations using our strongest hands. In fact, our lives really do stand upon using our strongest hands. 

I'm supposed to be using this Resist-A-Band for PT exercises for my bad shoulder, but I"m not. And in fact, there's a bunch of stuff I should be doing, concerning my health, that I'm not doing a very good job at. The truth is that I should be taking Pompey's advice and using my strongest hands to get this stuff done, because my life really does stand on it. And this stuff has been at the very forefront of my thoughts lately.

It's amazing how we manage to find relevance in these Totally Random lines, isn't it?

 

Welcome, my gracious lord: welcome, dread queen;

Welocome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius;

And welcome, all: although the cheer be poor,

‘Twill fill your stomachs; please you eat of it.

 

-Titus

 Titus Andronicus             Act V, Scene iii, Line 28

 

I’m really not sure where this play came from. Will must certainly have had a darker side. Today’s Totally Random lines precedes a bloodbath that’s about to take place. Before that, though, Titus’s guests are going to be eating the meal served, which contains, unbeknownst to them, the flesh of the dread queen’s two sons who were murdered in a previous scene. It's not a pretty picture.

Perhaps we should be getting Titus his own commemorative postage stamp?

I am invited, sir, to certain merchants,

Of whom I hope to make much benefit;

I crave your pardon.

 

-First Merchant

 

The Comedy of Errors    Act I, Scene ii, Line 24

 

Scene one was Ageon, the father of the Antipholus twins, giving us all the backstory (which I assume you are familiar with by now since you read this blog regularly). So that when we meet Antipholus of Syracuse talking to the First Merchant here in scene two, we pretty much have a sense of what’s going on. And since Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse have just arrived in Ephesus the first case of mistaken identity has yet to happen. The merchant is telling Antipholus that he has to leave, and leave he does. As soon as he does, Dromio of Ephesus will show up, assume that he has found Antipholus of Ephesus, and the fun begins.

And here are the Antipholuses of pencils. They look identical, don't they? Well, they're not. The Staedtler Wopex on the bottom has a thin, rubbery coating that makes it very nice to grip. The one on top does not. They are two different issues of the Staedtleer Wopex that look the same, but in reality are quite different. And yes, they are very easily mistaken for one another!