These deeds must not be thought

After those ways; so, it will make us mad.

-Lady Macbeth

Macbeth                          Act II, Scene ii, Line 45

 

Let’s see, Macbeth has just murdered Duncan, and he is clearly quite upset over what he’s just done. Lady Macbeth, not the least bit upset about the murder of Duncan, is trying to settle her husband down. She is the one of this couple who appears to be most resolved to the course they have chosen, and the least troubled by it. But remember, she’s also the one who’s going to be sleepwalking later on in the play, expressing her guilt. So she’s more troubled than she’s willing to admit. Interesting.

And here's today's pic. These are my associate's new sneakers. There's absolutely no relevance whatsoever to this picture, but I really like those shoes.  

 

Avaunt! Be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack:-

I swear ‘tis better to be much abused

Than but to know’t a little.

-Othello

Othello                    Act III, Scene iii, Line 335

 

Othello is talking to Iago. The latter had planted the seed with the Moor of Desdemona having an affair with Cassio, and now Othello has had time to be thinking about that. The seed has germinated and, based on what he says here, Othello’s been thinking about Desdemona and Cassio quite a bit.

Oh honest Iago!

Oh poor Othello.

I think I might agree with Othello; ignorance can, at times, be a blessing.

Here we have a perfectly topical example from my pencil collection. This guy here, from the New York Botanical Garden, contains basil seeds in the black tip. The pencil is meant to be planted once it is used up. So it's not seeds of jealousy, it's seeds of basil; but seeds nonetheless. 

 

 

Now he will be swinged for reading my letter,- an unmannerly slave, that will thrust himself into secrets! I’ll after, to rejoice in the boy’s correction.  

-Launce

The Two Gentlemen of Verona             Act III, Scene i, Line 380

 

One definition should help here. Swinged means beaten, thrashed, or flogged. Now it should make pretty good sense. Well, that is to say, the lines will make sense. Exactly who ‘he’ is and what letter he read, that’s a separate issue. Since these are the last lines of a fairly long scene which I have not read, and since I have very little familiarity with this play on the whole, I don’t know the answers to those questions. I only know that ‘he’, whoever he is, is a boy without manners who is facing a beating for reading Launce’s letter, and that Launce is going to be happy to see this beating take place.

I suppose we’d have to dig into at least this scene, if not the whole play, in order to get a full understanding of today’s lines. I don’t really have time for that this morning. Perhaps you do?  

I don't have time to go digging for a pic today either. Perhaps when I retire in a few years... 

 

Now, in the names of all the gods at once,

Upon what meat does this our Caesar feed,

That he is grown so great? Age, thou art ashamed!

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!

-Cassius

Julius Caesar     Act I, Scene ii, Line 150

 

Pretty straight forward, don’t you think? Comments?

 

O young and noble Cato, art thou down?

Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius;

And mayest be honour’d, being Cato’s son.

-Lucilius

Julius Caesar     Act V, Scene iv, Line 9

O young and noble Cato, art thou down? No, he's not down, and that's not Cato. That's my young associate. We sent him up there to hang the Christmas icicles, and now he's on his phone. 

Oy, get back to work!

 

It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay the time.

-Theseus

A Midsummer Night’s Dream   Act V, Scene i, Line 245

This is the scene where a bunch of the characters are watching a play, within the play. They’ve just seen one of the players appear with a lantern, doing his best to portray the man in the moon. This is roundly criticized as a poor portrayal of the moon, but then Theseus (who is, after all, the Duke here) comes in with today’s totally random line. He’s telling the other audience members that it appears to be a waning moon, and that they need to lighten up and watch the play: stay the time. See it out. Shut up and watch the play.

That would seem to be sound advice. Advice I myself should follow more often. Stop complaining and questioning, Pete. In courtesy, in all reason, shut up and listen with an open mind. Stay the time.

    Well, I fell down the rabbit hole of looking for a pic for a while, and then I realized that I don't need a pic for every post. So here you go: a pic-less post. After all, no one's going to read this post based on my pics. I'd need a video of a chipmunk dressed in a football uniform dancing to a marachi band in order to get viewers for my blog. I don't have that. Sorry.

 

Mowbray, you overween to take it so;

This offer comes from mercy, not from fear:

-Westmoreland

King Henry the Fourth Part II   Act IV, Scene i, Line 149

 

Okay, I think I got it. It was confusing because in the line previous to today’s Totally Random line Mowbray has said

But he hath forced us to compel this offer;

And compel means be forced to, so it seems like the line says he’s forced us to be forced this offer. But I think it should be read that he’s forced us to be compelled to accept this offer. Yeah, that’s it. And by the way, overween means to presume too much.

So, Westmoreland has come to tell the rebel force that Prince John wants to listen to their grievances and grant them if they’re reasonable. Mowbray’s response is that they’re being forced to do this

And it proceeds from policy, not love.

To which Westmoreland replies with today’s line. There, does it make sense now?

Ahh, you overween to think that there's going to be a picture here, because there is not.