For by my soul, were there worse end than death,

That end upon them should be executed.

-Saturninus

Titus Andronicus                   Act II, Scene iii, Line 303

 

Yikes! It doesn’t sound too good for Titus’s two sons, Quintus and Martius, who’ve been found in a pit with the murdered body of Saturninus’s brother. Of course, we know that the two sons are innocent, but I’m not sure that’s going to matter much. Just about everyone ends up dying in this play anyway. 

This is Will’s stab at a slasher film/play. A little out of character for him; don’t you think?

And here we have the exact opposite of the brothers' fates. Nothin' but blue African skies and beautiful clouds over a built-in pool with a backdrop of the endless African plains. Yup, I'm doing a little better than Quintus and Martius, that's for sure.  

 

 

Your date is better in your pie and in your porridge than in your cheek: and your virginity, your old virginity, is like one of our French wither’d pears,- it looks ill, it eats dryly; marry, ‘tis a wither’d pear; it was formerly better; marry, yet, ‘tis a wither’d pear; will you anything with it?

-Parolles

All’s Well That Ends Well             Act I, Scene i, Line 164

 

So we’re at the very beginning of the play. Parolles is the pal of Bertram. He’s talking to Helena, and the latter is very sweet on Bertram, though I’m not sure yet if Parolles is aware of that. They’re having a discussion about virginity, and Parolles is saying, well, you can see what he’s saying. If nothing else, at least he’s being honest about what he thinks.

Rather than give you a discussion of virginity, a subject I am not very qualified to speak on, I'll give you a picture explaining why I didn't post in the last two weeks. I was hanging out with these guys and their wifi is not very good. As a side note, I don' think they care too much about virginity. But then again, what do I know?

 

 

 (Warning: Long post with political content. Reader beware!)

Whom their o’er-cloyed country vomits forth

-King Richard

King Richard the Third         Act V, Scene iii, Line 319

 

This is late in the play, and this is Richard’s speech to the troops before the Battle of Bosworth Fields. That is the battle where Richard has his famous my kingdom for a horse line. It’s also the battle where he dies and his forces lose.

 What I thought might be interesting today was to compare Richard’s speech before this battle to Henry V’s speech before the battle of Agincourt. Now keep in mind that Will is painting Richard as the bad guy (though in reality he was probably not quite the rat that Will makes him out to be) in this play and in Henry V he is painting Henry as a hero (and Henry is held in very high regard in English history).

 So let’s compare the two speeches. Here’s Richard, the bad guy, from a play that Will wrote early in his career.

 

K. Rich. His oration to his Army.

What shall I say more than I have inferr'd?
Remember whom you are to cope withal:
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and run-aways,
A scum of Bretons and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
To desperate adventures and assur'd destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous
wives,
They would restrain the one, distain the other.
And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Britaine at our mother's cost?
A milksop, one that never in his life
Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow?
Let's whip these stragglers o'er the sea again;
Lash hence these overweening rags of France,
These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives;
Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
For want of means, poor rats, had hang'd them-
selves:
If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these bastard Bretons; whom our
fathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and
thump'd,
And, on record, left them the heirs of shame.
Shall these enjoy our lands? lie with our wives?
Ravish our daughters? [Drum afar off.
Hark! I hear their drum.
Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen!
Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;
Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!

 

Now here’s Henry, the hero, from a play Will wrote a bit later in his career.

 

K. Hen. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmorland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an
honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from
me,
For the best hope I have. O! do not wish one
more:
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my
host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian:
He that outhves this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and shows his scars,
And say, 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our
names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not
here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any
speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

  

I hope you can note the difference in tone.

Richard spends most of his time name-calling and extolling his men to protect the country from heirs of shame who would ravish our daughters; typical demagogue talk. Also note that Richard’s battle is taking place in England, the opposing force being led by an Englishman who just happens to have legitimate claims to the throne.

Henry V, on the other hand, spends most of his speech telling his guys what heroes they’re going to be, and that history will remember them (it did). And note that Henry’s battle takes place in France where the Brits will win and be the conquerors.

I know there’s a bit of reading here, but I think it’s worth it. Give it a shot.

I know, I think I said something about cooling it with the orange. But whenever I read about a leader being a name-caller and blaming troubles on the 'others', I can't help myself. Sorry.

 

 

 

                                            Ah, dear Juliet,

Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe

That unsubstantial death is amorous,

And that the lean abhorred monster keeps

Thee here in dark to be his paramour?

-Romeo

Romeo and Juliet                   Act V, Scene iii, Line 103

 

This is, of course, the last scene of the play. Romeo is talking to Juliet. He believes her to be dead, and he is amazed at how beautiful she is even in death. Well, we know that she’s not actually dead yet. I guess that’s the thing. She’s not dead yet.

                                     I'm not dead yet.

Too bad Juliet didn't have a little more spunk in her, like this guy.

 

Look, here’s thy love, my foot and her face see.

-Longaville

Love’s Labour’s Lost             Act IV, Scene iii, Line 277

 

Well, this is a bit of a tough line this morning, kids. But if we spend a few minutes on it, perhaps we can get a little something out of it.

For starters, I have to confess that I’m just not sure what Longaville is saying. I’ll give you all some context, and then maybe we can come up with something.

The four main guys here, the king, Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville, have just found out that they are all pursuing love interests when they all had taken a vow of celibacy. Right now they are picking on Longaville, and what’s interesting is that Longaville’s love interest is apparently a black woman. They are picking on him because he’s gone against his vow, but they’re also picking on the fact that his lady is black. I had no idea this scene existed in Shakespeare, but it does.

The other three have been taunting Longaville’s choice of a black woman (I’ll let you read the text yourself here) when he replies with today’s line. I guess it’s some sort of insult of the other guys’ ladies, but what is he saying? Is it that their faces look like his foot? That’s what it appears to be, but that’s pretty odd.

So if I said, "Ah, your girl's face looks like my foot!" I suppose that would be an insult? 

I dunno, it's not a bad looking foot.

 

They vented their complaining; which being answer’d,

And a petition granted them, a strange one—

To break the heart of generosity,

And make bold power look pale—they threw their caps

As they would hang them on the horns o’the moon,

Shouting their emulation.

-Caius Marcius

Coriolanus                      Act I, Scene i, Line 208

 

This is Caius Marcius Coriolanus talking about the rabble, the mob. It’s the first scene of the play, and Will wastes no time in letting us know just how little Coriolanus thinks of the common folk.

This play raises lots of great questions about the structure of society and its leadership. Many, if not all, of these questions are incredibly relevant to twenty-first century life in America.

Again, why aren’t we using this play to teach Shakespeare? I dunno. 

A lot of the time when I mention politics I have posted a picture of an orange. But it's a new day (almost a new year), so I'm posting a picture of an apple. 

 

How now Tubal! What news from Genoa? Hast thou found my daughter?

-Shylock

The Merchant of Venice        Act III, Scene i, Line 75

 

Here is Shylock looking for news of his daughter Jessica. I guess we can never know just how relevant these random lines can be. Can we?

Or perhaps just how non-relevant these pictures can be. 

That there is a pencil sharpener. 

I suppose that if I sit here and think about it long enough I might find some relevance in this pencil sharpener. But right now I have to go get ready for work. So I'll leave it up to you to find the relevance. I have confidence that you can do it.