Three thousand ducats, - well.  

-Shylock

The Merchant of Venice        Act I, Scene iii, Line 1

And so it begins. This is our first glimpse of, and the first lines spoken by, Shylock. It's also the first line of the scene, and it's spoken by the infamous Shylock.

What an absolutely mesmerizing character he is. Polarizing? Maybe. Dull? Never. When most people think of this play, they think of Shylock and the pound of flesh. Of course, there’s a lot more than that to the play, and there's a lot more than that to Shylock. But it’s here in the third scene that the pound of flesh first comes up.

The scene begins in the middle of a conversation. Obviously Bassanio has already been talking to Shylock and he’s asked for the loan, but we open the scene not with Bassanio’s request, but rather with Shylock’s consideration of the request - Three thousand ducats, - well.

You can almost see Shylock stroking his chin as he says the line slowly. Three thousand ducats, - well.

No, that's not Shylock. It's me. And I'm not thinking about loaning three thousand ducats; I'm thinking about why people stroke their chin when they're thinking about something. I'll need to think about this a little more. 

 

 

We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think we shall never see the end of it.—Who goes there?

-Michael Williams

King Henry the Fifth                     Act IV, Scene i, Line 91

Okay, good scene. Here we have the English camp on the night before the battle of Agincourt. King Henry decides to go disguised among his men to see what the mood is. He’s about to come upon Michael Williams, John Bates, and Alexander Court, common soldiers all. Before Henry shows up, the three have a few introductory lines:

 

Alexander Court-

Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which breaks yonder?

 John Bates-

I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day.

 Michael Williams-

We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think we shall never see the end of it.—Who goes there?

And that’s where King Henry enters.

As you can see by these three lines, the guys here are not particularly optimistic about the impending battle. That’s understandable considering how greatly outnumbered by the French they are.

It’s an interesting conversation they have with the disguised king, the undercover boss, if you will. They talk about death and what responsibility the king bears for their lives, among other things. You really should read it. It’s one of those pieces, like so much of Will’s work, that can really lead to good discussion of issues that are forever pertinent. And I’ll leave it at that.

So do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to read, and think about, the conversation these guys have. You won’t regret it.

Act IV, Scene i

Here's a link to the scene. The conversation begins around line 140, in case you want to skip ahead to it. You should read Henry's reflections after the three guys leave too. That goes to about line 335. Yup, 200 lines of Shakespeare. Think you can do it? I know you can!

 

 

Thrice nobel Titus, spare my first-born son.

-Tamora

Titus Andronicus                   Act I, Scene i, Line 120

Nope, not gonna happen. And so it begins, and it begins (it would seem appropriately) with Titus. What would have happened if he had said, ‘well, okay, you’re right. There’s no need for bloodshed here. Let the boy go.’ I suppose if he had said that, then this wouldn’t have been much of a play. Instead he says, ‘…die he must,’.  So die he does, and it’s the first of many deaths and maimings in the play.

This play was made into a movie in 1999 with Anthony Hopkins in the titular role. I’ve seen a few segments of it, but never the whole thing. It’s one of those that I’ve been meaning to catch. If you get a chance to see it you’ll have to let me know what you think.

 

titus movie - Bing video

 

Here’s a link to the movie trailer, if you’re interested.

 

 

Take thou no scorn to wear the horn;

It was a crest ere thou wast born:

-Forester

As You Like It                Act IV, Scene ii, Line 14

This is a very short scene. Jaques and company have come across a hunter with a fallen deer. They’ve set the deer’s horns upon the hunter’s head, and now one of the foresters is singing a song for him.

 

        What shall he have that kill’d the deer?

        His leather skin and horns to wear.

        Then sing him home;

 

        Take thou no scorn to wear the horn;

        It was a crest ere thou wast born:

        Thy fathers wore it,

        And thy father bore it:

        The horn, the horn, the lusty horn

        Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.

 

And that’s the end of the scene as they all parade off the stage. I told you it was short. There’s only eighteen lines in the scene, and the song is half of them. 

So, what do you think of the song?

Sorry, no pic today.

 

Clap’s into Light o’ love; that goes without a burden: do you sing it, and I’ll dance it.

-Margaret

Much Ado About Nothing     Act III, Scene iv, Line 41

There you go; that line is a bit of a tester. But I’m not going to spend any time on it, so I’m afraid you’re on your own. Let me know you come up with.

Hold on, I’ve got some decent footnotes to help you out:

Clap – break into a song

Light o’ Love – a well known ditty of the times

Burden – chorus

 

There, that should help. And here's a nice pic for you.

 

This is a delicious breakfast. Pepper and eggs with raspberry jelly toast. Yummy!

Brew’d with her sorrow, masht upon her cheeks:-

-Titus

Titus Andronicus                   Act III, Scene ii, Line 38

Titus is telling his brother Marcus what Titus’s daughter Lavinia is thinking. She can’t speak for herself because her tongue was cut out and her hands chopped off by her rapists.

       

She says she drinks no other drink but tears,

        Brew’d with her sorrow, masht upon her cheeks:-

 

It’s not a pretty picture, and Titus is probably pretty close to correct in saying that this is what his daughter is thinking. Whilst this whole short scene is quite the downer, it’s full of exquisite writing of which these two lines are a perfect example. This is Will early on in his career, but it’s clearly Will, and clearly brilliant.

Did I mention that I was a pretty big Shakespeare fan?

Here's my drink: brewed with coffee beans, not tears (usually), and very rarely, if ever, do I mash it on my cheeks.

 Did I mention that I was a pretty big coffee fan?

  

 

Masters of the people,

Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter-

That’s thousand to one good one—when you now see

He had rather venture all his limbs for honour

Than one on’s ears to hear it? Proceed, Cominius.

 

-Menenius

Coriolanus                              Act II, Scene ii, Line 96

 

Well, I know what’s going on, but this is a hard line Than one on’s ears to hear it? I can only assume that on’s is on his. Menenius is asking the senators how can Coriolanus flatter the masses (of which one in a thousand is any good) when he’d rather be venturing all his limbs for honour (fighting for his country) than one of his limbs on his ears to hear it?

Ummmm, gonna need to look at my book that has the footnotes. I’ll try to get back to you later today.

Update (day two): Okay, very simple explanation. Than one on's ears to hear it is one of his ears. It's of, not on. So that makes it easy. He'd rather venture all of his limbs for honour than venture one of his ears to hear about that honour. Comprendez?

I know, you thought I was gonna give you some crappy pic of my ear. Well I thought about it, that's for sure. But these are far more interesting. This is a Roman aqueduct we saw in Spain. In the first pic you can see a bird at the very top. I believe it's a common crane, but don't quote me on that. In the second pic you can see the bird better and you can also appreciate the detail in the construction of the aqueduct and get an idea why it's still here even though it was built in Coriolanus's time. 

Forget about Coriolanus and all the other generals, I think it's the builders and the engineers who deserve all the honour. What do you think?