--I see their knavery: tis is to make an ass of me: to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.            [Sings]

-Bottom

A Midsummer Night’s Dream       Act III Scene i, Line 121

 

Bottom’s head has just been transformed into a donkey’s head (I don’t think he realizes this yet), and his friends have all run away from him.

And so, he begins to sing, and it’s a song about birds: ousel-cocks, throstles, wren, finch, sparrow, lark, and cuckoo. Don’t ask me what an ousel-cock is.

        The ousel-cock so black of hue,

        With orange-tawny bill,

        The throstle with his note so true,

        The wren with little quill,

        The finch, the sparrow and the lark,

        The plain-song cuckoo gray,

        Whose note full many a man doth mark,

        And dares not answer nay;

 Birds; it’s for the birds, eh?

Okay, these are purple finch. This is a pic I took of plate 402 from my Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio. It's a reproduction, of sorts, of Audubon's original Birds of America. No need to thank me.

 

--He could be contented,--why is he not, then?

-Hotspur

King Henry the Fourth Part I       Act II Scene iii, Line 4

 

He’s not exactly saying what you might be thinking that he’s saying. This is the opening lines of the scene. Hotspur is alone and reading a letter from some rando (we never actually get the name of the letter writer) who’s writing to tell Hotspur that he’s not going to join the rebellion. Hotspur is reading and reacting to the letter. Here’s the beginning of scene three. This opening soliloquy is written in prose:

 

Warkworth Castle.

Enter HOTSPUR solus, reading a letter,

HOTSPUR

‘—But, for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house.’ He could be contented,--why is he not, then? In respect of the love he bears our house:--he shows in this, he loves his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me see more.

Hotspur goes on to read the whole letter and react to it, line by line. Right after he finishes, his wife shows up and tries to get out of him why he’s been so out of sorts lately. Of course, it’s because he’s been working up this rebellion, but he doesn’t want to tell her about it.

I think he should have just told her what’s going on. What do you think?

 

 

Go, Biodello, bid your mistress come to me.

-Lucentio

The Taming of the Shrew              Act V, Scene ii, Line 77

 

Well, we have another interesting play here and one that could be one of the first to be singled out for book burning if we’re not careful. Do you want to hear about it? Well, I guess you’re going to whether you want it or not. Let’s see; where do we start?

I suppose the name tells a lot of the story. By the story, I mean the story of the play (a shrewish woman being tamed into a 'good' wife), and the story of why the book’s gonna get burned (because it's about a woman being tamed into a 'good' wife). So then, what’s to say? Well, let’s attack this burnability issue from a very general perspective, and that is this: 

WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO DISCUSS STUFF, PEOPLE!!

There, simple as that.

Okay, just in case it wasn't clear what I was talking about: this is a pic of my associate graduating from high school last year and posing with the superintendent of schools here in Cheshire (who by the way is the paragon of superintendents in my opinion). Now, what are we teaching in our schools, and in our universities? A lot. What are we not teaching? Apparently, anything that we might offend someone by talking about it. And that, my friend, is the problem. I can understand respecting peoples' feelings, but we gotta be able to find some middle ground here. Just throwing some stuff out is not the answer. Okay? Good. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. 

 

But, Valentine being gone, I’ll quickly cross,

By some sly trick, blunt Thurio’s dull proceeding.

Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,

As thou has lent me wit to plot this drift!

-Proteus

The Two Gentelmen of Verona     Act II, Scene vi, Line 41

 

Today’s random line is the one with blunt Thurio in it. I added the line before it to make it an almost complete sentence. I added the two lines following it because they are the last lines of the scene and a rhyming couplet. And who doesn’t like a rhyming couplet.

As far as a bit of context: Proteus and Valentine are the titular gentlemen of Verona. Valentine’s got a new girl, Silvia, who Proteus just met. Thurio is another potential suitor of Silvia. Proteus decides that he wants Silvia and he spends this whole scene with a forty-three line soliloquy of why and how he’s going to get her.

Got it?

I didn't have a pic of Sylvia, so here is a pic of Lake Sylvia. It's pretty, isn't it?

 

As I with sudden and extemporal speech

Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

-Bishop of Winchester

King Henry the Sixth Part I          Act III, Scene i, Line 7

 

This is the very start of the scene and here’s the summary from my Shakespeare App (I think it’s just called the Shakespeare App) followed by three lines from the Biship.

At Parliament, Gloucester attempts to present a written list of complaints against Winchester, but the bishop grabs it and rips it up, telling Gloucester to speak it all directly…

        Do it without invention, suddenly;

                As I with sudden and extemporal speech

                Purpose to answer what thou canst object. 

There, that should give you context. I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to do with that context, but there it is nonetheless. 

Now, I’ve got to move on to some other things this morning, soooo, comments?

Shakespeare Pro on the App Store (apple.com)

I'll take the opportunity today to give a plug to the app I use pretty much on a daily basis. It's got a lot of features that anyone who does any amount of reading of Will's works will appreciate. According to this website it cost $10. I don't remember paying for it, but I've had it so long (years!) that I could have forgotten. Anyway, well worth $10 if that's what it is.

 

We still have known thee for a holy man.--

-Prince Escalus

Romeo and Juliet                   Act V, Scene iii, Line 269

 

We are only a few lines from the end of the play. We're in the tomb with the dead bodies, and Friar Laurence has just finished telling the assembled group the whole story of what’s taken place, pretty much a recap of the whole play. And today's line is the Prince’s response.

I would equate this to my own standard response when I’m presented with something that I don’t really know what to say. In those cases I usually say, “okay”, which is my way of saying that I’m not agreeing or disagreeing or even necessarily understanding. I’m just responding.

If I had just listened to the thirty-eight lines of Friar Laurence’s explanation of what’s taken place, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to come up with much more than “okay”. Apparently though, the Prince is a bit more versed than myself in how to respond to stuff, and still not really say anything. We still have known thee for a holy man. What the heck is that? He might just as well have said “okay”.

So you think I really owe you a picture because I didn't give you one yesterday? Okay.

 

 

Your worship’s friend, and Launcelot, sir.

-Old Gobbo

The Merchant of Venice                Act II, Scene ii, Line 55

This is a scene where Launcelot Gobo’s father shows up looking for his son. It’s interesting, but a little bit confusing. Young Gobo has a somewhat significant supporting role, whilst old Gobo shows up here and that’s it. At this point in the scene Launcelot is purposely trying to confuse the old man who does not yet realize he is talking to his son. With today’s line, Old Gobo is trying to clarify who he is looking for.

And that’s about it. That’s the context, but I really don’t have much else to give you on this one. I’d be happy to hear if anyone else has anything on it. Otherwise, I'll just put it out there and let you see if you can get something out of it.

        I'm trying to stick to my commitment to post as often as possible, with or without a pic. 

So guess what? No pic today.