Perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee?

 

-Prospero

The Tempest                    Act I Scene ii, Line 193

 

Okay, we know this one, don’t we? I hope you do. It’s Prospero talking to Ariel and asking him if he’s done everything that he’s been told to do. And, of course, Ariel has.

Are we done?    

 

            By him that justly may

Bear his betrothed from all the world away.

 

-Bassianus

Titus Andronicus                     Act I Scene i, Line 286

 

This is truly a strange play. Granted, Will wrote it early in his career. In fact, I believe this qualifies as his first crack at a tragedy. And it’s definitely a tragedy. Heck, just about everyone dies in this one, including Titus. But there’s so much plotting, and changing sides, and just weird stuff going on. And Lavinia, Titus’s daughter, seems to be caught in the middle of much of the action, starting here in Act I (she is the betrothed being mentioned in today’s Totally Random line) and ending in the final scene of the play where her father kills her. Yeah, Titus kills his daughter. That’s what I mean: this whole play is just a bit fakakta. I mean, it’s still like a game of golf: a bad day of golf is still better than a good day at work, and a lesser work of Will is still better than just about any other writing. Nevertheless, a bit fakakta.

Here's a good example of fakakta. The wood in this pencil goes right up through the middle of the graphite. I've never seen anything like this in a pencil before. This pencil is a bit fakakta.

 

Go, then; for ‘tis in vain

To seek him here that means not to be found.

 

-Benvolio

Romeo and Juliet                    Act I Scene ii, Line 41

 

Benvolio is talking to Mercutio. Romeo was with these guys, but he’s given them the slip and hopped the wall into the Capulet’s orchard. Now these two guys are about to stop looking for him. Two lines further on is Romeo's famous But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? But we didn’t randomly pick that line, we randomly picked Go, then; for ‘tis in vain. It was in the roll of the die.

So let’s think about this: if you stopped a hundred different people on the street… well if you stopped a hundred different people there’s a decent chance one of them would shoot you. But if you could read both of these lines, the Go, then line and the But soft line to a hundred different people, there’s a pretty good chance that at least a handful would place the But soft line. There’s almost a zero chance that even one would place the Go, then line.

And what do we sift from this? I’m not sure; perhaps the craziness that exists in the randomness of it all. Yeah, let’s go with that. And to be clear, when I say it all I mean everything. Everything!

 

Okay, the pics don't get much more random than this. Kinda funny, but definitely random.

 

Beside the charge, the shame, the imprisonment,

You have done wrong to this my honest friend;

 

-Angelo

The Comedy of Errors         Act V Scene i, Line 18

 

Well, what have we here. Yet another of the myriad of misunderstandings  and cases of mistaken identity that make up The Comedy of Errors. So it really is a comedy that is all about errors. It couldn’t be more aptly named. I think I’ll leave at that for today. 

No pic. No nothin’

Enjoy the day!

 

 

I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house not above once in a quarter -- of an hour; paid money that I borrowed -- three or four times; lived well, and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass.

 

-Sir John Falstaff

King Henry the Fourth Part I      Act III Scene iii, Line 20

 

Good old Falstaff. This is classic Falstaff, rambling on and on, and talking mostly about himself. I guess you can take it for what it’s worth, and context is almost irrelevant here. I will tell you that the word compass is taken to mean moderation or limits, and also that I don’t think Sir John ever lived in good compass. And that’s about all I feel I need to tell you about these lines.

I just realized who Falstaff reminds me of in my own life: Johnny Stevens. I wish I had a picture of Johnny, but alas I don’t.

Wrong again! I do have a picture of him.

That's Johnny on the far left. To the right of Johnny, making a funny face, is Steve Mikune, and to the right of Steve is yours truly. And you thought we were reaching back into the archives with the ND patch yesterday. This photo goes back even further!

 

I saw Othello’s visage in my mind:

 

-Desdemona

Othello                         Act I Scene iii, Line 252

Desdemona is talking about her husband Othello and asking to be allowed to go with him to the wars in Cyprus. It sounds like everyone agrees to let her go, but then Othello ends up leaving her in the care of Iago. So I find this scene a little confusing.

I was going to listen to the whole scene in the hopes of getting a little clarity, but it’s almost 8:30, I’ve got to get to work, and this scene is twenty minutes long. So that’s that.

Just in case you’re not familiar with the word visage, it means face. As in the poem Great Casey’s visage shone, He stilled the rising tumult, And he bade the game go on. That’s from Casey At The Bat. I memorized it for Father Diaz’s English class, freshman year of Notre Dame High School. Now we’re dipping into the archives, aren’t we?

Yup, it's my letters from high school. This is either for track or JV football; I'm not sure which. We've really deviated from the Totally Random line today, haven't we!

 

 

Yet will I favour thee in what I can.

 

-Duke of Ephesus

The Comedy of Errors      Act I Scene i, Line 150

The Duke is talking to Aegeon and he’s going to favour Aegeon by allowing him one extra day to live before he executes him. The crime? Aegeon is a stranger in Ephesus, and he’s from Syracuse. Wow! Forget about building a wall, they’ve come up with a significantly more comprehensive solution to deal with people coming in from other places: kill ‘em. One would think that this would be a fairly good deterrent. One would think.