Not that I think you did not love your father;

But that I know love is begun by time;

And that I see, in passages of proof,

Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.

 

-Claudius

Hamlet                                   Act IV, Scene vii, Line 110

 

Today, Claudius and Laertes are plotting about what to do with Hamlet. Claudius is getting Laertes wound up about the fact that Hamlet killed his father. He asks Laertes if he really loved his father and Laertes answers,

Why ask you this?

At which point Claudius goes into his answer gives us Today's Totally Random Lines.
Then he gets in a long thing about the fact that they should act whilst they’re still hot about it.

There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
And nothing is at a like goodness still;
For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,
Dies in his own too-much: that we would do,
We should do when we would; for this ‘would’ changes,
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this ‘should’ is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing.

Claudius is saying a lot of the same stuff that Hamlet was saying about how the desire to act wanes when over time. I really like the that we would do, we should do when we would. Say that ten times fast. 

I gave you a lot of verbiage there, and a lot to digest. So here's a nice, peaceful and simple pic that you can enjoy without any heavy thinking; 

in fact, no need to think at all. 

 

 

Brown, madam: and her forehead

As low as she would wish it.

-Messenger

Antony and Cleopatra            Act III, Scene iii, Line 32

Today’s scene is where Cleopatra is learning some details about Octavia, the new wife that Antony has taken in Rome as part of some political wrangling. The messenger who’s bringing the news is the same guy who had previously brought the initial news that this wife existed, and he got his ears boxed soundly for that. So he’s pretty hesitant to come in front of Cleopatra in this scene.

Now she is asking questions about this new wife's appearance, and the messenger is being very careful and clever with his answers. He is making sure that everything he says about Octavia is not as good as Cleopatra. Ocatavia is shorter, has a deep voice, and a large round face. Her hair? Plain old brown, and with a low forehead no less. 

This guy knows what he’s doing, and he’s not about to get his ears boxed again. 

I'm pretty sure this is more or less what the messenger is trying to tell Cleopatra that Octavia looks like. 

Oh, he's a clever fellow this messenger.

 

The rest shall bear this burden

-Forester

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

This is a very short scene, and one we have visited previously. In fact, we had a line from the song that today’s line is drawn from previously. Perhaps you remember it?

Ordinarily I would have repicked a line, but this morning I was picking a line from my online source because I left my book at work. so I didn’t realize that I had already addressed this very short scene, and in fact, this specific song. But looking back now on 12/8/22 I can see that I didn’t have much to say about it, so I’ll say a little more here.

First off, the context: 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;

(The rest shall bear his burden)

        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 total and the song is half of them.

Now, that’s as far as I went with it back in February. Today I’d like to take it a little further. Specifically, I’d like to resort to a little book I picked up a few years age. It’s called Shakespeare’s Use of Song by Richmond Noble. It’s an interesting little book and it does in fact have this song in it. But it doesn’t actually say much about the song. Instead, it talks about the fact that the scene is so short and disconnected and that it’s probably inserted in the play just to give some space between scenes IV, i and scene IV, iii because there’s supposed to be a two hour space between these two scenes. That is useful information because it had occurred to me in the past that this was a pretty odd and somewhat out of place scene. But, again, it doesn’t give much of any information about the song; for instance, why is today's line in parentheses?

Oh well; maybe the next time we pick this scene…

 

This is my little buddy on a horse. He had a little trouble with a car last night, so he may be back to riding a horse for a while. Well, we'll see. 

Nothing relevant to today's line. Sorry.

 

The very mercy of the law cries out

Most audible, even from his proper tongue,

‘An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!’

 

-Duke

Measure For Measure                    Act V, Scene i, Line 406

 

Yup, the Duke is saying that the Angelo put Claudio to death for the same crime that Angelo himself committed. Ergo…

And he continues,

 

        Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure:

        Like doth quit like, and Measure still for measure.

 

How about that? It’s the title of the play weaved into the dialogue. I don’t remember having seen that before in any of Will’s stuff. Of course, with the tragedies and the Histories the name of the title character comes up. But Comedy of Errors? A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Any of the other comedies? Well, I can’t think of any where the title of the play comes up in the dialogue of the play. Perhaps you can.

 

This is one of those days where I have absolutely no ideas about a picture to post with this post. 

So I guess it's going to be no pic today. 

Sorry.

But let's face it; a lot of my pics aren't all that great anyway.

 

It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect: damn them, then,

If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster

More than their own!

 

-Iago

Othello                            Act III, Scene iii, Line 398

 

Good ol’ honest Iago. He’s busy here stoking Othello’s jealousy. Othello talks about being satisfied; that is to say, given irrefutable proof of Desdemona’s infidelity.

 

Iago-        You would be satisfied?

Othello-   Would! Nay, I will.

Iago-        And may: but, how? How satisfied, my lord?

                Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on,--

                Behold her topt?

Othello-                           Death and damnation! O!

Iago-        It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect: damn them, then,

If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster

More than their own!

 

Good ol’ honest Iago, indeed!

There’s one of those Shakespearean words for you, topt, or topped. I think you should be able to glean the meaning from the context. Austin Powers might say shagged, but I’ve never heard topt before. Well, you learn something new every day.

Given the nature of today's subject matter, I thought it might be best to forego a pic for today.

 

 

 

        Go, and say

We purpose her no shame: give her what comforts

The quality of her passion shall require,

Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke

She do defeat us:

 

-Octavius Caesar

Antony and Cleopatra                    Act V, Scene i, Line 62

 

I guess you could say that Cleopatra does, in a way, defeat them by a mortal stroke; the mortal stroke being dealt to herself. I think they had hoped to parade her through Rome. That's not gonna happen.

BTW, I like the purpose her no shame. I'm sure we would say mean her no shame, but purpose her sounds so much cooler. Don't you agree?

Here you go. Today's pic is in no way relevant to Today's Totally Random Line. It is relevant, however, in that it is a pic of me (on the right) with my big sister Jean. Yesterday was Jeannie's birthday. I had meant to post this pic yesterday, but never got the post done. There you go Jean. I hope you had a great birthday!

 

You cannot call it love; for at your age

The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,

And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment

Would step from this to this?

-Hamlet

Hamlet                            Act III, Scene iv, Line 70

 

Well hopefully you’re all familiar enough with the play to know that Hamlet is talking to his mother about her marriage to the brother of Hamlet’s dead father. There are pictures of the two men in Gertrude’s room where they are, and Hamlet is pointing to the pictures when he says from this to this. 

I like the line at your age the hey-day in the blood is tame. That’s a wonderful line. Nowadays we use hey-day by itself. When I was in my hey-day…. Like that. 

I guess we could get into a bit of a discussion about how it feels to get old and whether or not older people have tame hey-day in the blood, or not. How much about this did Will really understand, because he wasn't all that old when he wrote this. It would be an interesting thing to discuss, but best left to older people. So I'll pass on that for now. 

I had thought to give you a pic of me in my hey-day, but looking through my pics I came across this one. It's a pic from my hey-day all right, but not of me. These are my two best buds from my hey-day, and they're both gone now.

Hey-day.