1/28/23

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

                                     O Griffith, sick to death!

My legs, like loaden branches, bow to the earth,

Willing to leave their burden. Reach a chair:-

  

-Katherine

 King Henry the Eighth          Act IV, Scene ii, Line 3

 

 

The Queen is replying to Griffith’s query, How does your Grace? Apparently, her Grace does not so well.

I guess we all have those sort of days, don’t we?

I'm not sure this helps, but at the very least, it's an interesting idea. And I thought those Chinese folks were all about the tea?

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 He is a man, setting his faults aside,

Of comely virtue.

  

-Alcibiades

Timon of Athens                    Act III, Scene v, Line 15

 

Unfortunately, the fault that needs to be set aside is murder. The man, whose name we never learn, killed someone, apparently in a drunken brawl. He is a soldier and Alcibiades, his captain, has come to plead his case in front of the senate. Ultimately, the senate banishes Alcibiades for his efforts.

This scene reminds me of The Merchant of Venice and of Coriolanus; the former for its talk of pity (mercy), and the latter for the way Alcibiades gets banished and immediately begins plans to revenge his banishment by coming back to attack the city.

It’s a good scene and, whilst it fits in perfectly with the play (of course it does), it also stands on its own. It’s worth a read, in that there are some really meaty propositions put forth in it that are food for thought and prime for further discussion (I think I just made myself hungry). The meatiest one is the idea of the acceptance of murder in war vs the unacceptability of murder in peacetime. Perhaps that’s an oversimplification, but there is a valid question buried in there. If nothing else, Will’s gonna make you think. And thinking is a good thing. We should all spend a little more time thinking and a little less time just being entertained.

What do you think of that?

'And what,' I can hear you saying, 'do we have here? It looks like a slightly blurry, poorly taken picture of your IPhone, Pete. Surely this must be a mistake?'

No, my friend, it is not. It is indeed a slightly blurry, poorly taken picture of my IPhone. Why?

 BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE YOU ALL TO GET OFF YOUR DAMNED PHONES AND DO SOME THINKING!!!!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

A damned saint!, an honourable villain!—

  

-Juliet

 Romeo and Juliet                           Act III, Scene ii, Line 76

 

Juliet just found out from her nurse that Romeo has killed her cousin Tybalt. So she goes into a rant where she comes up with a whole bunch of opposites that Romeo is. Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical! etc, etc. At this point she loves him, but also hates him for killing her cousin. Is that true? Does she hate him? I’m not so sure about that.

I guess Prof. Johnston would take this opportunity to point out the theme of opposites in this play: two lovers from opposite sides of the tracks for starters. And you can take it from there.

Go ahead!

How about these two? Are they opposites? And do opposites attract?

You tell me. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!

-Iachimo

Cymbeline                      Act I, Scene vi, Line 19

 

Here’s Iachimo’s full seven lines.

All of her that is out of door most rich!

If she be furnish with a mind so rare,

She is alone the Arabian bird; and I

Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend!

Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!

Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;

Rather, directly fly.

 

So, a little context: This is Iachamo talking to himself when he first sets eyes on Imogen. A bit earlier in the play Iachamo was talking to Imogen’s husband, Posthumus Leonatus, in Italy. Posthumus was bragging about the beauty and the fidelity of his wife back home in Britain. Iachimo, having never met Imogen, claimed that on his upcoming travels to Britain he would easily be able to sleep with Imogen. So, being the sensible husband (sarcasm), Posthumus made a wager out of it.

Now Iachimo is in Britain meeting Imogen for the first time. He’s remarking to himself what a beauty Imogen is and realizing that bedding her is not going to be easy.

I think when he say’s out of door, he’s talking about her outsides, her appearance. The Arabian bird is a reference to the Phoenix, a rare and precious bird. And the Parthian were a cavalry famous for turning in the saddle as they retreated, shooting arrows at their enemy (Asimov’s Guide To Shakespeare, of course).

There, now you know as much about these lines as I do; which, let’s face it, isn’t all that much.

But how about we go back to Today’s Totally Random Line, 

Arm me, audacity, from head to foot! 

Not bad. And eminently useful if, like me, you tend to talk to yourself as Iachimo is doing here. In his case he’s being quite audacious in that his intent is to bed this married woman. But audacious behavior can be good behavior too. Showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks - that’s MW’s online definition, and it talks about bold risks, not the intent behind taking them.

There are lots of times when audacity can be our friend: when we’re afraid to ask that girl out, when we’re nervous about asking for that raise. There are a million examples like that, when saying to yourself Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!  can be a good thing to say to yourself.

Of course, if you’re going to say this to yourself, well then you’ve got to listen yourself too!

 

Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!

As is often the case, I was about to give up on finding a pic for today. Then, like mana from heaven...well, here you go. If that's not an audacious choice of sport coat I'm wearing on the right, then I don't know what is. 

Thanks Jim!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

And these does she apply for warning and portents

And evils imminent; and on her knee

Hath begg’d that I will stay at home to-day.

  

-Caesar

 Julius Caesar                 Act II, Scene ii, Line 82

  

What are these? What is it that she believes to be portents?

Well, first of all, she is Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife. And she dreamt she saw Caesar’s statue

             …like a fountain with an hundred spouts,

        Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans

        Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it.

Oh, is that all?

Caesar is talking to Decius Brutus. The latter has come to escort Caesar to the senate, and the former is telling Decius that he’s going to stay home today, and Today’s Totally Random Line is why. I don’t suppose I need to tell you that Decius ends up talking Caesar into going to the senate, do I? 

Shoulda’ listened to his wife, eh?

Heres' a pic of me and my Calpurnia (no, that's not actually her name). Do I always listen to her? Pretty much. Do I always do what she says to do? Well....

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 

The parcels and particulars of our grief,-
The with hath been with scorn shoved from the court,-
Whereon this Hydra son of war is born;

  

-Archbishop of York

King Henry the Fourth Part II      Act IV, Scene ii, Line 37

The archbishop is responding to King Henry’s son, Prince John of Lancaster. The latter is saying that the archbishop and his cohorts are leading a revolution against the peace of heaven and King Henry. The archbishop’s full reply is this,

                         Good my Lord of Lancaster,

 I am not here against your father’s peace,

But as I told my Lord of Westmorland,

The time misord’red doth, in common sense,

Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form

To hold our safety up. I sent your Grace

The parcels and particulars of our grief,-
The which hath been with scorn shov’d from the court,
Whereon this Hydra son of war is born,

Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm’d asleep

With grant of our most just and right desires,

And true obedience, of this madness cured,

Stoop tamely to the foot of his majesty.

 In other words, All the king has to do is to give in to our righteous demands, and we’ll forget about this whole deal and stoop tamely to the foot of his majesty. 

The archbishops and the cardinals really got involved with politics and war back then. They were very powerful men and managed to be in the thick of everything. To be sure, today there are still powerful religious leaders (even more so in other countries) but they have to be so in more indirect ways. In the USA at least, if you preach politics from the pulpit, you can lose your non-profit status. And nobody wants to lose that.

How about that big pulpit on the right, all carved out of dark wood and with the marble angel holding it up. I wonder if any politics got preached from that pulpit. 

(And what the heck do you think those two knuckleheads are looking at? Who brings binoculars to a church!?)

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 

And therefore are we certainly resolved

To draw conditions of a friendly peace;

 

-Henry

King Henry the Sixth Part I          Act V, Scene i, Line 38

  

Henry says he’s going to stop fighting with France and marry the daughter of the Earl of Armagnac as part of the peace deal.
It’s a short scene, so that I was able to read the whole thing this morning. It ends with Winchester, newly installed as a cardinal, giving an aside and concluding with a rhyming couplet:
I’ll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny.

So this guy is obviously up to no good.

But that’s not my line of thought this morning (and please don’t ask me to account for my line of thought - that’s a lost cause). What I was wondering was about the nature of the scene-ending rhyming couplet. Primarily, why do some scenes end with rhyming couplets and others don’t? Is there any rule governing where and why these bad boys are used?

(Okay, I just got auto-corrected from ‘governed’ to ‘for Vern Bing’.  Who the heck is Vern Bing? And don’t even get me started on AI. So, I just googled Vern Bing. All I got was someone named Vern Bing on Pinterest with one follower. Very odd. So I’ve decided to follow Vern. I'll keep you updated.)

Anyway, rhyming couplets. Right? I’m tempted to go through and start compiling a list of what plays and scenes use the rhyming couplet as and ender and which don’t to see if I can identify some rhyme or reason. Perhaps it’s just one of those unanswered questions, like what’s the rational for prose vs verse?

Wouldn’t it be great to have Will here to ask these questions to? Or even some of his personal writings where he talks about this stuff? Oh well, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Instead you're stuck with the personal writings of a bonehead like me. Ooof.