Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                       

And, for the sake of them thou sorrowest for,

Do me the favour to dilate at full

What have befallen all of them and thee till now.

 

-Duke of Ephesus

The Comedy of Errors                      Act I, Scene i, Line 122

So here is the classic, ‘what happened then?’ that the duke serves up so that Aegean can tell the rest of his story. And coincidently, I’ve got to drink more of my coffee before going on.

That’s better. Now, the only thing I’ve got on today’s line is another contraction, befall’n. Befallen is a fairly little used word today in the first place, contraction or no. But it’s not completely forgotten. ‘So, what has befallen you since last we spoke?’ Ahh, but apparently (I just looked it up) it doesn’t mean just ‘what happened’, it implies something bad happening. I guess that if I thought about, I knew that? I’m not sure. I can’t exactly remember. Ahhh, what has befall'n me?

This is actually not the cup of coffee I was referring to above. That cup was at home, where I started writing this morning. This cup is at work, where I am now. It's true. 

Let't not be doubted.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                              I do believe thee:

I saw his heart in’s face.

-Polixenes

The Winter’s Tale                    Act I, Scene ii, Line 445

Well, well, we have a continuation of yesterday’s topics. This is earlier in the play than yesterday. It’s a scene where one of the king’s men is warning Polixenes that the king is going to kill him, because the king thinks Polixenes is having an affair with the queen. As soon as he’s warned, Polixenes knows it’s true because he knew something was bugging the king. I saw his heart in’s face, he says.

And look, another day, and another interesting contraction: in’s for in his. I suppose it’s used here for the sake of meter. Anyway, unlike the king who won’t believe the truth (what the heck is wrong with that guy?), Polixenes knows the truth when he hears it, and he believes it.

I guess that’s a theme in this play: seeing the truth, or not seeing the truth. I suppose that’s something that we all struggle with: recognizing what is the truth.

Yes, truth is a big topic these days. And some would have us believe that in many cases truth is unimportant. I think that way of thinking is very dangerous. Quite so. A guy should definitely care about the truth. After all, it’s in’s best interest.

Sorry, I got no pic today; maybe tomorrow.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

                              Tell her, Emilia,

I’ll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from’t,

As boldness from my bosom, let’t not be doubted

I shall do good.

 

-Paulina

The Winter’s Tale                    Act II, Scene ii, Line 51

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry. This ain’t gonna work out the way Paulina hopes, but that’s a scene for another day.

This here, is a short scene where one of the king’s men’s wives is trying to intercede to get the king to realize that the queen is innocent of any infidelity. 

Anyway, I just like reading Will’s words. From’t.  Let’t. 
He simply wrote better than anyone else in the English language; before or since. It’s a shame that most people don’t get to see that. It’s funny, because most people are like the king. He believes that his wife has been unfaithful. She simply, and without any doubt, has not. But he just can’t see it. Paulina knows it, but she’s not going to be able to convince him.
 
Most people believe that Will wrote in a form of English that is difficult, if not impossible to understand and not worth the trouble of reading. He simply, and without any doubt did not. His words are understandable and worth reading. Most people don’t believe this, but I know it.

So, I guess you can call me Paulina for today. But then I get to call you Leontes (that’s the king’s name). 

So this line of thought got me to thinking further: do you think Paul McCartney read Shakespeare? Because if he did, wouldn't the song have been Let't Be?

Anyway, here's my little buddy playing. I don't think he was playing Let't Be at this point, but he definitely got to that one at a later date.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

In the same figure, like the king that’s dead.


-Bernardo

Hamlet                                   Act I, Scene i, Line 41

The first scene of Hamlet takes place on the ramparts of the castle at night with a few characters who, other than Horatio, are long forgotten by the end of the play.  But Horatio… If you think about it, Horatio shows up in a lot of key places in the play. He’s here at the beginning seeing the ghost of Hamlet's father, and he’ll be there at the end with his Good night sweet prince, as Hamlet goes to join his father

I guess it would be nice to have a Horatio. But if you think about it, he didn’t really do Hamlet much good. He gave Hamlet someone to talk to, but Hamlet did most of his important talking to himself. Perhaps that was Hamlet’s fatal flaw. Perhaps he should have talked more to Horatio.

There, use that one in your next Hamlet course. What was Hamlet’s fatal flaw? He talked out his most important stuff to himself, when he should have been talking to Horatio. We don’t all have a Horatio. Hamlet had one, and he didn’t talk advantage of it.

I tried to think of a real-life Horatio, but I came up blank; ergo, no pic today.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

With all my heart.

 

-Edmund Mortimer

King Henry the Fourth Part II      Act III, Scene i, Line 265

 

This is Edmund’s response to Owen Glendower who is ready to rock. Glendower says,

           By this our book is drawn; we’ll but seal, and then
           To horse immediately.

And Edmund Mortimer replies, With all my heart.

So they’re off to the fights.

Edmund Mortimer, his father-in-law Owen Glendower, and Hotspur have just laid out the territories on a map that they will each be claiming once they’ve rebelled from the crown. And now, they're off to the rebellion. 

With all my heart. That’s a pretty straight forward expression. I was going to say a common expression, but then I thought twice and realized that I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that (other than in the movies). So it can’t be that common. Well, I suppose I must have heard that expression used once or twice? I guess. Regardless, it's perfectly understood. And it has the same meaning in the 1690’s as it does in the 2020’s.

With all my heart. I don’t suppose that’s something I would say lightly.

     Do you wanna go to the movies?

       With all my heart!

Nah, that doesn’t work.

The Arctic in August. 

Totally irrelevant to Today's Totally Random Line.

(unless you can think of a connection)

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

Do so; and after two days

I will discharge thee.

 

-Prospero

The Tempest                   Act I, Scene ii, Line 298

‘Do so? do what?’, you might ask. Ariel (that’s who Prospero is speaking with) has just said,

        I will be correspondent to command,

        And do my spiriting gently.

So, Ariel's going to do his spiriting gently, and in turn Prospero will give him his freedom.

Now that’s just a lovely turn of phrase. Did you ever hear anyone respond to you that they would be correspondent to command. Of course, I guess the word command has a bit of a strong vibe to it; perhaps a bit too strong for modern sensibilities (which can be very sensitive). If we’re going to use this line (and I certainly think we should), perhaps we should amend it slightly. I will be correspondent to …request? Hmmm, that’s not quite right. Demand? Ummm, no.

Well, for now, I’ll just stick to the original, and perhaps include the spiriting gently part.

Every once in a while, I manage to come up with the perfect pic, and today is one of those whiles.

Imagine, if you will, that my associate and I are at the airport waiting for our luggage to come out. He's asked me to grab the bags when they come, because he's got to go use the men's room. And my reply is,

I will be correspondent to command

and do my spiriting gently.

This would be the exact look he would give me.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

This fever, that hath trembled me so long,

Lies heavy on me;--  O, my heart is sick!

 

-King John

John                                     Act V, Scene iii, Line 3

 

There’s not too much to this. It’s a short scene near the end of the play, and John’s going to be dying shortly. The Shakespeare version is that John has been poisoned by a monk. History, however, says it was dysentery that killed John.

Will does a pretty good job in his history plays of telling the story of a bunch of England’s kings. But make no mistake: his main purpose was to entertain, not to teach. He was a dramatist, not a history teacher. And poisoning is much more interesting than dysentery.

Another one of those days where I looked all over for a pic and came up empty.