Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

Hover about her; say, that right for right

Hath dimm’d your infant morn to aged night.

 
-Queen Margaret

King Richard the Third                 Act IV, Scene iv, Line 16

Margaret is overlooking Elizabeth and the Duchess of York, the latter’s mother-in-law and listening in on their conversation.

Keep in mind, Margaret is the widow of Henry VI, and Elizabeth is the widow of Edward IV. Henry and Edward battled over the kingship and Edward finally won, but now Edward has died of illness. Edward has two sons, but he also has a brother who is destined to be Richard the Third. Richard is taking over now and has those two sons locked away in the Tower of London. They will become known as the princes in the tower.

Elizabeth is lamenting her two sons' fate whilst Margaret listens,

Ah, my poor princes! Ah, my tender babes!
My unblown flowers, new-appearing sweets!
If yet your gentle souls fly in the air,
And be not fixt in doom perpetual,
Hover about me with your airy wings,
And hear your mother’s lamentation!

And Margaret responds, speaking to herself, with Today’s Totally Random Lines. So both the women are addressing the absent princes, but each has a different message for them. The mother of the princes misses them, naturally. Margaret (no relation to the princes), having lost her husband, Henry VI and her son in the war, really has no love for the princes. In fact, she sees the assumed fate of the princes as an eye for any eye.

It’s certainly two very different thoughts about the princes. 

Something tells me I've used this pic before, but, oh well.

I decided to key in on two things: hover (since both the ladies said that word), and two very different views on the same thing. 

Here's a helicopter hovering over the football field to drop Easter eggs for an Easter egg hunt. Obviously, someone thought this would be a great idea. In retrospect, I thought it was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

This fell whore of thine

Hath in her more destruction than thy sword,

For all her cherubin look.

 
-Timon

Timon of Athens                       Act IV, Scene iii, Line 61

This is really a classic tale. If you’re not yet familiar, Timon was a well-off guy who’d throw great parties and give out money and gifts to his guests. But he spent more than he had, and when his money ran short, he looked to his friends for help, and not one of them would lend him a dime. It was then he realized that none of them were friends, and he gave up on mankind and went to live in a cave.

In this scene Alcibiades, a general has happened upon Timon. He has with him two mistresses. Timon wants nothing to do with any of them. He tells Alcibiades to go,

Follow thy drum;

With man’s blood paint the ground, gules, gules:

Religious canons, civil laws are cruel;

Then what should war be? This fell whore of thine

Hath in her more destruction than thy sword,

For all her cherubin look. 

To which one of Alcibiade’s mistresses (whore?) replies

                                         Thy lips rot off!

 

First off, a few notes on vocabulary: Gules simply means red (paint the ground red with blood), and fell, if you recall is an adjective denoting evil.

Now, when I first read this I thought that the fell whore of thine that Timon spoke of might be war, because war can be considered any general’s whore. But I guess that since one of Alcibiade’s mistresses replied directly to Timon, it’s probably more reasonable to assume that Timon meant that she was the fell whore he was talking about. Or, perhaps Timon had a double meaning with it and meant both.

What do you think?

Okay, I had two thoughts regarding a pic for today's line, but neither thought actually had a pic. Confused? Let me explain. 

The first thought was to use Facebook, because this is an illustration of all the friends that Timon thought he had. You may have friends who are your friends on Facebook, but it's pretty certain that not all of your friends on Facebook are really your friends. But I couldn't think of a good pic for this.

The other thought was a movie that I watched last night. It was about two parents who had to pretend to inherit six million dollars to get their adult kids into visiting them. It worked: the kids came looking for a share of the money. But it was an Italian movie and the only clip I could find was in Italian. 

Which leaves me with...Oh what the heck; here's the movie clip. See if you can get anything out of it.

The Price of Family (2022) - IMDb

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for, I know

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better

Then ever thou lovedst Cassius.

  

-Cassius

Julius Caesar                             Act IV, Scene iii, Line 106

Honestly, this play should be called Brutus and Cassius, because that’s what it’s about. I would say that Brutus, Cassius, and Marc Antony all have much bigger roles in this play than Caesar.

Cassius is addressing Brutus here, referring to himself in third person. This scene is a quarrel between these two best friends, but they’re near the end of the quarrel now and about to kiss and make up. Well, there’s not any actual kissing involved.

A pic for today's lines? I really can't think of anything, so instead giving you some random pic, I think we'll go with no pic for today.

Maybe tomorrow. 

Yeah, maybe tomorrow.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

Give me some music:-- now, good morrow, friends:

 

-Duke of Illyria

Twelfth Night                             Act II, Scene iv, Line 1

And he goes on to talk about song,

Give me some music:— now, good morrow, friends:

Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,

That old and antique song we heard last night:

Methought it di relieve my passion much,

More than light airs and recollected terms

Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times:--

Come, but one verse.

He’s all about the music. I love this guy. This is the same guy who gives us the very first, famous line of this play,

If music be the food of love, play on:

Surely that line is familiar to you, if today’s is not.

I saw this play performed in Nashville a few years ago and it just now occurred to me how fitting that was: Nashville - Music City!

And it also occurred me just now what a music nut this Duke is. I don’t remember this line from seeing the play, and I don’t remember ever reading this line before, but I find it stunning that the Duke opens two scenes of this play (one of them the first scene of the play) talking about music. I suddenly feel like I know this guy. Hah.

This is the most musical guy I know, though admittedly, he's not being very musical in this pic. 

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

Cousin, there’s faln between him and my lord

An unkind breach: but you shall make all well.

-Desdemona

Othello                                    Act IV, Scene i, Line 224

Faln is a shortening (contraction?) of fallen. An unkind breach has fallen between Cassio and Othello. That’s what Desdemona is saying, and she’s saying that Lodovico will fix it. No, I don’t think so. 

It does not seem that at any point in this play Desdemona becomes aware of the specific problem: that Othello thinks that she and Cassio are having an affair. Or does she? There is clearly much of this play that I don’t remember as it’s been probably twenty years since I’ve read it in its entirety. Also, I have never seen it performed, live or otherwise.

Now speaking of Othello’s mad, jealous obsession, what of this mad obsession of Pete’s with Will’s works? Is it mad? Where did it start? I can tell you that at least, I think. It took off from the blogging. I was a fan of Will’s previously, but once I started this thing of looking at a random line each day, and spending a little time with Will’s works each day, well I suppose the obsession was inevitable. And the blogging, to start with, was simply an idea to create a platform so as to be able to sell a book. The book was a shot in the dark idea of a way to do something to combine Bill’s drawing and my writing. So, I guess mine is a very accidental obsession?

Well, does anyone go about with the intent to get obsessed with something? Do they? I would think not. But wait a minute: whilst you can bet that Othello did not intend (or want) to become obsessed with jealousy, I think you can also bet that Iago did intend it. So, Othello's is a very intentional obsession, just not intended by the guy who got obsessed. Huh.

Okay, I thought I was going to have to call in our resident philosopher for this one. No, not me: I’m talking about our professional philosopher; the guy that gets paid to philosophize (that’s a great word, huh?). I thought we were going to have to ask Professor Davis if anyone goes about with the intent to become obsessed with something. But I think we’ll let him be for today. And we’ll let this topic be, and we’ll be done. What do you think, Professor?

(17) Jackson Browne - Standing in the Breach - YouTube

Now I bet you thought I was going to give you a pic of Professor Davis. Well it just so happens that I gave you a pic of him in Monday's blog, looking appropriately un-professorial. 

Instead, I am giving you something to prove that the word breach is not antiquated. 

Enjoy.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

O, twice my father, twice am I thy son!

-John Talbot

King Henry the Sixth Part I        Act IV, Scene vi, Line 6

John Talbot is the son, and Lord Talbot is the father. The older Talbot just saved Younger’s life in battle, so the latter is saying that dad gave him life twice: when he was born, and just now. That’s it. A bit dramatic, but that’s it. Or maybe it’s not so dramatic. What do you think? Is it too dramatic or not. This is, after all, theater.

Here you go: Father and Son.

No life-saving going on, and no dramatic statements being made. 

Just Father and Son.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

                 

By the woman’s means?

-Escalus

Measure For Measure          Act II, Scene i, Line 82

Well there’s a bit of nonsense going on here. Escalus, the second-in-command to Angelo, the guy in charge, is questioning Constable Elbow. It looks like Elbow is quite the comic character, which I suppose you would guess with the name Elbow. They’re discussing a fellow that Elbow has brought in, but somehow the talk has turned to Elbow’s wife. Elbow has just said something about his wife being at a bordello, and I believe that’s what Escalus is questioning. Was she there by her own means?

Ooooof, lotta context there. Not sure it was worth it. In fact, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.

Now there’s a river birch in our front yard that is definitely not there by its own means. We bought it and put it there. It looks nice in the early morning when the sunlight outlines the branches, but it’s a little bit of an odd tree. It’s a dozen or so stems growing out of the ground, the thickest of which is about the size of a baseball bat. And growing may not be the right word in that it’s not much bigger now than when we planted it there ten years ago.

What’s all that got to do with today’s line? Absolutely nothing. But that’s where my thoughts are drifting to this morning. Perhaps it’s time to put down the keyboard. 

Here's the river birch. You can't really appreciate the morning sun on it from this pic, but it's there. 

You see, there are occasional mornings when I just don't feel like doing much with the Totally Random Line of the day. Oh well. Better luck tomorrow.