Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?

 

-Brabantio

Othello                           Act I, Scene ii, Line 62

 

Okay, I’m giving you a break this morning. The actual line I picked was a few lines down from this, but it was in the middle of a really long sentence. So I gave you the first line of Brabantio’s rant. He’s going off on Othello and accusing him of using foul means to steal his daughter, Desdemona. It’s a pretty good rant, and it brings up more than one discussion point. Why don’t we take a look at it, or at least a part of it.

 

O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?

Damn’d as thou art, thou hast enchanted here;

For I’ll refer me to all things of sense,

If she in chains of magic were not bound,

Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy,

So opposite to marriage that she shunn’d

The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,

Would ever have, t’incur a genral mock,

Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom

Of such a thing as thou,--to fear, not to delight.

 

That’s only about half of it. It goes on, but at least that’s the end of a sentence.

Obviously Brabantio feels that Othello used magic or something to get Desdemona to fall in love with him. Why else would she pass up  rich (understood to be white), well heeled gentlemen for a black thing like you? Oh yes, he said that.  And here’s where we run into a discussion point and perhaps a sticking point, and it rests on one word. Sooty. Soot is black. Sooty is black in color. Yes, Othello is a black man. So, yes, Brabantio went there and said that. Why would my daughter possibly fall in love with a black thing like you?

Is that a nice thing to say? Of course not. Is it a racist thing to say? Probably. Is it in reality, something that someone in Brabantio’s situation, and time and place might say? Probably. Does it work well in the context of this dramatic work? I think so.

So we've concluded that it's a racist comment and therefore objectionable (and rightly so) to many. Therefore, do we need to eliminate, or sanitize this dramatic work, or can we find a way tolerate and understand this use of the word sooty. To be clear, there are a few other references in the play to Othello's skin color, and Will does manage to utilize racial and ethnic branding in other of his works. 

Anyway, I hope that we can find a way to tolerate and understand Will's, and other artists, use of language that portrays objectionable behaviour. It would, I think, be wrong and self-defeating, to try to pretend that such behaviour does not exist. Such a pretense is a dream of a very nice world which will never co-exist with humankind. 

Oooh, a little bit heady this morning. Sorry about that.

This is a sooty albatross. 

Language is funny sometimes, isn't it?

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Ask him his purposes, why he appears

Upon this call o’the trumpet.       

 

-Duke of Albany

King Lear                              Act V, Scene iii, Line 119

 

What are any of our purposes? Eh? And what trumpet call has any of us appeared upon the call of? Anybody got an answer to that one? I’d love to hear it.

Sometimes I just take the line and apply it to my world, and ignore the story that it comes from. Sometimes that seems appropriate, like today. This morning I'm feeling particularly introspective, and I've been asking myself these kinds of questions. And that's okay.

This guy looks more ectospective (that's not a word, is it?) than introspective, but that's okay too, because today is his birthday. 

Happy Birthday Jeff! 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

No, madam; for so long

As he could make me with this eye or ear

Distinguish him from others, he did keep
The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief,

Still waving, as the fits and stirs of’s mind

Could best express how slow his soul sail’d on,

How swift the ship.    


                        

 -Pisanio

Cymbeline                             Act I, Scene iii, Line 14

 

Yup, another really long sentence; but a good one. 

First, context: Imogen, the king’s daughter, has married Posthumus, a worthy fellow, but not a royal; ergo, Posthumus gets banished.
Now Pisano is describing Posthumus’s departure to Imogen.
How slow his soul sailed on, how swift the ship.
I just can’t help it; I find this writing absolute genius. I know, you’re reading this and saying to yourself, what the heck are you talking about, Pete? Let me make a feeble attempt to help you understand what I’m talking about.

Pisanio’s got to explain to Imogen that Posthumus didn’t just wave his handkerchief as the ship sailed off; he’s got to explain how loathe that Posthumus was to leave her. So…
For as long as he thought Pisanio could see him for so long as he could make me with this eye or ear distinguish him from others he kept waving  with glove, or hat, or handkerchief (he wasn’t just standing there waving) to make it clear that he didn’t want to go - to best express how slow his soul sail’d on, so much slower than the ship he was standing on was moving.

I don’t know, did that help? Probably not. Good thing I’m not a lit teacher, eh? Oh well. Maybe read it over once or twice; Will’s words, not mine. Maybe a little of the genius of the words will start to sink in. Maybe not.

Can you see Posthumus waving from the back of this ship? 

If you can, then you've got a pretty good imagination. 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)          

                                               

No, nor mine now. – [to Polonius] My lord, you play’d once i’ th’ university, you say? 

 

-Hamlet

Hamlet                           Act III, Scene ii, Line 104

 

Okay, well this is Hamlet, the person and the play. So if it’s confusing, well, that’s because it’s Hamlet, the person and the play.
A bit earlier in this scene Hamlet’s talking alone with Horatio, the only person he trusts, and his sentences make sense. Nearly everything he says to anyone other than Horatio has riddles, or double entendre, or who knows what. Here’s the brief interchange with the king.

King
    How fares our cousin Hamlet?

Hamlet
    Excellent i’faith; of the chameleon’s dish: I eat the air, promise-          cramm’d: You cannot feed capons so.

King

     I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not               mine.

Hamlet

     No, nor mine now….

So, this is not an Early Modern English understandability problem; this is simply Hamlet speaking in riddles. Is it worth trying to figure out? Well, you can bet there’s something to be had in those words, because Will wrote them. How much time have you got? How much time have I got? I’m not retired yet, so I do have places to be eventually. To be honest, available time or not, I’m don’t think I’ve got the inclination right now to try to figure this out. So I’ll leave it to you. Good luck!

I asked Sam if he wanted to spend a little more time on Hamlet's words. This is the response I got. I'll take that to be a 'no thank you'. 

 

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

                                                and in the morn

I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,

Where I hope to see the nuptials

Of these, our dear-beloved solemnized;

And thence retire me to Milan, where

Every third thought shall be my grave.

 

-Prospero

The Tempest           Act V, Scene i, Line 310

 

This is very nearly the end of the play. Prospero is speaking to the king and everyone else. There are only a few lines left with Prospero setting Ariel free, and that’s about it; except of course for the epilogue.

Now, I’ve always thought that last line above to be a little odd. Where every third thought shall be my grave. Will I be thinking about death all the time when I’m retired? I kind of hope not. I mean, I think about it now, at least occasionally. But might it really progress to the point where every third thought is about my grave? Seems a bit depressing, doesn’t it? I have to say, I really prefer my ending to the retelling of this story in The Rarer Action much better than the original. And I’m hoping that my ending is what will describe me best. 

 And thinking 'bout grandkids, yes that's what I'll do,

        Old age I’ll embrace, and some warm slippers too.

That's right; warm slippers, and perhaps a good friend like Sammy here. That's what I hope to be embracing.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

                                        Which of them both

Is dearest to me, I have no skill in sense

To make distinction.

 

-Countess

All’s Well That Ends Well             Act III, Scene iv, Line 39

 

I really have no idea what the context is here, but I am immediately brought to think of asking Jon which of his twin sons is his favourite. The reason I am brought to think this is because one of those guys is waking up in the next room right now and crying for attention. I’m pretty sure it’s Otto, so that if I asked Jon (who’s still in bed) that question right now, he might say Auggie. Well, probably the first thing he would say is why the heck are you in my bedroom asking stupid questions? But the reality is that his answer (when he was not being woken up by one of them (or by me)) would most likely be that which of them both is dearest to him he has no skill in sense to make distinction. Of course, I’m paraphrasing what Jon would actually say, but that would be the gist of it.

And go Bobcats!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Good night.

 

-Octavius Caesar

Antony and Cleopatra             Act II, Scene iii, Line 9

 

How about that? Good night. A few thousand lines into this Random Line exercise and we come up with Good night. Are you trying to tell me that we’ve never come up with that line before? Are you trying to tell me that the line Good night doesn’t appear anywhere else in the collected works? Are you trying to tell me anything? That’s what I thought: nothing. Well, nothing will come of nothing.
Good night!

I would have to say that last night was not a very good night. Rushing around to get the house ready for visitors for an hour or so before bed, Collywobble at bedtime, phone calls about missing drivers at midnight, arriving travelers with crying babies two hours later. Ooof, no, not a very good night at all!

Goodnight!!