Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Celestial as thou art, O, pardon love this wrong,

That sings heavens’ praise with such an earthly tongue.

 

Nathaniel

Love’s Labour’s Lost             Act IV, Scene ii, Line 124

 

 

Well how about that. We’ve got a sonnet. But it is not one of the 154 sonnets. It is a sonnet that is written into the play Love’s Labour’s Lost, and these are the two concluding lines of this fourteen line sonnet.

I’m afraid I’m not inclined to type out the first twelve lines. Of course, I’ve given you the act, scene, and line reference, and there’s a tab at the top of this page that will take you right to the text of Will’s plays. So there’s nothing stopping you from reading the sonnet, should you feel so inclined.

Also, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in the play at this point, so I can’t tell you how this sonnet fits in to the story of Love’s Labour’s Lost. And quite frankly, I’m not inclined to do the work this morning of finding this out either.

So, assuming that you’re not going to read the whole sonnet, we’re both going to be lazy; is that it? Well, it happens, doesn’t it?

One further, somewhat unconnected but interesting (at least I thought it was interesting), thought: I was thinking (and typing), is’t possible to make a….full stop. FULL STOP! I had been about to type make a book out of the blog, with additional writing in it? But as I was typing right now, when it came to the word book I mis-typed and hit v instead of b and then o and Notes (the app I use when I’m writing on my phone) auto-filled that word as void. So my typing read - Is’t possible to make a void.

Now, consider: I have, at times, thought of the blog as my Watts Tower. That is to say, just some weird personal pursuit. But in the case of the Watts Towers it ending up being something. In the case of this blog, is it nothing? Just a void? A waste of part of my life?

That’s definitely a full stop thought. Oh auto-fill, you devil, you.

 

This is a pic of a void.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

Too modest are you;

More cruel to your good report than grateful

To us that give you truly: by your patience,

If ‘gainst yourself you be incensed, we’ll put 

you—

Like one that means his proper harm—in manacles,

Then reason safely with you. 

 

Cominius

Coriolanus              Act I, Scene ix, Line 56

 

Well, I should probably - oh what the heck, here you go; here's the rest of Cominius’s speech.

                            Therefore, be it known,
As to us, to all the world, that Caius Marcius
Wears this war’s garland: in token of the which,
My noble steed, known to the camp, I give him,
With all his trim belonging; and from this time,
For what he did before Corioli, call him,
With all the applause and clamor of the host,
Caius Marcius Coriolanus! Bear
The addition nobly ever!

There. A bit long winded is Cominius, but worth listening to nonetheless. It’s about fourteen lines, but only two sentences.

So, some context. Corioli is the Volscian town just captured in battle, and it was Caius Marcius’s heroics that won the day. Now they meet after the battle, and they are singing Marcius’s praises, but he will hear none of it. So Cominius starts in; first, with today’s Totally Random Line he’s telling Marcius that he’s being much too modest and that if they need to, they’ll restrain him, like someone who means himself harm, so that they can better reason with him. Then, in the additional part I gave you, Cominius continues, saying that in honour of Caius Marcius’s deeds at Corioli, he will forever hence be known as Caius Marcius Coriolanus.

And there you have it. This is the line where Coriolanus gets his name. Pretty good, eh?

I wonder if it was common practice back then to give someone the name of a town they had conquered? I can’t think of anyone in history, off the top of my head, getting this honor. Can you? Dwight Eisenhower Normandy? No. How about William Tecumseh Sherman Savannah? No, I don’t think so. Well there’s probably someone that maybe I’ll think of later today. Thomas Edison Lightbulb? Nah.

Anyway, getting back to Coriolanus. Act One, Scene Nine, that’s where Coriolanus becomes Coriolanus in the play called, well… Coriolanus. 

One final thought on this whole thing: Was it really necessary to put an anus on the end of Corioli? Honestly, what’s up with that? And, no, I’m not going to put a picture of an anus here. I think you know me a little better than that. I have said before, however, that the mere name of this play, with the anus on the end, should be enough to get teenage boys interested, just so they can snicker at the name Coriolanus. Oh what the heck, here’s the pic you’re looking for.

This is the famous Buttcheeks tomato. So if these are buttcheeks, there must be an anus in there somewhere. 

Wait, you didn't think I was going to give you an actual anus pic, did you? 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

Thy looks should nothing thence but sweetness tell.

Sonnet 93                Line 12

Well, that seems like a sweet thought, but belikes we should take a look at the whole sonnet

So shall I live, supposing thou art true,
Like a deceived husband; so love’s face
May still seem love to me, though altered new;
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place:
For there can live no hatred in thine eye,
Therefore in that I cannot know thy change.
In many’s looks the false heart’s history
Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange;
But heaven in thy creation did decree
That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell;
Whate’er thy thoughts or thy heart’s workings be,
Thy looks should nothing thence but sweetness tell.
        How like Eve’s apple doth thy beauty grow,
        If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show!

Exclamation point! It ends with an exclamation point!

Couple of things:
Unlike most of the plays, the sonnets were published in Will’s lifetime, if I’m not mistaken, by him. Therefore, unlike the plays, there’s really no question about their exact correct form, and presumably that is really Will’s exclamation point.
Now I don’t remember what the other thing was. Oh well.

Anyway, today’s line is the last line in the third quatrain. I read it and thought, well that’s a sweet thought. But now that I’ve read/written the whole thing, well, I’m not so sure. So let’s take a bit of a closer look.

Q1. I’m just gonna go on assuming that you love me, and that’s what I’ll see in your face, even though I know you love someone else (well that doesn’t sound very pleasant).
Q2. (This one’s a bit tougher, gotta re-read it a few times. It’s a little odd in that there’s a period halfway through; so, two separate thoughts?)
Since you’re incapable of showing hatred, I won’t notice any change in you. Many people plainly show their cheating heart all over their face.
Q3. But in your face, only love can show. It doesn’t matter what you’re thinking or feeling, your face will show nothing but sweetness.
Concluding Lines. Your beauty will grow like Eve’s apple, if your true feelings (or non-feelings) for me never show in your face. (like Eve’s apple?)

Okay, like I said: I had read Today’s Totally Random Line and thought something nice was being said. But now that I’ve read and written out the whole thing, and paraphrased it as well, I can see that it’s not terribly sweet at all. I mean, it’s clear that this woman doesn’t love him, but also that her face will always show that she does, even though we know that she loves someone else. So what good is that?  I guess Will is stating that it’s about as good as Eve’s apple, and we all know what Eve’s apple got us. Oy!

I'll bet you thought I was going to give you a picture of an apple. Hah! Too easy. No, this is a picture of a dish of snails. Yes, snails. 

Now, rather than being something that looks pleasant but isn't (like Eve's apple), I give something that doesn't look or sound pleasant, but is. At least that's what I hear. 

I've been told they're delicious, but I've never actually eaten snails; just can't get past the look or the idea of eating snails. 

But don't let that stop you.

Bon appetit!

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and Montague,

That in their chains fetter’d the kingly lion,

And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.

 

King Edward

Henry the Sixth Part III                Act V, Scene iii, Line 10

  

Edward the Fourth is sitting on his throne, the throne that was

Re-purchased with the blood of enemies.
What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn,
Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride!

And then he goes on to list a bunch of this autumn harvest, ending with Warwick and Montague.

This is the end of the play, with Edward having finally defeated Henry VI. There’s one play left in this series of Will’s history plays that deals with the Wars of the Roses, and that’s Richard the Third.

If nothing else, picking and writing on these random lines for the last six years has taught me a lot of English history. Will did a pretty good job of covering everything from Edward III up through and including Richard III. It’s a pretty interesting period, which is obviously why Will picked it to write on. I wonder if any of the other guys writing plays back then did any history plays?

Of course, there is a bit of a need to sift out the truths and the dramatizations. I read a book early on (I think it was called Shakespeare’s Kings?) that delineated just that, the fact from fiction, out of Will’s history plays. It seems he did a pretty good job overall, but he took a lot of liberties along the way as well, and apparently Richard III may have been one of those liberties. Will paints Richard as pretty much bad to the bone, scheming to make himself king from the very giddyap. He’s Edward IV’s brother, and he shows up later in today’s scene talking to himself about how he’s going to blast Edward’s harvest. In truth, historians say that Richard was a faithful brother to Edward IV. It wasn’t until Edward died suddenly that Richard took it upon himself to take over, eliminating Edward’s two young sons in the process. So yah, he was no angel, but perhaps not quite the devil that Will painted him as.

But a better devil makes a better story, doesn’t it?

A pic of a better devil? I got nothin'.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

Deliver with more openness your answers

To my demands. Why do you pity me?

 

Imogen

Cymbeline               Act I, Scene vi, Line 88

 

 

See, now this is the perfect example of why I need to have easy access to the Arkangels, or some other spoken copy of the plays. I’m sitting here in my upstairs spot, and I’m trying to read through this, but I really need to hear it to get a good understanding. Oh well.

Anyway, I’m not sure what the answer to her question is. I think it might be that Iachamo (that’s who Imogen is talking to) is saying that he pities her because her husband is so far away? But I don’t think that’s it, or certainly not all of it.

Unfortunately, gonna give up for today. You’re on your own. If you come up with the full answer, let me know.

And this is my upstairs spot. Well, it doesn't look like this first thing in the morning. In fact, it almost never looks like this. That's my spot, the chair Karen is sitting in, to the far left. And when I'm sitting there in the morning there's no one else there: no Karen, no Char, no Jaclyn. And there's generally not a bunch of toys all over the floor. There's just me, and my book, in my spot. And no pc with the Arkangel plays either.

Yah, that's right. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

There is a lady of Verona here

Whom I affect; but she is nice and coy,

And naught esteems my aged eloquence:

 

Duke of Milan

The Two Gentlemen of Verona     Act III, Scene i, Line 81

 

Now, I’m not exactly sure what Whom I affect means here. It could mean whom I have an effect on. That’s what it would mean today. If you look up affect in the MW it just means to have an effect on, and based on the Duke calling the lady nice and coy he could mean that he’s having an effect on her, but she won’t admit it because, well, she’s too nice and too coy. However, maybe the duke is having no effect on her. Therefore, he is saying he likes her. If you look affect in the Shakespeare glossary it’s got half a dozen meanings. The first is the same as the modern MW definition, but one of the other ones is to like something: if you affect it, you like it. This seems to be the way it’s being used here: the duke has no effect on the woman (she has an effect on him), but he likes her.

I guess that’s a little confusing. I have to say, though, that I like the aged eloquence part. In fact, I would say that lately I am embracing my aged eloquence. I am doing my best to affect an air of aged eloquence. Though I think if I met you, I might not have that effect upon you.

Now, as a public service announcement (and since I probably completely confused you), here is a quick reminder of how to use affect and effect in modern parlance.

Affect is almost always the verb (remember: Affect is to Act)

Effect is almost always the noun (I don’t have a catchy way to remember this, other than it’s not an Action and therefore does not start with A).

I hope I have not affected you in a negative way with all this talk about affect and effect.

In fact, I hope it’s had a positive effect on you.

Most certainly you can see the air of aged eloquence being displayed here. 

Notice also, that I didn't use affect or effect in that sentence! 

You're welcome.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it:

Within these two months, that’s a month before

This bond expires, I do expect return

Of thrice three times the value of this bond.

 

Antonio

The Merchant of Venice                Act I, Scene iii, Line 155

  

Talk about famous last words. And what have I said about expectations? Life is all about expectations, isn’t it? Of course, if Antonio was a bit more cautious and not so eager to rely on his expectations, then perhaps he wouldn’t have taken the deal, and then I guess we wouldn’t have much of a story, would we?

In any event, lots of expectations here. Antonio expects his ships to be back in time to pay the loan (good luck with that), Bassanio expects that three thousand ducats will be enough for him to win over Portio (turns out he’s right about that), and Shylock expects… well, I’m not sure what he expects. In fact, I think he might be the smartest one here, because he’s not relying on expectations. If Antonio forfeits the loan, Shylock gets a pound of flesh, and it appears that he really dislikes Antonio so that this pound of flesh will be a good thing for Shylock. If Antonio doesn’t forfeit, then Shylock gets his money back, and being the shrewd businessman that he is, that would also be a good thing. No, it appears that Shylock is not relying on any expectations. I guess he’s the smartest one of them all, eh? Well, until Act IV, Scene i he is, but not so much then.

And speaking of expectations - I expect it's about time (actually, well past about time) to get back to working on Merchant. I can't be letting drawings like this go to waste, can I?

I expect not.