Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And what is a stone, William?

  

Sir Hugh Evans

The Merry Wives of Windsor        Act IV, Scene i, Line 28

  

Well, for three reasons I was sorely tempted to pick another page today: this is the fifth time on this page, it’s Merry Wives (I’m not crazy about Merry Wives), and it’s the second time I’ve been in this particular conversation (in fact, I’ve picked the line following this one, so I’ve clearly spent time with Today’s Line already). But I felt like not using the Random Line picked would be a slippery slope, so I stuck with it.

Nonetheless, I could use a good hard and fast rule about when I can pick another line. One rule I stick with is to not use a line in the same paragraph that I’ve been in. By paragraph I mean an uninterrupted block of text, prose or verse. Also, I’ve more or less developed and stuck to the rule of only five Random Line picks to a page, and then I pick another page. Is that enough? Let’s see, 5 X 1249 pages = X, and X divided by 365 is 17 years and 40 days. So the 5 lines on a page rule gives me Random Lines until I’m roughly 83. Hmmm. I guess I can stick with that.

 

But I’ll tell you, all of this makes me wonder: what is a stone?

Is this a stone?

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Strike, drum.

 

Benvolio

Romeo and Juliet                   Act I, Scene iv, Line 113

 

Here is the last line of the scene, and then these guys march off to the party at Capulets. To be clear, there actually is no drum involved, and we can assume that one of the guys pretends to play a drum. The stage direction says They march about the stage and stand to one side.

They’d been discussing dreams for a large part of this scene, with Mercutio going on and on about dreams. Romeo seems to think that his own dream the previous night is a harbinger of something bad, but he doesn’t say, or doesn’t know exactly what.

Anyway, they end the dream talk to get to the party.

So what do we think this guy's dreaming about? Probably about how he loves to bug Sam. 

Oh yah, he can be a pesky little fella. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

There is a river in Macedon; and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth:  it is called Wye at Monmouth; but it is out of my prains what is the name of the other river; but ‘tis all one, ‘tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both.

 

 

Fluellen

King Henry the Fifth                     Act IV, Scene vii, Line 32

  

This is Fluellen, the Welsh guy, and Gower. They are two soldiers in Henry’s army, and they are shooting the breeze during a respite in the battle. Prains is Will’s way of making fun of Fluellen’s Welsh accent. He means brains. Then Fluellen starts mixing up Macedon with Macedonia, and it goes on from there. I guess it’s a little comic relief added into this history play.

These guys are hanging out in a small tributary of the Moanachira River. 

I wonder if Fluellen could mix up Moanachira with Monmouth or Macedon?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Hail!

 

Second Witch

Macbeth                  Act I, Scene iii, Line 107

 

Hail to you all. That’s our line of the day and our word of the day. Hail! It doesn’t get much shorter than that.

I really enjoy finding little gems all the time in Will's works even though I know that his works have been pored over and examined ad infinitum, so that I'm certainly never the first to discover these gems. This morning I noticed that the witches start this play, and they end their brief opening with

Fair is foul and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

And then here in scene three Macbeth shows up for the first time in the play, and his first line is

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Obviously Will is keying in on foul and fair. I wonder how many more times it shows up in the play. I’m going to check the end.
Well, there’s Siward referring to his son who died in battle

Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

I would not wish them to a fairer death.

So he’s got fair and death in the same sentence. Yes, that’s a continuation of the same thought, right to the end. Let’s take it as a way of knowing that a (the?) main theme of this work is the juxtaposition of foul and fair.

And we’ll leave it at that.

It occurs to me that just about everything has a foul and fair side to it. And if that's the case, than I can give you a picture of anything to illustrate that. 

So I took the most recent pic off my phone, and this is it.

 I don't know why I took this picture, but I'm sure there must be something foul and something fair about it. N'est pas?

 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. - O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! That we should with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts.

 

Cassio

Othello                   Act II, Scene iii, Line 287

These are the lamentations of a man who got drunk and did something stupid. Of course, he got set up by good ol’ honest Iago, but nonetheless, he did get drunk, and he did do something stupid.

I wonder what percentage of us human beings have done that: Gotten drunk and done something stupid? I guess I could take a poll, but I probably won’t. I can tell you that nowadays I just do stupid things without getting drunk.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Then hast thou all again.

 

Helena

All’s Well That Ends Well     Act III, Scene ii, Line 108

  

This is one of those days where I can’t quite figure out what the line of the day is. I know, you’re saying ‘What are you talking about Pete?’ Well, it’s not one of those nice clean lines that’s a complete thought and sentence. In fact, the words previous to the line above end with a semicolon, so that this is not really the beginning of a sentence. And then another sentence starts on this same line in the book, but that line goes on for quite a bit.

So I took a shortcut and gave you five words. And I’m not sure whether you should feel cheated or grateful. It seems to me that if you’re actually interested in Will’s works you would feel cheated, but if you’re someone reading this for some other reason you might be thankful that you only got five words. If that’s the case, you’re welcome.

I see that I haven't posted in a few days, and I know that's because I've been having trouble finding a pic. I wrote a few posts this week that didn't get posted. So I'm definitely posting today even though I still don't have a pic. 

Wait a tic...of course I have a pic: it's Nina's birthday! That's the little scooch, bottom left, with her sister and cousins. 

Happy Birthday Scooch!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation; only downright oaths, which I never use till urged, nor never break for urging.

  

Henry

King Henry the Fifth            Act V, Scene ii, Line 143

  

Well if you think that’s long, I’ve only taken a few lines out of Henry’s speech to Katherine. He goes on and on. He’s trying to talk her into marrying him, whilst struggling with a language barrier. Neither his French nor her English is very good, so it’s a difficult conversation in which he’s doing most of the talking. Somehow or another he succeeds.

Historically, this is an attempt to unite the leadership of England and France. Henry V has conquered most of France and now has made a treaty with French King Charles by which Charles gets to remain king of France for his lifetime, but upon his death the rule passes to Henry. Henry indeed succeeds in marrying Katherine, but then will  die fairly young, and the plan to unite the countries falls apart with Henry VI who assumes the kingship as a child and never really grows into the job.

Bottom line: if Henry had lived a full long life, and if his son were a bit more capable of a leader, France and England might be one nation today. And if wishes were horses beggars would ride. Hey, is that a Shakespeare line? Nah, just looked it up. It’s an old Scottish nursery rhyme.

See, not everything is Shakespeare! BTW, no extra charge for the history lesson today.

Okay, I spent a good ten minutes or so looking for a pic for today. I give up. 

I guess I don't have as much perseverance as Henry had.