Why looks your grace so heavily to-day?

 

Sir Robert Brakenbury

Richard the Third          Act I, Scene iv, Line 1

 

Well, let’s see, his grace is imprisoned in the Tower of London, and he’s going to be dead by the end of the scene: not a lot to be happy about, is there?

 

 

I am near to the place where they should meet; if Pisanio have mapt it truly.

  

Colten

Cymbeline              Act IV, Scene i, Line 1

This is the first line of a twenty-seven line paragraph that is the totality of this scene. It is Colten talking to himself about how he’s going to kill Posthumus and get Imogen. Though this first line, Today’s Totally Random Line, is pretty easily understood, the rest of the paragraph…eh, not so much. This is the kind of stuff that people who don’t know or care about Will’s works would look at and say “What the heck is this!?” Myself, on the other hand, looks at this and says, “Hmmm, this looks interesting. Let’s see what I can do with it.”

So there’s a few ways I go about understanding a challenging piece of Will's text. First, of course, I read it over a few times. That’s what I would do with any text, Shakespeare or otherwise; and read it out loud. Second, I use the Shakespeare online glossary or M-W to get the meaning of any words I don’t know. Some of those words are archaic, and some of them mean something different in 1600 than they do now. Some of them, though, are simply words I don't know the proper meaning of. It's surprising how many words I run into that I can find the proper contextual meaning of in the Merrian Webster online dictionary. Next, if I’m down at the pc in my home office (I’m not right now) and have the time, I might listen to the Arkangel recording of the scene. That’s usually really helpful. And lastly (sometimes firstly) I’ll read the scene summary in my online Shakespeare app. Oh, and one other option that I might go to is to look at the footnotes that some of my other compilations might have. The compilation that I use on a daily basis to pick my lines has no footnotes. That’s about it, I think.

So if that sounds like a lot, well, the thing is – I want to figure it out. I guess it would be safe to say that most people wouldn’t. And that makes all the difference, doesn’t it.

Here's the whole paragraph/scene, if you want to take a crack at it. A couple of other things that I didn't mention above: It helps to have a decent understanding of what's going on in the play, and in some cases (especially the history plays) it helps to have an understanding of what was going on in England at the time. But you can't really pick that knowledge up too easily in just a few minutes. Finally, it helps to see the play performed, as opposed to just hearing it, but you can't do that in a few minutes either.

Good luck!

 

Put up your sword. If this young gentleman

Have done offence, I take the fault on me:

If you offend him, I for him defy you.

 

 

Antonio

Twelfth Night                 Act III, Scene iv, Line 315

 

Here we go again. The young gentleman being referred to in the line above is actually a woman, Viola, pretending to be a man (again, the actor is a man- so that we have a man pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man). At this point I’m not sure if Antonio has mistaken Viola for her twin brother Sebastian who, presumably she looks like when she’s dressed as a man. Sebastian is Antonio’s friend so it would make sense that he would be trying to defend him.

In any event, there are people all over the place here with their swords drawn, but none of them is actually interested in fighting. They’re all bluffing. But Antonio doesn’t know that.

Does any of this matter and does any of what I’ve written so far make any sense to anyone reading this? Good question.

The thing is, there’s a lot going on here. We’re well into the play, and there are a lot of players. There’s Viola, who’s shipwrecked in a strange land, pretending to be a man because she’s afraid of being taken advantage of as a woman. There’s Antonio who was separately shipwrecked with Viola’s brother Sebastian. There’s Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch. These two are living on the estate of Olivia, who is Sir Toby’s niece and with whom Sir Andrew is infatuated. Olivia, in the meantime, is infatuated with Viola because she’s thinks he/she is a young man. Viola is infatuated with the Duke of Illyria, who in turn wants to get his arms around Olivia.

Essentially, by this time in the play we realize that almost everyone wants someone who has no interest in them, and that half the people aren’t who/what the other people think they are.

Confused? I guess you should be but, on the other hand, this sort of sounds like the real world. Sort of. 

Well now, I've been aching to use this sticker, and it seems perfect for today:

 a sticker of I'm not sure who or what it is!

 

 

Come, come, no longer will I be a fool,

To put the finger in the eye and weep,

Whilst man and master laugh my woes to scorn.

Adriana
The Comedy of Errors. 2,  2. 202

This is the first meeting of Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse with the wife and sister-in-law of Antipholus of Ephesus. As to be expected, it is meeting full of confusion since the two women think they are talking to Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus. Today’s line is Adriana expressing her frustration with the confusion that’s going on.

Since I know the story here, and what’s going on, it’s not confusing to me. However, there is something here that is confusing to me. The first half of the scene is just Antipholus and Dromio, and there is no rhyming whatsoever in the lines. When Adriana and Luciana show up the non-rhyming continues for about eighty more lines and then suddenly, hey presto, they’re all talking in rhyme. Mostly. Even then, though they finish the scene (another half page) talking in rhyme, even then, they still manage to slip in and out of rhyme. As you can see, today’s three lines are not written in rhyme.

So, why the inconsistency? I find that confusing. It’s not stick my finger in my eye and weep confusing, but it is confusing nonetheless.

 

I thought a picture of an eye might be appropriate, so naturally I turned to my sticker book. Well, I found three stickers of eyes: one really big, one really weird, and this one. Perhaps you'll get to see the other two on another day, or days.

Confused? I hope not. 

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

                       

Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;

To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;

This sensible warm motion to become

A kneaded clod; and the delightful spirit

To battle in fiery floods, or to reside

In the thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice:

 

Claudio

Measure For Measure          Act III, Scene i, Line 118

 

Claudio, who’s going to be executed tomorrow unless his sister sleeps with the magistrate, is talking about the finality of death. He goes on here talking about death, and ends with

The weariest and most loathed worldly life

That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment

Can lay on nature, is a paradise

To what we fear of death.

This is spoken by a guy who doesn’t want to die and is trying to talk his sister into sleeping with someone to save his life. So it probably seems like a good argument to Claudio.

Is it true. I don’t know. I do know that Will does spend a fair amount of time throughout his works on the subject of death. From the lines above, to Hamlet’s undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns to many others, Will gives us different ideas about death. 

Today’s idea, delivered from Claudio, doesn’t really leave much doubt. No matter how bad your life is, it’s a paradise compared to death. At least that’s the way it appears to someone about to die.

So it seems like we’ve spent the week talking about old age and impending death. Interesting.

Enough of this death and old age talk. 

Here's a picture of a life well spent.

 

 

 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

                        

O Lord, I could have stay’d here all the night

To hear good counsel: O, what learning is! –

My lord, I’ll tell my lady you will come.

 

Nurse
Romeo and Juliet           Act III, Scene iii, Line 158

 

Nurse is talking to Friar Laurence in the first two lines, and Romeo in the last one. They’re are at the Friar’s place where Romeo’s been whining about being banished for killing Tybalt. The friar tells him to get a grip, and that he should be happy he’s still alive. Then he tells him to go see Juliet before he leaves Verona, and Nurse responds with Today’s Totally Random Line.

Actually, the friar is making sense here. I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day. Unless it’s telling military time; then it’s only right once a day.

Funny thing, if I can go back to yesterday’s line for a moment. I was saying then, in not so many words, that I’m not old just because I have grey locks. Well I might have been wrong about that, and I'll tell you why.

We were taking Mojo for a walk yesterday when I got home from work, and he got away and ran into the street. I started to run after him and quickly found myself lying in the street. What happened? My mind said "run after him," and my body said, “I don’t think so, Fatso.” I didn’t actually trip, and I certainly didn’t pass out. My body just said "no, this isn't working for me." So down I went. On the fall I banged my elbow and knee, and now I’m walking pretty slow.

Just call me Edmund Mortimer.

 

Apparently this is what qualifies as a suitable activity for Mojo and me.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

          

I would his troubles likewise were expired,

That so he might recover what is lost.

 

Edmund Mortimer

King Henry the Sixth, Part I         Act II, Scene v, Line 31

 

Need more coffee. Feel a little like old Edmund Mortimer right now. He starts this act, addressing his jailers, talking about himself and how old he is.

Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.

And then he goes on for the next fourteen lines describing how decrepit he is: grey locks, the pursuivants of death…weak shoulders…pithless arms…etc, etc.

Honestly though, manys a morning before I get properly caffienated I feel like old Edmund. This morning being one of those mornings.

Pursuivant is listed in MW as archaic and meaning follower or attendant. Grey hair, the attendants of death. Fie on that!

Grey locks, the pursuivants of death?

Fie, fie, fie on that!