Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Nay. In that you are astray, ‘twere best pound you.

 

Proteus

Two Gentlemen of Verona              Act I Scene i, Line 110

 

And here we are at the beginning of the play. Yesterday we were at the end. Today’s line is part of an interchange between Proteus and Speed. The latter just delivered a love letter to Julia for Proteus, and they are discussing her response which, apparently, was a non-response.

Rather than get into the wordplay of this exchange, I thought it might be interesting to note that yesterday, in Act V near the end of the play, Proteus is all about Silvia. Today, in Act I at the beginning, he’s all about Julia. This is similar in that respect to another of Will’s more famous plays where in Act I the titular hero is in love with Rosaline and in Act V he dies with his lover Juliet. That’s right, I’m talking about Romeo and Juliet.

I don’t think we ever find out what happened to Julia or Rosaline. They become forgotten ladies. Hopefully they both found happiness elsewhere.   

I came across this picture yesterday. That's a younger me with Grumpy Bear in her Little Red Riding Hood outfit. We were at some event at Quinnipiac, but that's not why I picked this picture for today. 

See that woman on the right, smiling at the camera? She's not with us, even though for all the world it appears that she is. I have no idea who she is. 

So, in the story of this picture, she is the forgotten lady. Hopefully she found happiness with that guy behind her (the guy with the tree growing out of his head), but we'll never know. Will we? 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

What dangerous action, stood it next to death,

Would I not undergo for one calm look.

Proteus

Two Gentlemen of Verona              Act V, Scene iv, Line 41

 

Proteus is talking to Silvia, who he’s in love with but who loves Valentine (I think). She’s upset with Proteus, so I guess it’s one calm look from her that he’s talking about. He would undergo anything for one calm look from her: doesn’t even need to be a smile, just one calm look.

I dunno, I think if I was going to have to undergo anything, presumably something pretty bad, I’d want to get at least a smile. But that’s just me, I guess.

There's a smile!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Take  my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee.—Hoo! Marcius coming home!

  

Menenius Agrippa

Coriolanus                      Act II, Scene i, Line 108

 

It looks like Menenius is glad to hear that Caius Marcius Coriolanus is coming home. The latter is coming home from battle where he nearly single-handedly captured the town of Corioli. This is how he got the name Coriolanus, but Menenius doesn’t know about this yet, so he is calling him by his given name which is Caius Marcius or just Marcius.

One of the versions I looked at had the stage direction of throws cap into the air after the name Jupiter. I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to picture what kind of cap a Roman would have been wearing.

       

This is the hat I wore today. It's my rain hat because, well, it's raining. It seems very doubtful that Menenius would have had a hat like this. 

But who knows? 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from thence:

I long that we were safe and sound aboard.

  

Antipholus of Syracuse

The Comedy of Errors                    Act IV, Scene iv, Line 148

 

I believe the Centaur is the inn they are staying at. Antipholus is talking to Dromio and he’s had just about enough of Ephesus. He wants out. He wants to be safe and sound aboard the vessel leaving town. 

Interesting that the phrase safe and sound has found its way safely to 2023 without any change in form or meaning. It’s funny, because we don’t much use the word sound in the sense of whole and intact very much anymore. But we certainly use the words safe and sound. It’s a good phrase - safe and sound. It’s always good to be and feel safe and sound. Think of all the people in the world today who have good reason not to feel safe and sound.

Perhaps that should be our thought for the day - appreciating that we are, for the most part, safe and sound. And if you like, you can also appreciate the fact that we still have the phrase safe and sound after all these years.

Safe and sound.

Here is the view from where I sit and write my blog most mornings, safe and sound (no, no babies; that's Mojo's city apartment in the left foreground of the pictures).

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

                                         For mine own good,

All causes shall give way: I am in blood

Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o’er:

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;

Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.

Macbeth

Macbeth                          Act III, Scene iv, Line 137

 

 

From one titular classic tragedy character to another – both, naturally, tragically flawed.

This is Macbeth sinking further and further into his new self. He has murdered King Duncan and his friend Banquo and realizes that there’s no turning back now.

Here, I’ll give you Pete’s Version:
Everything and everyone will bend to my purposes now. I’m so deep in that there’s no turning back. These strange ideas that I have will soon be turned to action, and it’s only after they’ve been acted on that they will be fully understood.

Well, I’m not sure what’s to be understood beyond what is obvious, and that is that Macbeth has turned into a murderous, treasonous fellow out of ambition to be the top dog.

Does he want us to think there’s more to it than that? Well, is there? Is there more than that?

This of course raises a philosophical question: Is there a belief in the mind of the Hitler, or the Putin, or the Trump that makes them think that there is a reason that they are the answer? That they are the chosen one? Do they believe they are fated to be that. I guess with our friend Macbeth he does believe it’s fate, since the three sisters told him so and because the first thing they told him - Thane of Cawdor - came true on its own. I think it was the Thane of Cawdor thing that set Macbeth on his path.
What about the guys in real life history. Did they have their own three sisters and Thane of Cawdor experience? Or did they just convince themselves all on their own?

Now that’s an interesting question. Whether or not you give two hoots about Shakespeare or not, that's an interesting question.

 

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 How, how, Cordelia! Mend your speech a little,

Lest it may mar your fortunes.

Lear

King Lear                        Act I, Scene i, Line 94

 

This is line ninety-four in the play, and it’s all downhill from here.

Just previous to Today’s Line is one of my favorite Shakespearean lines, and one that I tend to speak whenever I get the reply ‘nothing’ from someone.

Lear is divvying up his kingdom in thirds twixt his three daughters and has just received lavish statements of love from the first two. Now he turns to his youngest, Cordelia, ready to give her a third of his kingdom. 

And he asks her,                                                                                   What can you say to draw a third, more opulent than your sisters?

 Cordelia replies,
    Nothing, my lord.

Lear responds,
    Nothing!

And Cordelia repeats,
    Nothing.

To which Lear declares,
    Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

Nothing will come of nothing. Ask Walker or Patrice how many times they’ve heard me respond Nothing will come of Nothing when they have replied to a question with the answer Nothing. They will simply roll their eyes and say Too many times!

Pete: Walks, what do you want to do after dinner?

Walker: Nothing.

Pete: Nothing will come of Nothing!

Walker: Urgggh.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 Shall, then, my father’s will be of no force

To dispossess tht child that which is not his?

 

Robert Falcounbridge

King John               Act I, Scene i, Line 130

It’s a funny little part of this scene where these two brothers show up in front of the king looking for his judgement. It’s a case of inheritance and with one of the brothers going simply by the name of Bastard, well, I guess you might be able to get a sense of what the issue is.

Anyway, Robert Faulcounbridge, the other brother and today’s speaker, will quickly go away and not be seen again, whilst Bastard will be a major player in this play. Yes, that’s right, Bastard.
Go figure.

It’s funny what we, as individuals notice. I mean that it’s funny how two people subjected to the same scene, or song, or pretty much any experience, will have have different experiences. For one person the name Bastard will be meaningless and they may be more interested in the name Falcounbridge (that is a pretty interesting name), and for another Bastard might be grabber. But it’s true with everything. 

A grocery store stop,
‘That place was empty today; where is everybody?’
‘I was too busy noticing the prices; when did milk get that expensive?’

A new person you just met,
‘Did you get a hold of those glasses he was wearing?’
‘What glasses? I couldn’t take my eyes off those wild looking sandals on his feet.’

It’s everything. Shared experiences are just one Bastard vs Robert Falcounbridge after another.

So, what's this a picture of? What's your take away?