Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recover’d your ancient freedom: but you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility.

 

Jack Cade

King Henry the Sixth Part II      Act IV,  Scene viii,  Line 27

 

It’s Jack Cade the rabble rouser taking here, and his rabble is about to realize that they’re going to be better off remaining loyal to the king than they would be following him. Jack is only a few lines away from hightailing it out of there. Next stop for him is Iden’s garden, two scenes later, where he will find his end amongst the tomato plants.

I can think of a few big mouth world leaders that the world would be better off if they found their end amongst the tomato plants before they can do any more damage. Yes, the world today has quite a few Jack Cades. Quel dommage!

Well, I didn't have any tomato (or orange) pictures handy, so you'll have to settle for this picture of a banana. Yes, that's right, a banana. 

Feel free to call me a recreant or dastard if you like.  

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 Bring in the banquet quickly; wine enough Cleopatra’s health to drink.

Domitius Enobarbus

Antony and Cleopatra      Act I,  Scene ii,  Line 12

The scene, at this point both before and after Enobarbus’s line, is about Charmian getting her palm read. We have Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and the Soothsayer on stage as Enobarbus makes his entrance. His line seems to be ignored by everyone present as they continue to discuss Charmian’s fortune based on her palm reading.

It’s a bit odd. 

Anything?

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

  

                          But hear thee, Gratiano:

Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice,-

Parts that become thee happily enough,

And in such eyes as ours appear not faults;

But where thou art not known, why, there thy show

Something too liberal. Prithee, take pain

To allay with some cold drops of modesty

Thy skipping spirit; lest, through thy wild behaviour,

I be misconstrued in the place I go to,

And lose my hopes.

  

Bassiano

The Merchant of Venice           Act II,  Scene ii,  Line 184

 

Bassiano has told Gratiano that he can come with him to Belmont, and in today’s lines he’s telling him to behave.

Yes, I gave you two sentences. I did this because today’s random line is the one that begins Showing too liberal. Thus it has the end of one sentence and the beginning of another. But though I gave you ten lines, they’re an easy ten lines; easy to read and understand. At least, I think they are.

And here’s something interesting: the first line is an example of using a comma whilst addressing someone. But hear thee, (comma) Gratiano. Some would construe that as validation for using a comma in the sentence Thanks, Pete, when thanking Pete for something. Some would, but probably not me.

Before we accept that this is proof positive, we would need to consider a few things:
For starters, Will made up the rules as he went along.
For enders, we know that the only sanctioned copy of the plays was published after his death, and that the final say on punctuation and spelling in that printed copy was made by the guys who were doing the very laborious task of setting the type in the printing press, mostly letter by letter, and punctuation mark by punctuation mark.

So before we point to this and say, Ah hah! It must be right because that’s how Will does it! Before we say that, I would say… well what would I say? I would say it’s a nice Friday morning here in my safe and sound living room, and I would say to Will, Thanks for the example. That’s right, I’d say –

Thanks, Will.

 

Diane Hacker's The Bedford Handbook. The section on commas goes from page 382 to 408. That's twenty-six pages, but I couldn't find the answer to the question.

Thanks for nothing, Diane.

or should I say,

Thanks for nothing Diane.

Who knows?

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

I have a venturous fairy that shall seek

The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.

 

Titania
A Midsummer Night’s Dream       Act IV,  Scene i,  Line 33

Bottom asked for hay, but I guess he’s gonna get nuts. He’s currently got the head of an ass, but he’s got Titania doting on him, and he’s got the fairies at his beck and call. He’s also not fully aware that he has the head of an ass, so it appears that Mr. Bottom is feeling pretty good about things just now. I suppose I would be pretty happy with his situation, at least on a temporary basis.
Bring on the nuts!

But wait, do I currently have the head of an ass without realizing it?

Am I wishing for hay but willing to settle for nuts?

Is the woman in love with me under some spell and not seeing me for who I truly am?

All interesting questions to think about, aren’t they? But let’s not dwell on it.

Again, bring on the nuts!

Oh wait, not those nuts!

No, I'm not referring to the two nuts in the picture; I'm talking about the tree nuts that my associate ate this weekend that landed us in the ER where this pic was taken. 

You gotta be careful with your nuts!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 

Three thousand ducats for three months, and Antonio bound.

 

Shylock

The Merchant of Venice            Act I,  Scene iii,  Line 56

 

A ducat, of course, is some form of old Italian money. Antonio bound means that Antonio will sign for it.

Three thousand ducats. Shylock opens the scene with those words as he and Bassanio are discussing the loan. Three thousand ducats. This three thousand ducats might be considered the piece around which this whole play revolves. It’s the three thousand ducats that Bassanio needs to buy his way into the Portia lottery, and it’s the unpaid three thousand ducats that leads to the trial scene and the pound of flesh.

Three thousand ducats. As is so often the case, in this story it’s all about the Benjamins.

 

A Benjamin!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 Come; come away, man- I was sent to call thee.

Panthino
Two Gentlemen of Verona    Act II,  Scene iii,  Line xx

Wouldn’t you know it; we were in this same scene just last week. And I bet you’re asking: Who the heck is Panthino? Well so am I.

Apparently he’s a minor character in this play who’s put in this scene for Launce to interact with. I’m not sure if he has any other scenes or not. I just looked it up: he has 36 lines, 81% in verse, making up less than 2% of the play's lines. He shows up in 3 scenes.

That’s probably quite a bit more than you really wanted to know about Panthino.

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

 

Nay, ‘twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; All the kind of Launces have this very fault.

 

Launce

Two Gentlemen Of Verona            Act II, Scene iii, Line 1

 

So this is the very first line of the scene. The setting is a street in Verona and the stage direction to start the scene is Enter Launce, leading his dog. That’s right - Launce has a dog. We don’t know if the dog is on a leash, or free roaming. We do, however, find out the dog’s name. It’s Crab. The dog is named Crab. And Launce spends the next thirty-five or so lines explaining how he and his entire family are sad that he has to leave to go to Milan with Proteus.

 Everyone is sad except Crab. Apparently, Crab couldn’t care less and Launce is finding that a bit upsetting. To be clear, Launce is described as a clownish servant to Proteus, so he’s basically in this play for the comedic value. And it’s a pretty silly soliloquy. It’s not that funny to read, but I can see how someone with comedic talent could make it funny on stage. I mean, how sad can you expect a dog to act?

I’ll have to listen to this scene sometime to see what I get out of it. Unfortunately, now is not that time. Unfortunately.

I don't have a picture of a Dog named Crab, but I do have a picture of a Cat named Bird. 

That will have to do.