Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

 

Ophelia

Hamlet                     Act III, Scene i,  Line 116

  

This is an exchange between Ophelia and Hamlet. The latter has just said to Ophelia, I did love you once. Of course, in the next line Hamlet’s going to say, I loved you not. It’s mad Hamlet here. Or is he mad? This is at the core of the enigma that is Hamlet; Hamlet the person and Hamlet the play.

It seems unlikely that we’ll be unraveling this puzzle today. It seems just as unlikely that we’re going to spend much time trying.

I think for today that we'll just move on.

Fall Risk? Me? Well, this should give you some clue as to why there's been no posts in almost two weeks. And whilst there's more to the story than that, I think we'll leave it at that for now. 

We'll just move on.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Come, you look paler and paler: pray you, draw homewards.—Good sir, go with us.

 

Celia

As You Like It                    Act IV, Scene iii, Line 177

 

I’m not sure who Celia’s talking to, or what she’s talking about, but I like the sound of the words draw homewards. When I’ve been away I like to draw homewards. I was away a week ago for about ten days, and toward the end of that trip I was anxious to draw homewards.

Sam's pretty happy in my homeward place, but I'll be that he too may be yearning to draw homewards himself.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Who, I, my lord? We know each other’s faces,

But for our hearts, he knows no more of mine

Than I of yours; nor I no more of his

Than you of mine.

Duke of Buckingham

Richard the Third        Act III, Scene iv, Line 13

I think they’re trying to decide about Richard’s coronation and the question is whether or not Richard is ready. They turn to Buckingham and ask him how Richard feels about the coronation and Today’s Totally Random Line is his reply. It’s basically a Sergeant Schultz reply: “I know nothing; nothing!” 

I guess you gotta be an old guy like me to get that reference.

(23) Sgt Schultz - I Know Nothing - YouTube

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Moon and Stars!--

Whip him.

 

Marc Antony

Antony and Cleopatra        Act III, Scene xiii, Line 95

Antony is telling his guys to whip the messenger of Caesar. So he’s not going to shoot the messenger, but he is going to whip him Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face,/And whine aloud for mercy:

Apparently the fellow didn’t show Antony the proper respect when Antony asked him a question. It’s kind of funny because wise old Enobarbus watched the messenger answer Antony and immediately said to himself, You will be whipt. And now what’s happening? He’s gonna get whipt. Enobarbus is the wisest guy in this play, if you ask me.

Now, just as a follow-up to yesterday’s thoughts: the problem with humanity is humans, or at least a lot of us are. And this will never change as long as we humans are around. There will always be the guys who want to be the next Peter the Great but turn out to be the next Adolf Hitler. There will always be the guys who want all the power and the money and are willing to do anything to their fellow humans to get it. There will always be bad actors as long as there are people. I guess my point is that there’s no way around it.

I used to think Bill Gates was wrong for spending all that money to eradicate disease in Africa when the real problem in Africa is the warring factions, not the disease. Well, I guess Bill realizes that he, and all of us, are powerless to deal with bad humans, but we can deal with bad mosquitoes and bad germs. Now I get it.

Okay Antony, I guess you might as well whip him. 

One more pic from the land of no bad actors: just sea lions, iguanas, and birds. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Why keep we her? The Grecians keep our aunt:

Is she worth keeping? Why, she is a pearl,

Whose price hath launcht above a thousand ships,

And turn’d crown’d kings to merchants.

 

Troilus

Troilus And Cressida        Act II, Scene ii, Line 80

 

Okay, this scene is the Trojans discussing whether or not they should give Helen back to the Greeks. The Greeks have just sent someone to tell the Trojans that if they send Helen back now, the Greeks will forget all this ever happened and go home.

Well now, let’s recap a little, shall we?

Paris went to Greece and stole Menelaus’s wife, Helen. By some accounts she left willingly with Paris, but in any event, he took her back to Troy and that’s what started this whole imbroglio. The Greeks came to get her back and have now been laying siege to Troy for how many years?

Troilus, Hector, Helenanus, and Paris are all sons of Priam, the king of Troy. They’re considering this latest Greek proposal. Hector has started the discussion with the argument that they should surrender Helen to the Greeks. Today’s Totally Random Lines are in the middle of Troilus’s argument for doing no such thing. The first line about the Greeks keeping the aunt is a little confusing because it’s a bit of a red herring. Apparently, before the Paris/Helen thing ever happened the Greeks had kidnapped Hesione, a sister of Priam. Will is having Troilus throw that out as though it were a reason for the kidnapping of Helen, but it’s not and it’s got nothing to do with Helen. After that first line, Troilus is just talking about Helen. The famous launched a thousand ships line? That’s Christopher Marlowe’s from his play Doctor Faustus. It’s not Will’s creation.

How do I know all this? I don’t, or I didn’t. I found the bit about Aunt Hesione in Asimov’s Guide To Shakespeare and the Marlowe tidbit in the G.B. Harrison footnotes of my anthology.

Anyway, the Trojans decide, for better or worse, not to surrender Helen, and the fighting goes on. And on, and on, and on. I guess it still hasn’t stopped, has it?

Here is where I've been and why there have been no posts in the past week and a half. Where is this? The Galapagos Islands. Yes, I was visiting the iguanas and tortoises and sea turtles and blue footed boobies. It's an amazing place, and a place where the land and the animals are completely protected. It got me to thinking that those islands are better off without humans, and wondering if this whole planet might be better off without us. At the rate we're going, we may find out. 

Not a very pleasant thought, eh?

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

Thy love! Out, tawny Tartar, out!                              

 

Lysander

A Midsummer Night’s Dream         Act III, Scene ii, Line 263

  

This is Lysander reacting to Hermia when she says, 

Why have you grown so rude? What change is this,
Sweet love?

Lysander is acting under a spell whereby he now only has eyes for Helena, even though Hermia is his girlfriend. Tawny Tartar is a bit redundant and refers to one of a dark complexion. So, I guess, without using any really objectionable words, Will is being a bit…umm what’s the word I’m looking for…racist? Well, that might be a bit strong, but if you were looking to take that track the course is clear. I, for one, will not be going down that road today.

In fact, and for what it’s worth, Lysander seems to be an equal opportunity slanderer, as a few lines farther down he continues, calling Hermia,

                                       You dwarf;

You minimus, of hind'ring knot-grass made;

You bead, you acorn.

Ahhh, acorn! Now we're getting down to it!

And here you go: a picture of my associate with his Acorn. 

I doubt he ever realized just how Shakespearean he was being by calling his mother an Acorn.

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

                            The time is troublesome.--

 

Cymbeline

Cymbeline                      Act IV, Scene iii, Line 21

 

Sometimes, when the line seems fit to it, I like to just apply it to my world and completely ignore the actual context. And this is definitely how I feel today. To me, the time is troublesome.

    I feel that the time is troublesome: the wars, the politics, the guns, the poverty.

    I feel that the time is troublesome: to be so fat, so thin, so stuck and stressing about retiring and so much else.
Battleship wrecked on dry land. Am I that Battleship?

Never mind that, forget the battleship. Life is sweet. That's the battleship's song. Listen to the song. Be grateful. And that is key. Be grateful.

Sometimes the words and the music put together can mean so much.
Natalie Merchant – Life Is Sweet.

Meditate on this song. Wonderful, just wonderful. Hopefully it takes a little bit of trouble away.

Natalie Merchant - Life is Sweet Live (youtube.com)