Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I then moved you,

My Lord of Canterbury; and got your leave

To make this present summons: unsolicited

I left no reverend person in this court;

But by particular consent proceeded

Under your hands and seals: therefore, go on:

For no dislike i’ the world against the person

Of the good queen, but the sharp thorny points

Of my alleged reasons, drive this forward:

Prove but our marriage lawful, by my life

And kingly dignity, we are contented

To wear our mortal state to come with her,

Katharine our queen, before the primest creature

That paragon’d the world.

 

King Henry

King Henry the Eighth            Act II, Scene iv,  Line 211

 

 

Well that’s a long line, isn’t it? And easily understandable? Not quite. But it is one sentence, albeit with a lot of colons, commas, and semicolons. Just to be clear, the one Totally Random Line that was randomly picked today is

Under your hands and seals: therefore, go on:

I think you’ll agree that I couldn’t give you that line all on its own. Right?  

 

Clearly, Mojo agrees with me. Thank you Mojo.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

For the boy, there is a good angel about him; but the devil outbids him too.

 

Sir John Falstaff

King Henry the Fourth Part II         Act II, Scene iv,  Line 338

I’m not sure who the boy is, but it’s pretty easy to figure out what Sir John’s assessment of him is.

 

I used this pic way back in 2016. It seemed appropriate for today.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

            Bring him to us.

 

King Henry

King Henry the Eighth            Act V, Scene i,  Line 83

 

Well that sounds a bit ominous. I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t want to be the ‘him’ in this sentence, though in fact, I have no idea what’s going on here and no intention this morning of finding out. I hope that’s okay with you.

I like lines like this for their simplicity and understandability. Yes, Shakespeare can be difficult. But Shakespeare can be easy too, and that’s nice to know. By the way, aren’t you just a little curious who Henry wants to see and why?

The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth at Absolute Shakespeare

Here is a link to the text if you wish to read the scene and see if you can find out who Henry wants to see. In the meantime, here's an odd little tidbit for you. I have four different links on my blog to sites that have Will's full texts. The first three I looked at did not have this line. That's right, the four words Bring him to us were simply not there. The fourth one did, so that's the link I gave you above. Anyway, I decided to look at my trusty First Folio. Yup, it's got the line Bring him to us. So what's up with that?

 

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.