Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Rumble thy bellyful. Spit, fire! Spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call’d you children;
You owe me no subscription. Then let fall,
Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despis’d old man;
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That will with two pernicious daughters join
Your high-engender’d battles ‘gainst a head
So old and white as this. O, ho! ‘Tis foul.

 

Lear

King Lear              Act III, Scene ii, Line 16

 

Classic scene. We’re well into the play and Lear is now aware that his two older daughters are rotten bitches. He’s wandering on the heath at night in a thunderstorm, alone except for his fool, howling at the heavens. Classic!

I’m sitting at my granddaughter’s house in Minnesota drinking my morning coffee before anyone else is up. I’m listening to Zac Brown’s Knee Deep and feeling pretty good about things.

I have no doubt that there are people who get driven as mad as Lear by life’s problems. I’m thankful that I’m not one of them. At least, today I’m not. And all we really ever have is today, n’est pas?

 

No rain, wind, thunder, or fire; just a peaceful sunset over frozen Forest Lake.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Look you, if you take the matter others than is meant, Captain MacMorris, peradventure I shall think you do not use me with that affability as in discretion you ought to use me, look you; being as goot a man as yourself, both in the disciplines of war, and in the derivation of my birth, and in other particularities.

 

Fluellen

King Henry the Fifth            Act III, Scene ii, Line 128

 

 

Today we have more of the adventures of the Welshman Fluellen. I had to look up the word peradventure and it means perhaps or possibly. That’s per MW online. Also, the MW word of the day is MacGuffin, and per MW a MacGuffin is an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.

So, peradventure is Fluellen, and this conversation, a MacGuffin? More importantly, doe a writer of Will’s caliber use MacGuffins? 

Both great questions, eh? Unfortunately, I’m not going to give you any great answers. I’ll leave it up to you. But at least we’ve added the word peradventure to our vocabulary. 

Good luck!

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose,--

 

Marc Antony

Antony and Cleopatra           Act I, Scene iii, Line 14

I’m not sure, but I think Antony is about to tell Cleopatra that he’s got to head back to Rome. Cleopatra’s been talking about him, and he just entered the scene. The script reads Enter Antony and then he speaks Today’s Line. After that Cleopatra keeps interrupting him. It’s not until the next page that Antony gets around to telling her about going back to Rome, but I think that’s what he’s referring to when he starts with Today’s Totally Random Line.

So when he says give breathing to my purpose is he talking about being sorry that he has to tell her what he’s gonna do, or sorry about what he has to do? Maybe both. It’s an interesting line.

I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose. I think he’s talking about being sorry about what he has to tell her. Yeah, I’m going with that.

Mojo doesn't care if Antony's sorry about what he has to tell or sorry about what he has to do. Mojo's just sorry (more like pissed off) that someone put all his toys up on the chair where he can't reach them. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

I warrant you, with pure love and troubled brain, he hath ta’en his bow and arrows, and is gone forth-to sleep. Look, who comes here.

 

Celia

As You Like It               Act IV, Scene iii,  Line 5

This is Celia making excuses to Rosalind for Orlando. It’s past the time that the lad promised to show up, and there’s no sign of him. The who comes here is not Orlando, it’s Silvius. Now the conversation quickly turns from Orlando to Silvius and the latter’s unrequited love with Phebe.

So now, if I were going to key in on anything here, and I guess I am, I think it would be the phrase with pure love and troubled brain. What do you think? Celia’s trying to give Orlando the benefit of the doubt for standing up Rosalind, and so describes him to be with pure love and troubled brain. Pure and troubled. Not just pure. And not just troubled. Pure and troubled. Both are an indication of a young man in love, almost any young man in love. I guess maybe some old one’s too, but particularly the young ones. Both are a defense of Orlando. That is to say, he’s got a lot on his mind and that’s why he’s forgotten about his date with Rosalind, but it’s not because he doesn’t love her.

Yeah, let’s leave with that one. Pure love and troubled brain.

I think my little friend Mojo might be an example of pure love and un-troubled brain. 

What do you think?

 

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?