Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

I wish you all joy of the worm.

Clown

Antony and Cleopatra                  Act V, Scene ii, Line 260

 

Well that’s an odd little line, eh? Now, given that this is almost the end of the play, can you guess what the worm is? Yes, that’s right, it’s the asp that Cleopatra’s going to use to end her life. The clown (whoever that is) has just brought a basket with the asp/worm in it. He and Cleopatra have a little bit of back and forth about the asp/worm, and then the clown leaves.

Twice he wishes her the joy of the worm; an interesting little turn of phrase. What exactly does he mean? What is the joy of the worm? Death? Hmmm. I don’t know. It’s a bit odd.

How about a worm like this guy; do you think you could get much joy out of him?

Not me!

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.

Malvolio

Twelfth Night                Act II, Scene v, Line 144

It’s pretty funny that this quote about greatness has been used over and over again with such gravitas; funny because it’s original context above is in a letter playing a cruel practical joke on Malvolio. The letter he is reading has been written by Maria and Sir Toby. They designed it to be found by Malvolio and for him to believe it is a letter written by his Mistress Olivia professing that she is secretly in love with him. Of course, she is not, and it leads to Malvolio acting so ridiculous in her presence that she has him locked up.

And now here we are; for once we have randomly picked a line from Shakespeare’s works that we’ve actually heard before - only to find that its original meaning has nothing to do with the meaning people have when they use it today.

How ironic. How perfectly Shakespearean. It almost feels as though Will put it there to play a joke on us! What a clever fellow. I told you he had a good sense of humor.

Yes, that's right: some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. 

But most, like yours truly here, simply live to be used and abused by the Sir Toby's of the world. I say that with a smile in my heart and laugh on my lips. Sort of.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

By this, lamenting Philomel had ended

The well-tuned warble of her nightly sorrow,

And solemn night with slow sad gait descended

To ugly hell; when, lo, the blushing morrow

Lends light to all fair eyes that light will borrow:

    But cloudy Lucrece shames herself to see,

    And therefore still in night would cloister’d be.

 

Narrator

Lucrece                          Line 1083

 

It’s a little bit cryptic, but basically it’s saying that though night is ending, Lucrece wants no part of the day, and would rather stay in the dark.

Yup, that’s what it’s saying.

Sunrise, or sunset? 

Actually, it's sunset, so not the right pic for these lines. But I couldn't find a pic of sunrise. Not to mention the fact that it's the same pic I used three days ago.

Sorry.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Acquaint her with the danger of my state;

Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends

To the strict deputy; bid herself assay him.

 

Claudio

Measure For Measure          Act I, Scene ii, Line 119

 

Claudio has been sentenced to death for adultery. He’s talking to his friend Lucio and asking him to talk to Claudio’s sister. He wants his sister to try to talk to Angelo (the deputy who’s been put in charge by the Duke in his absence) to see if she can put in a good word for him.

So, assay, which is still a very common word, in today’s use means to try to win him over. I don’t think you’ll see it used that much like that anymore. I’m not even sure if it’s defined as such anymore.

I’ve been used to seeing the word assay frequently used as a noun over the past seven years. An assay, in the biotech world is any test which analyzes a substance to determine its properties: the presence or absence of one or more components. I won’t be hearing assay much anymore for two reasons. One is that I am going to be retiring in a few months, and the other is that the company is shutting down anyway. So, we’re not going to be analyzing any substances for my last few months of work, we’re just going to be talking about how to take care of shutting down a business. There might still be a few assays of investors (in the sense of Claudio's use of the word), but I think that's pretty much done with. 

 

Here is my electric biked parked at the office last summer. I' not sure if I'm going to be working there long enough to be riding to the office and parking it here again, but we'll see.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Ay, so I fear, the more is my unrest.

 

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet         Act I, Scene v, Line 112

 

Quick context: We’re near the beginning of the play, and this is the scene where Romeo and some friends have crashed a party at the Capulets. They’ve managed to do this because it’s a masked party. Romeo has met Juliet for the first time, they’ve had a brief encounter, shared a kiss, and, of course, fallen madly and irretrievably, in love. At this point Romeo’s friend Benvolio realizes that they’ve been recognized and comes up and tells Romeo they need to get out of there.

Away, be gone, the sport is at the best, he says. In other words, let’s get out of here, the jig is up.

And that’s what Romeo is responding to with Today’s Totally Random Line.

It’s as simple as that. Comments?

I can say with no fear or unrest that, whilst I'm not certain that this guy is the most interesting biotech analyst in the world, this is definitely one of the most interesting coffee cups in the cabinet.