Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

               No, that were pity:

I would entreat you rather to put on

Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends

That purpose merriment. But fare ye well:

I have some business.

Bassanio

The Merchant of Venice          Act II, Scene ii,  Line 202

 

That purpose merriment; he has friends that purpose merriment.

First of all, have we ever seen purpose as a verb. I will make it my purpose. I have a purpose. But, I purpose? I dunno; sounds pretty Willish to me.

Second, to purpose merriment. They make it, or will make it, their purpose to have fun. That doesn’t sound all that bad, does it. 

Dracula here looks like he purposes merriment.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Dear master, I can go no further: O, I die for food! Here lie I down, and measure out my grave Farewell, kind master.

 

Adam

As You Like It             Act II, Scene vi, Line 1

There's not much to explain here. Orlando and the old man have been wandering in the forest, and the old man has about had it. Don’t worry; they’ll run into some people soon who will help them out and feed them.

Here's two old guys, and we've been wandering around backstage. But don't worry; the girls are about to take us out to feed us.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child,
And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,
As thou report’s thyself, was then her servant;
And, for thou was't a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr’d commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigated rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison’d, thou dids’t painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died,
And left thee there; where thou first bent thy groans
As fast at mill-wheels strike. Then was this island--
Save for the son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp hag-born-- not honour’d with
A human shape.

 

Prospero

The Tempest            Act I, Scene ii, Line 274

 

Hest is the only word in there I am completely unfamiliar with (and I’ve read this play many times). MW has it though: Command, Precept. It’s listed as archaic; so I’ll give you that.
Nonetheless, it is all in all a quite understandable passage. Wouldn’t you agree?

Just in case you didn’t know, this is Prospero talking to Ariel and recounting to him (her? them?) what Ariel had told Prospero at an earlier date. It’s the story of how when Prospero first came to the island, he found Ariel trapped inside a tree where the hag witch Sycorax had left him.

I’m not sure why I decided to type out the whole passage. Today’s Totally Random Line was Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee. Now that’s in the middle of a long sentence that takes up a good deal of the passage, so I decided to just give you the whole thing.

And there you go.

And here you go with a pic of Prospero and Ariel having this conversation.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

By whom, Camillo?

Polixenes

The Winter’s Tale     Act I, Scene ii, Line 412

Only three words in Today's Line, so I'll return with just three: 

Yes, by whom?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Oh how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow!

Her eye seen in the tears, tears in the eyes;

Both crystals, where they view’d each other’s sorrow,--

Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry;

But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain,

Sighs dry her cheeks, tears make them wet again.

 

Narrator

Venus and Adonis                          Line 966

 

It’s funny that I ended my last post with Your eyes my rest easy, and now today’s starts with her eyes and tears. And yesterday we had balls bounding and today just eyeballs.

Anyway, today’s lines are simply a description of one crying. It is a rather original way to describe someone crying, and of course the language is superb: it is Will, after all. I suppose, though, that someone else could have come up with this idea: teardrops and eyeballs as similar crystals; wind and rain vs sighs and tears. 

I’ve never seen this way of talking about crying before, but what does that count for? There's an awful, awful lot that I've never seen.

If the eye was seen in the tears, he must be talking about a reflection of the eye seen in the teardrop. Did he have a microscope? And then, is tears in her eyes also talking about a reflection, or are we now just talking about seeing the teardrops in her eyes, as we would normally think of seeing tears in one's eyes. 

Well now, that's a dry eye above, and I can see a reflection of the light in it; but would I be able to see the reflection of a teardrop in it. 

I think I might be over thinking this. Just read the lines and enjoy the language, Pete.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Why, these balls bound; there’s noise in it.—

‘Tis hard:

A young man married is a man that’s marr’d:

Therefore, away, and leave her; bravely go:

The king has done you wrong; hush, ‘tis so.

 

Parolles

All’s Well That Ends Well      Act III, Scene ii, Line 113

 

Okay, Bertram is telling his buddy Parolles that the king has just forced him, Bertram, to marry a woman he had no desire to marry; so he’s decided to run off to the wars immediately without consummating the marriage.

Today’s lines are Parolles scene-ending, concluding comments.
The first of these four lines is figurative speech, assessing the situation as a whole. The last three lines are pretty easy to understand, so let’s take a look at that first line.

My dad used to say, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I think Parolles’s statement may not be too far from that. The balls bounding is the events transpiring. The noise is the negative aspect of the events, and hard is hard.
So once again we are given a phrase to use. When we, or someone we know, is faced with a somewhat difficult situation we can say
These balls bound; there’s noise in it.— ‘Tis hard.

And that, of course will get you the obligatory eye-roll. Yes, it certainly will. No worries though: the odds of me remembering this line to use are pretty remote. Your eyes may rest easy.

How about this ball? I can tell you that it definitely bounds, but it's not very noisy, nor is it hard. It's probably not exactly the type of ball that Parolles was picturing for his euphemism. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:

We cannot fight for love, as men may do;

We should be woo’d, and were not made to woo.

 

Helena

A Midsummer Night’s Dream      Act II, Scene i, Line 241

 

This is Helena talking to Demetrius, pleading with him to love her. He has told her repeatedly that he wants nothing to do with her, but she won’t listen. 

I’m not sure what to say about Today's Line, so perhaps I'll just say nothing.

 I can't help but think that this is the exact expression I would get out of these two guys if I read today's lines to them. It's a sort of 

Well, we're trying to get something out of that G-pa, but really, wtf?