Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

For you, great king,

I would not from your love make such a stray,

To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you

T’avert your liking a more worthier way

Than on a wretch whom nature is ashamed

Almost t’acknowledge hers.

 

Lear

King Lear               Act I, Scene i, Line 210

 

Lear is telling the King of France, who had been one of the guys vying for the hand of Lear’s daughter Cordelia, to forget about her. Lear has just disowned Cordelia for not being effusive enough about her love for him. Now he’s telling the king to pick someone worthier to be his wife, rather than this wretch whom nature is ashamed almost to acknowledge hers.

See, now this is the part I’ve always had a little bit of trouble with in this play. Cordelia was honest with her father when he asked her how much she loved him. After her two rat-fink older sisters told Lear that they loved him above everything, he asked Cordelia what she could say that was more opulent than her sisters. Her reply, as we all know was Nothing.

 I love your majesty according to my bond; nor more nor less.

 She goes on

You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I

Return those duties back as are right fit,

Obey you, love you, and most honour you.

Why have my sisters husbands, if they say

They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,

That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry

Half my love with him, half my care and duty:

Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,

To love my father all.

And based on this very reasonable reply the old guy goes full psycho on her. Yeah, I don’t get that. But I suppose that’s just me. 

 

 

Now here's a perfect example: I would never expect Mojo to love me all. 

Heck, when the dishwasher is open he doesn't even know I exist!

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

These are kind creatures. Gods, what lies I have heard!

Our courtiers say all’s savage but at court:

Experience, O, thou disprovest report!

Th’imperious seas breed monsters; for the dish

Poor tributary rivers as sweet fish.

 

Imogen

Cymbeline               Act IV, Scene ii, Line 35

 

Imogen, the daughter of the king, has run away. She had a really bad situation at home having to do with a scheming stepmother and stepbrother. She disguises herself as a young man (there’s a shocker, eh?) and ends up in the wilderness where she is befriended by an old man, Belarius, and his two adult sons, Guiderius and Arviragus. In today’s lines she’s saying that she was lied to at court where they told her that all the commoners were savages. The key lines are the last two. She’s saying that in fact the imperious seas, the ruling class, breeds monstrous fish, whilst the towns and countryside breed sweet fish, sweet enough for the dinner plate. Ain’t that the truth.

Today’s line has implications for comparison to my world, especially today, Wednesday 11/6/24. The news of the morning is that one of the most imperious and monstrous of the big fishes is going to be put in charge soon. As distressing as that is (and it is VERY distressing) Patrice has pointed out to me that there is a way forward: spend all your time and attention on the Belariuses, the Guideriuses, and the Arviraguses, (we all have them) and give no attention at all to the imperious monsters. In other words, turn off and ignore completely the world and national news, and focus on my own corner of the world. And that is what I will do.

 

Whilst I have many, this is one very small Belarius that I can always count on to bring me comfort.

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds: but then exactly do

All points of my command.

 

Prospero

The Tempest    Act I, Scene ii, Line 500

Prospero is telling Ariel that he’s going to set him free, but that for right now he still needs him to follow his commands. And, (spoiler alert) Prospero is true to his word as he does set Ariel free at the end of the play.

I always like it when a writer, not just Will, adds a modifier to an expression that really adds something substantial. Ariel won’t just be as free as the wind, he’ll be as free as mountain winds. The wind outside my window is not nearly as free as the winds up in the mountains. Up there no one is around to do anything to impede it, and it’s higher up in the atmosphere where the air is thinner and the winds can blow more easily. Those winds are significantly more free than the ones around here.

A modern line that’s a good example of this is Sweet as an apple on Christmas day. It’s a Paul Simon song lyric that’s always stuck with me because… well, just because. It’s not just sweet as an apple, but it’s an apple being eaten on Christmas day, when everything is a little sweeter.

 

Here's one more pretty good example. 

Don't just say sleepy; say sleepy as Mojo on Pete's shoulder when he's spouting on about Shakespeare. 

Now that's sleepy!