By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower; Which, once discern'd, shows that her meaning is,

No way to that, for weakness, which she enter'd.

Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE on the top, thrusting out a torch burning

Reigner

King Henry The Sixth Part One                   Act III, Scene ii     Line 23

I added the stage direction that  immediately follows today’s Totally Random line. We’ve been to this scene before, in fact I think more than once.  You’ll recall from an earlier post that JoanLa Pucelle snuck into the walled town with a few accomplices and now the rest of the French are waiting to be let into the town. The Bastard of Orleans (what a great name!) is talking to Reigner and has just asked him how Joan is gonna let them know where is the safe passage into the town and Reigner’s answer is today’s Totally Random line. Now I have to admit that the syntax in the latter part of this line is confusing. Reigner is saying ‘When we see her throw a torch out of that yonder tower it will show that her umm… um, that her meaning is, umm…  What?’  So there’s no words in that part, or in the whole sentence, that are difficult to understand on their own.  But still, this is one of those lines that I look at and I wonder if it’s just a big misprint. Maybe what’s his name, the publisher of The First Folio, Jaggard (okay, yes, I Googled it), maybe he just completely screwed up this line. He moved some words around, or left some out? Who knows? 

If you do any reading on that whole First Folio thing you’ll find that it’s really kind of a black hole. No one knows exactly what Heming and Condell used for a source document for the First Folio. There are guesses as to what they may have used, but no one really knows. These guys were in Will’s acting company, so did they have copies of the plays that Will had written and that the company had used to produce the plays? And if they did, whatever happened to those documents? Or did they come up with it some other way? For sure, nothing of what they used remains in existence today (that we know of). If you manage to find some of the original stuff written in Will’s hand, well then sir you can quit your job today because it would be worth millions. I find it fun to think about sometimes. Can you imagine finding some four hundred year old manuscripts that turned out to be in Will’s handwriting? You could write a really good story around this (if someone hasn’t already).

In the meantime, I guess Reignier was saying, um… Oh heck, I don’t know what he was saying but whatever he said the Frenchies figured out what it was because do manage to get in to the town. Okay? Or as Snape would say,

‘They justtt……………………………………. doooo.’ 

These are probably my two oldest books. Wanna know what they're worth? Maybe a dollar or two. Maybe a little more, but not much. Unfortunately they are not First Folios. Oh well.

There did this perjured goldsmith swear me down

That I this day of him received the chain,

Which, God he knows, I saw not:

The Comedy of Errors

Antipholus of Ephisus                                   Act V, Scene i     Line 144

What we have here, friends, is a continuation of a line that we posted on back in December. I’ll give you that line, the one intervening line, and today’s line, all together. And just for the record, we’ll be disqualifying the intervening line from further possible selection since we’ve got it here today. 

That goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with her,
Could witness it, for he was with me then;
Who parted with me to go fetch a chain,
Promising to bring it to the Porpentine,
Where Balthazar and I did dine together.
Our dinner done, and he not coming thither,
I went to seek him: in the street I met him
And in his company that gentleman.
There did this perjured goldsmith swear me down
That I this day of him received the chain,
Which, God he knows, I saw not:

As I noted back then, this is very near the end of the play and just before everyone in the play finally realizes that there’s two sets of twins. Of course this realization has to come at the very end because literally all of the comedy of this play involves the misunderstandings that are a result of not knowing that there are two sets of twins. There are less than one hundred lines in the play after this realization is made. But today’s line Is about two hundred lines before the end of the play, so the misunderstandings continue at this point. Obviously (or not), the goldsmith gave the chain to Antipholus of Syracuse, not Antipholus of Ephesus, and therein lies the humor. Again, typical Three’s Company stuff. I wonder if Jack Ritter, Joyce Dewitt, and Suzanne Somers realized how closely they were following in the tracks of Shakespearean actors. I’m thinking probably not.

This is my chain. I wear it all the time. It's not gold, or even silver. I'm not sure what it is, but it's definitely mine and it's hard to imagine anyone else ending up with it.

Enclosed were they with their enemies.

Third Messenger

 

King Henry The Sixth Part I                          Act I, scene i       Line 137

The Third Messenger is referring to the English fighting in France and being led by none other than the indomitable Talbot. But have no fear! You will notice that we’re at the very beginning of Henry VI Part I. And we know from many previous Random lines that The Talbot shows up all over the Henry VI plays. So we know that he’ll survive being surrounded. And we also know he’ll survive getting speared by a ‘base Walloon’ as described in the next two lines following this one. 

This is a picture of a helicopter dropping the candy needed for the Easter egg hunt, on a football field. In this case it became more of an Easter egg scramble. This was one of those ideas which may have looked good on someone's drawing board but... well you get the picture.

Anyway, I was looking for a picture of a hot air balloon to say that this is the closest I could come to a Walloon (and I don't even know what a Walloon is). But this helicopter is the closest I could come to a hot air balloon. So I'm not sure tonight's picture worked out a whole lot better than that smashed candy Easter egg hunt. Oh well, at least we know The Talbot is okay.

Now, trust me, were it not against our laws, Against my crown, my oath, my dignity, Which princes, would they, may not disannul,

My soul would sue as advocate for thee.

Duke Solinus

The Comedy Of Errors                    Act I, Scene i      Line 142

This is an interesting line, and it’s the very beginning of the play. The Duke is talking to Aegeon, who has been sentenced to death, and he's telling Aegeon that he'd like to help him but... oh well. Aegeon's crime? He’s a Syracusian who’s showed up in Ephesus ostensibly with the intent of trading. Now, to be clear, this is not the theme of this play, but it is a premise of the play. Aegeon will argue that he’s not a trader, but the sentence sticks. Oh don’t worry, this is a comedy and it’ll all turn out okay in the end. 

But what makes this particularly interesting is that I was reading a different text of one current world leader who spoke yesterday to congress, and I can’t help but draw parallels between him and the Duke above. This current fellow is intent on going backwards from globalization. He’s intent on restricting international trade, and he’s intent on restricting certain internationals from even entering our country based purely on where they’re coming from, and of course he wants to build a wall. Once again I cannot help but marvel at the relevance of this four hundred year old work. Back in the fall I was talking about how relevant Coriolanus was, taking into account the election that was going on. And now we’re right back to it. I wish I was teaching Shakespeare in class today. Yeah, I guess that’s where I should be. 

But I’m not

This is me about to go into my Gene Kelly impersonation. Relevance? Yes indeed. Can you see where I am in this picture? That's right, I'm on the Great Wall of China. No, really, I am. So since we're talking today (ever so briefly) about xenophobia and keeping foreigners out, what better example than the Great Wall. At least that's what I was thinking. And by the way, it really was quite the soft shoe that I demonstrated after this picture was taken. You'll just have to take my word for it.

A solemn air and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains,
Now useless, boil'd within thy skull!

Prospero

The Tempest                                      Act V, Scene i     Line 60

Okay, before we get into it I’m going to give you the stage direction that appears immediately before Prospero speaks this line. It might help. Might not, but it might.

Re-enter ARIEL before: then ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO they all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks:

And then Prospero gives today's Totally Random line.

I don’t think we’ve covered any lines this late in The Tempest. There’s a lot going on in this play, and it all takes place over a pretty short span of time. And here in Act V, scene i Prospero wraps everything up, pretty quickly I might add. The first thing he takes care of is this group that he had put under his spell earlier in the play. Prospero is talking to these guys now who are under his spell, or in a trance, or whatever you want to call it. He’s bringing them out of this trance, and that’s what he’s talking about. So their brains are not literally boiled within their skulls. No, of course not.  Though it’s going to take a little more than fresh air to bring them to their senses. It’s going to take Prospero. Sometimes I feel like my brains are just a little boiled. Those are the times I could use old Prospero to help me out. Ever feel that way?

Wait a minute! Is that Dracula behind Nina? And why isn't she scared? And what's that little kid doing on the fountain? Is he gonna jump in? Holy cow this is a crazy picture! And what's it got to do with today's Totally Random line? Maybe nothing. Maybe it's just a Totally Random picture.

Go, get thee to Yaughan; fetch me a stoop of liquor.

First Clown

Hamlet                                                 Act V, Scene i     Line 60

This is the graveyard scene from Hamlet. You know; Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well. Except that it’s Alas poor Yorick,  I knew him, Horatio. Except that’s not today’s line. But that is today’s scene. Today’s line is one gravedigger talking to the other. Why are they listed as ‘clowns’? I dunno. If you watch Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet you’ll get the treat of seeing Billy Crystal perform this scene, and this line. Believe it or not he does a super job with it. Robin Williams has a small role near the end of this play as Osric too. It’s an amazing movie.

Anyway, this is the graveyard scene, shortly before the Yorick line and Hamlet and Horatio are watching and listening to the two gravedigger/clowns. The latter spend the first part of this scene conversing as they dig the grave for Ophelia. Ophelia, if you remember, drowned herself over the lost love of Hamlet. Hamlet will find out for the first time, later in this scene, that Ophelia is dead. Today’s Totally Random line is the last bit of conversation between the gravediggers as Billy Crystal sends the other guy off to get some liquor. I have no idea whether Yaughan is a person or a place, but knowing Will it has some relevance or other.

So today’s line is nothing really special, but the scene as a whole is pretty darn good. It’s sort of broken into three parts: the two gravedigger’s conversing, Hamlet and Horatio conversing, and then a bit of a brouhaha as the burial party of Ophelia arrive on the scene. As a whole there’s quite a bit, but the first part, the two gravediggers’ part, is only about sixty lines. So I’m going to give you that assignment for today. Here’s the link. Read it. You’ll enjoy it. And picture Billy Crystal as the First Gravedigger. Good luck.

It's a picture of a fake headstone. Sorry, that's all I've got for tonight.

The lamentable change is from the best.

Edgar

King Lear                     Act IV, Scene i   Line 5

Okay, so here’s the whole quote. This is Edgar talking to himself.  He’s on the run because his rotten half brother Edmund has turned everyone against him. Edgar knows that he’s on his own now. 

Yet better thus, and known to be contemn'd,

Than still contemn'd and flatter'd. To be worst,

The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune,

Stands still in esperance, lives not in fear:

The lamentable change is from the best;

The worst returns to laughter. 

The way I read this is that Edgar, talking to himself, is saying that he’s got nowhere to go but up. It’s a fairly optimistic way of looking at things given the situation that he’s got. On the other hand, it might be the best way of looking at things, given the situation he’s got. 

Better to be despised and know it, than to be despised and not know it. If you’re the worst then you can still have hope and not live in fear. The lamentable change is to change from the best. If you’re already the worst (as he considers himself to be now) you can laugh and be happy because you’ve no fear of things going bad. You’re already there!

I don’t think there’s really that many of us who are in as bad a situation as Edgar, but there are times when we all probably feel like we are. So I guess those are the times that we can say ‘The lamentable change is from the best.’ 

Do you know what that yellow circle in the middle of this picture is? I'll tell you. It's a pee stain from a little dog on this carpet. And do you know how new this carpet is? It's brand new. Now if this was a pee stain in an old, beat up rug it wouldn't be so bad. But since it's a brand new rug we can say the lamentable change is from the best. Yes, this is a quite lamentable change; from brand new to pee stained. Very lamentable.