The rest shall bear this burden

-Forester

As You Like It                Act IV, Scene ii, Line 14

This is a very short scene, and one we have visited previously. In fact, we had a line from the song that today’s line is drawn from previously. Perhaps you remember it?

Ordinarily I would have repicked a line, but this morning I was picking a line from my online source because I left my book at work. so I didn’t realize that I had already addressed this very short scene, and in fact, this specific song. But looking back now on 12/8/22 I can see that I didn’t have much to say about it, so I’ll say a little more here.

First off, the context: Jaques and company have come across a hunter with a fallen deer. They’ve set the deer’s horns upon the hunter’s head, and now one of the foresters is singing a song for him.

         What shall he have that kill’d the deer?

        His leather skin and horns to wear.

                 Then sing him home;

(The rest shall bear his burden)

        Take thou no scorn to wear the horn;

        It was a crest ere thou wast born:

                  Thy fathers wore it,

                 And thy father bore it:

        The horn, the horn, the lusty horn

        Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.

And that’s the end of the scene as they all parade off the stage. I told you it was short. There’s only eighteen lines total and the song is half of them.

Now, that’s as far as I went with it back in February. Today I’d like to take it a little further. Specifically, I’d like to resort to a little book I picked up a few years age. It’s called Shakespeare’s Use of Song by Richmond Noble. It’s an interesting little book and it does in fact have this song in it. But it doesn’t actually say much about the song. Instead, it talks about the fact that the scene is so short and disconnected and that it’s probably inserted in the play just to give some space between scenes IV, i and scene IV, iii because there’s supposed to be a two hour space between these two scenes. That is useful information because it had occurred to me in the past that this was a pretty odd and somewhat out of place scene. But, again, it doesn’t give much of any information about the song; for instance, why is today's line in parentheses?

Oh well; maybe the next time we pick this scene…

 

This is my little buddy on a horse. He had a little trouble with a car last night, so he may be back to riding a horse for a while. Well, we'll see. 

Nothing relevant to today's line. Sorry.

 

The very mercy of the law cries out

Most audible, even from his proper tongue,

‘An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!’

 

-Duke

Measure For Measure                    Act V, Scene i, Line 406

 

Yup, the Duke is saying that the Angelo put Claudio to death for the same crime that Angelo himself committed. Ergo…

And he continues,

 

        Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure:

        Like doth quit like, and Measure still for measure.

 

How about that? It’s the title of the play weaved into the dialogue. I don’t remember having seen that before in any of Will’s stuff. Of course, with the tragedies and the Histories the name of the title character comes up. But Comedy of Errors? A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Any of the other comedies? Well, I can’t think of any where the title of the play comes up in the dialogue of the play. Perhaps you can.

 

This is one of those days where I have absolutely no ideas about a picture to post with this post. 

So I guess it's going to be no pic today. 

Sorry.

But let's face it; a lot of my pics aren't all that great anyway.

 

It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect: damn them, then,

If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster

More than their own!

 

-Iago

Othello                            Act III, Scene iii, Line 398

 

Good ol’ honest Iago. He’s busy here stoking Othello’s jealousy. Othello talks about being satisfied; that is to say, given irrefutable proof of Desdemona’s infidelity.

 

Iago-        You would be satisfied?

Othello-   Would! Nay, I will.

Iago-        And may: but, how? How satisfied, my lord?

                Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on,--

                Behold her topt?

Othello-                           Death and damnation! O!

Iago-        It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect: damn them, then,

If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster

More than their own!

 

Good ol’ honest Iago, indeed!

There’s one of those Shakespearean words for you, topt, or topped. I think you should be able to glean the meaning from the context. Austin Powers might say shagged, but I’ve never heard topt before. Well, you learn something new every day.

Given the nature of today's subject matter, I thought it might be best to forego a pic for today.

 

 

 

        Go, and say

We purpose her no shame: give her what comforts

The quality of her passion shall require,

Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke

She do defeat us:

 

-Octavius Caesar

Antony and Cleopatra                    Act V, Scene i, Line 62

 

I guess you could say that Cleopatra does, in a way, defeat them by a mortal stroke; the mortal stroke being dealt to herself. I think they had hoped to parade her through Rome. That's not gonna happen.

BTW, I like the purpose her no shame. I'm sure we would say mean her no shame, but purpose her sounds so much cooler. Don't you agree?

Here you go. Today's pic is in no way relevant to Today's Totally Random Line. It is relevant, however, in that it is a pic of me (on the right) with my big sister Jean. Yesterday was Jeannie's birthday. I had meant to post this pic yesterday, but never got the post done. There you go Jean. I hope you had a great birthday!

 

You cannot call it love; for at your age

The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,

And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment

Would step from this to this?

-Hamlet

Hamlet                            Act III, Scene iv, Line 70

 

Well hopefully you’re all familiar enough with the play to know that Hamlet is talking to his mother about her marriage to the brother of Hamlet’s dead father. There are pictures of the two men in Gertrude’s room where they are, and Hamlet is pointing to the pictures when he says from this to this. 

I like the line at your age the hey-day in the blood is tame. That’s a wonderful line. Nowadays we use hey-day by itself. When I was in my hey-day…. Like that. 

I guess we could get into a bit of a discussion about how it feels to get old and whether or not older people have tame hey-day in the blood, or not. How much about this did Will really understand, because he wasn't all that old when he wrote this. It would be an interesting thing to discuss, but best left to older people. So I'll pass on that for now. 

I had thought to give you a pic of me in my hey-day, but looking through my pics I came across this one. It's a pic from my hey-day all right, but not of me. These are my two best buds from my hey-day, and they're both gone now.

Hey-day. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

One way I like this well;

 

-Goneril

 King        Lear       Act IV, Scene ii, Line 84

 

Goneril [aside]

One way I like this well;

But being widow and my Gloster with her,

May all the building in my fancy pluck

Upon my hateful life: another way

The news is not so tart. –I’ll read and answer.    

                                                        [Exits]

 

Goneril has just learned that Gloster had his eyes gouged out by her sister and her sister’s husband, Cornwall, but that Cornwall has been killed in the process. This is what she’s saying to herself:

On the one hand this may be good news, but now my sister is a widow and she’s going to be alone with Edmund. This could ruin my plans. On the other hand, this news is not bad.

She’s a schemer, and she wants Edmund for herself. I'm not sure exactly what she's thinking is the good news here, but she’s definitely hatching some plan. And you can bet she's up to no good.

Two Cordelias: No Goneril. No Regan.

One way I like this well. Actually, I don't see a downside, so no matter which way I look at it, I like this well. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

 

I’ll bring my action on the proudest he

That stops my way in Padua.

 

-Petruchio

 The Taming of the Shrew                Act III, Scene ii, Line 231

 

This is, of course, our friend Petruchio telling everyone to stand back. He’s just married Kate and now he’s decided that he and Kate are leaving. No, they won’t be staying for the wedding feast even though they are the bride and groom. Most of the group, including Kate, are protesting, but Petruchio is insisting. He is a very insistent fellow. In the end, the two of them leave, and no one tries to stop them.

 

Perhaps we should call this guy Petruchio. I'm pretty sure no one's going to try to stop him, whether he's leaving or staying. He's like Petruchio: he pretty much does what he wants.