Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And you, good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter

Call’d Katharina, fair and virtuous?

 

Petruchio

The Taming of the Shrew      Act II, Scene i, Line 42

So, I guess this is the first time that Petruchio is going to meet Katharine, the titular shrew. But he goes into it with a good attitude, doesn’t he? He’s expecting a fair and virtuous woman. And the funny thing is that a fair and virtuous woman is exactly what he gets. It’s everyone else who considers her a shrew, but not Petruchio.

It’s an odd bit of a play, and just one more of Will’s works that gets a good deal of pushback in 2024. But like many of his other works, it requires looking beyond the surface. Like much of life, it’s best not to judge based strictly on appearance.

Take this picture, for instance. If you were to make a judgement based purely on what you see here, you might assume that Mojo is an incredibly spoiled little man; and yet the reality is…um…

Okay, that might not be the best example of what I’m talking about.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Whate’er it be, be thou still like thyself,

And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck

To fortune’s yoke, but let thy dauntless mind

Still ride in triumph over all mischance.

 

King Louis

King Henry the Sixth Part III       Act III, Scene iii, Line 15

There you go; there’s your pep talk for the day: Don’t let the bastards get you down!

Undaunted!

I'm talking about the little guy, not me; I get daunted all the time.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

The fardel there? What’s i’the fardel? Wherefore that box.

 

Autoclycus

The Winter’s Tale          Act IV, Scene iii, Line 764

The fardel. Well now, that’s a kind of funny sounding word, isn’t it? Believe it or not, it’s in the online Merriam Webster. It’s a bundle or a burden. Perhaps you recognize it from the famous To be, or not to be soliloquy: Who would fardels bear. 

And also remember that wherefore is why, not where. Wherefore art thou Romeo meant Why are you Romeo (and not someone that my family won’t hate)? 

So basically, Today’s Line is That bundle there, what’s in it? And why that box? Pretty simple, eh?   

Now, I almost hate to say it, but I really think we should start using fardel. I mean, wherefore not?

No fardels here!

Not a care in the world for these two. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

And how you may be converted, I know not; but methinks you look with your eyes as other women do.

 

Margaret

Much Ado About Nothing             Act III, Scene iv, Line 85

Ahhh, the famous methinks! Methinks I’ve run into methinks before in doing these lines, but for some reason it’s really jumping out at me this morning. This is one sixteenth century word that you can use in 2024, and methinks that no one will bat an eye at it.

So, no worries about the rest of today’s line- meaning, context, whatever. We’ll just wallow in the sunlight of methinks, and methinks that’ll be just fine.

Methinks there'll be no metaphorical sunshine wallowing for this character;

he much prefers wallowing in the literal sunshine. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Your loving uncle, twenty times his worth,

 

Earl of Salisbury

King Henry the Sixth, Part II       Act III, Scene ii, Line 268

 

There, today I gave you the one line as opposed to the full sentence, or full thought. Why? Because the full sentence was sixteen lines long and the full thought even more.

So, should i give you the full sixteen lines? Or more? Or should I just explain who the uncle is and why Salisbury is talking about him? Or none of the above? How about if I just fill in the names.

Your loving uncle Gloucester is twenty times Suffolk’s worth.

Right. There you have it then. What’s that? Who is Gloster, and why does the Earl of Salisbury think he is worth twenty Suffolks? Well that’s a question for another day.

No, Mr. Stripes, I did not say anything about salisbury steak.

And by the way, what are you doing standing on the counter, and where on earth did you get that outfit?

How does this guy even know what salisbury steak is?

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

HENCE! Home, you idle creatures, get you home:

Flavius

Julius Caesar         Act I, Scene i, Line 1

 

That’s right, it’s the first line of the play. What’s going on here? I’m not sure.

Flavius is listed as a tribune. That’s the same as a U.S. Representative. Why is he yelling at the people? Again, I’m not sure.

Okay, I listened to/read the whole first scene here. It’s short, less than five minutes. It seems that the people are in the streets to celebrate Julius Caesar’s triumphant return to Rome. It also seems that Flavius and another tribune are not happy with this. They see Caesar as a threat to the common good. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there was a faction in the tribunes that felt the same way as Brutus and Cassius. I don’t think these two, Flavius and his buddy Marullus, show up again in the play. I guess they’re just there to let us know that not everyone is happy about the thought of Caesar becoming supreme leader, so that we won’t be caught off guard by Brutus’s and Cassius’s desire to get rid of Caesar.

As I’ve said before, this play, and perhaps Coriolanus, are really good studies of politics and leadership. Covering these two plays in high school would go a long way towards bringing about some good discussions of where we are today.

They should put me in charge of the curriculum, eh?

And here's the reason you haven't seen any posts since last week. That's right, we went to the Minnesota State Fair. 

And we left poor Mojo back here in CT, so he didn't make it into the pic (or today's post). If they let pooches into the Fair we would've brought him. But alas, no. 

In any event, we have now got ourselves home, idle creatures that we are. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Indeed I think the young king loves you not.

 

Warwick

Henry the Fourth Part II       Act V, Scene ii, Line 9

 

That’s fairly well self-explanatory, but how about a little context.

Henry the Fourth has just died. The young king referred to above is his son, young Hal, who is now Henry the Fifth. Warwick is talking to the Lord Chief Justice and it just so happens that this Lord Chief Justice administered some punishment to young Hal a few years back. Now he’s afraid that this is going to come back and bite him in the ass.

What do you think? Will the new, young king remember and seek retribution on the Lord Chief Justice, or will he forgive and forget?

Here you go. You can find out for yourself. It’s an interesting read, and not too long; about 170 lines. Go ahead, you can do it. 

King Henry IV, Part II (shakespeare-online.com)

Uh huh, hmmm, oohhh.

There you go. Mojo obviously finds it interesting, and if he can take the time out of his busy schedule to read it, so can you.