Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Go to the gates of Bordeaux, trumpeter;

Summon their general unto the wall. 

 

Lord Talbot

King Henry the Sixth Part I          Act IV Scene ii, Line 1

As you can see, the Brits are at the wall of the French town of Bordeaux. When the French general shows up, Talbot tells him to open the gates and surrender or else...

You tempt the fury of my three attendants,
Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire.

Well those are three attendants I wouldn’t want to mess with.

Unfortunately for Talbot, the French general has other plans and informs Talbot that the town will not be surrendering. Furthermore, the main force of the French army is in the process of surrounding Talbot’s forces right now. Talbot hears the drums of the approaching French armies at his back, and what is his response?

He fables not.

How’s that for a reply. The guy is about to be surrounded and, for the record, lose the battle, and his life, and his response is, He fables not.

 I mean, the British ability to understate, and then in other cases overstate, is fabulous. Examples:
The unarmed Brit is facing a half dozen guys with knives who want to kill him. Well this is a it a of a sticky wicket.
The Brit is told that they’re out of his favorite tea at the cafe. Well that’s bloody awful!

How can you not love Brit-speak. I’m definitely going to be using this new one if I can remember it. I fable not.

Excuse me, Mr. Blagys. The boss just told me that if I poop on the carpet one more time there'll be no more treats.

 She fables not, my little friend. She fables not.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view

Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;

All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due,

Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend.

 

Sonnet 69                        First Quartrain

Well, let’s face it, the sonnets can be tough. Fourteen lines: Three quatrains of thoughts with a concluding couplet. As I’ve said before, best to take each quatrain separately because each one has one thought to it.

Today we look at the first quatrain of sonnet 69, and it's not too difficult. Right? Well, sort of. That last line is a bit suspect. However, now that I look at it, the second line is a little interesting too. First two lines: Your outward appearance lacks nothing that the thought of hearts can mend. It’s that last part: that the thought of hearts can mend.

Next two lines- Everyone agrees with that whilst speaking the truth, even so as foes commend. 

Like I said, the sonnets can be a bit difficult to understand. 

Oy, I’m not sure I want to go any further with this one. How about you?

No objections here if you want to pass on this one.

Okay Mojo, we'll take a pass.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

We therefore have great cause of thankfulness;

And shall forget the office of our hand,

Sooner than quittance of desert and merit

According to the weight and worthiness.

 

King Henry

King Henry the Fifth             Act II Scene ii, Line 34

Henry is talking to a few of his guys who are actually plotting against him. Henry knows this, but they don’t know that he knows it. They are telling Henry what a beloved king he is, and what Henry is saying in today’s four lines is that he should be thankful for this, and that as such, he can afford to go easy (forget the office of our hand) as opposed to being a hard-ass guy (sooner than quittance of desert and merit) and should take into account the seriousness of any offenses committed before passing judgment (according to the weight and worthiness).

But it’s a set up by Henry, because when the plotters tell the king that he has to stay strong and punish wrong-doers to set an example, Henry turns the tables on them and tells these guys that he knows they’re traitors and they’re going to be executed. Of course, then they change their tune and cry for mercy.

Please don’t try to tell me that that Will’s works are not relevant in 2025. Please don’t try to tell me that.

Hold on then, give me a sec’. I'm concentrating; let me see if I’ve got this straight: 

Henry is saying that since he’s such a beloved king that he can afford to go easy on his subjects and not punish them too harshly for minor offenses. Then these guys, who are actually traitorous sycophants, advise him to punish wrong-doers harshly, regardless of the crime, to maintain good order. Then Henry tells these same guys that they are sentenced to death for treason, and they plead for mercy. Did I get that right?

Okay, so you’re saying, and I’m just guessing here, that maybe all these sycophants of the orange guy are going to have hell to pay, eventually?

That’s a very succinct summary Mojo, and certainly one possible interpretation of the relevance of Today’s Totally Random Lines to the goings on of the world in the year 2025.  Good job!

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Frateretto calls me, and tells me Nero is an angler in the lake of darkness. – Pray, innocent, and beware the foul fiend.  

 

Edgar

King Lear                       Act III, Scene vi, Line 7

Will uses fool characters in lots of his plays. These characters sometimes take the form of actual fools (court jesters) but many times they’re just simpletons of one sort or another. In almost all cases these fools ramble on in apparent nonsense talk, but the talk often makes a lot of sense. Sometimes that sense is quite hard to find.

In this play we have a fool, a literal court jester, but we also have Edgar, today’s speaker. The latter is neither a jester nor a simpleton. Rather he is merely pretending to be either a fool or quite mad; key word, pretending.

So, you say, enough of the endless chatter, what the heck is Edgar saying? That’s the thing. I find it almost impossible to get any meaning out of these fools’ lines. I assume it’s not just random gibberish because, given the genius of Will, it seems illogical that he would just write gibberish. But what meaning does it have in this play? I have absolutely no idea.

Boy, as I look back on what I wrote so far, I’m beginning to think it looks like the ramblings of the fool. Is that me?

Why does this little guy always look perfectly coiffed and posed for these pics, and I always look like I just woke up?

Is he playing me for the fool?

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

This Caesar was a tyrant. 

Nay, that’s certain.

 

First and Third Citizens

Julius Caesar         Act III, Scene ii, Line 73

Most days we have lines from scenes, sometimes whole plays, that most of you have never heard of. That is not the case today. This is the first scene after titular Julius Caesar has been killed. The scene starts with Brutus explaining to the crowd that the he and the others  killed Caesar to save Rome, and that Caesar would have become a dictator. Then Marc Antony speaks. Today’s Lines are from the crowd, who have been convinced by Brutus that Caesar was a tyrant. Marc Antony then begins with the pretty famous

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

That’s only a few lines down from the Today’s Lines. Anyway, Antony goes on, in a very clever way, to take the crowd from hating Caesar and praising Brutus, when he starts, to loving Caesar and wanting Brutus dead, by the end of his speech. It’s a classic example of the fickleness of the crowd, and a perfect display of the fine line between democracy and crowd rule. It's also a superb example of the power of a good speaker being able to own the crowd.

A few years ago, this play was staged in Central Park with the actors wearing modern day dress. Caesar was played by a guy with goofy hair, a blue suit, and a big red tie; yes, him. There was a big uproar that any theatrical presentation would show a sitting president being assassinated. I don’t think many of the people creating the uproar had any sense of what the play is all about. It occurs to me, however, that a more appropriate character in the play to put the red tie on would have been Marc Antony. He is the one who is able to manipulate the crowd. Also, by doing this, none of Mr. Red Tie’s supporters would have been upset in the least.

Pssst, Mr. Blagys – you promised to keep politics out of these posts.

You're right, Mojo. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

These be the stops that hinder study quite,

And train our intellects to vain delight.

 

King of Navarre

Love’s Labour’s Lost             Act I, Scene i, Line 70

I don’t know about you, but when I read those two lines I immediately thought of the internet, and specifically, surfing and scrolling. I’m pretty sure, though, that’s not what the king is referring to. Now, do we want to get into a discussion (lecture) about the evils of getting sucked into the internet for hours of surfing/scrolling, or should we take a look at what the king is actually talking about. Yes, of course: the latter. 

So here it is: 

This is the first scene of the play where they are setting up the premise of what the play will be about, which is that the king and three of his fellows have made a commitment to spend the next three years studying. During those three years, in order to facilitate their studies, they will limit their food intake, limit their sleep to three hours a night, and forego women completely. One of the guys, Berowne, is objecting and saying that he agreed to the three years of study, but not the bit about food, sleep and women. He says he can study just fine with those things in his life, but it is exactly those three things, not the internet, to which the king is referring in Today’s Lines.

Let me just say that I think the internet is a more relevant answer to the question of what the king is referring to. 

Anyway, it’s a pretty good play because with that setup there’s all sorts of things that can go wrong. The main thing that happens in this play is that the Princess of France comes to visit the king’s court with her entourage of women attendants. But we won’t get into the details because that’s the whole rest of the play. I think the better thing to do is to just take the king’s words as a proper warning of the dangers of internet scrolling.

So next time you click on Instagram, or Facebook, or even just to use the Google, remember the king’s words, 

These be the stops that hinder study quite,

And train our intellects to vain delight.

Do - Spend your time reading.

Don't - Spend your time surfing.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Master, be wise:  An if you give it her,

The devil will shake  her chain, and fright us with it.

 

Dromio of Syracuse

The Comedy of Errros          Act IV, Scene iii, Line 75

Just one more case of mistaken identity in this play of mistaken identities. This time at least we have a matched set of Dromio and Antipholus (both of Syracuse), but the courtezan they’re dealing with thinks that she’s speaking to the Ephesus pair.

A courtezan is defined in my Shakespeare glossary as a prostitute or a strumpet, and a strumpet is defined as a harlot, or prostitute, or whore. So no matter which way you look at it, the courtezan is a woman of less than stellar repute. The discussion centers around some jewelry, but neither Dromio nor Antipholus has any idea what she’s talking about, but Dromio is very wary of dealing with her and is warning Antipholus as such. 

Apparently Antipholus of Ephesus has had some dealings with this woman of ill repute, but I guess that’s not terribly relevant to our discussion of today’s line.

Actually, I’m not sure we have anything more to discuss about today’s line.

 Then, can I go back to sleep now?

Yes Mojo, you can go back to sleep now.