Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Here is such patchery, such juggling, and such knavery! All the argument is a cuckold and a whore; a good quarrel to draw emulous (rival) factions and bleed to death upon. Now, the dry serpigo (spreading skin disease) on the subject! And war and lechery confound all!

 

Thersites

Troilus and Cressida      Act II, Scene iii, Line 75

I added some help in the parentheses above, but these lines are still difficult to pick through. The speaker, Thersites, is listed in the cast of characters as a deform’d and scurrilous Grecian. He more or less plays the part of one of Will’s fools, and in today’s passage he’s just ranting about the war that’s going on and the people involved. That’s really it in a nutshell.

So you’re not going to wear us out with some scurrilous three page explanation of what the real meaning of this whole serpigo is?

No Mojo, I’m not. But I will point out that I don’t think you used either of those words, scurrilous or serpigo, properly. 

Nice try though.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not,

To please the palate of my appetite;

 

Othello

Othello            Act I Scene iii, Line 263

Okay, this is a juicy bit, and I’m going to give you the whole speech, but not until I give you the set up so that you’ll have a chance to understand what Othello’s talking about. There’s quite a bit transpired already, but I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest Condensed Version (you’ll need to be as old as me to get that reference).

Othello, the war hero general, has just been assigned to lead the troops to Cyprus in order to engage the invading Turks. Othello, same guy, has just eloped with Desdemona, the daughter of Brabantio, a rich white guy. Othello is a black military man.

In this scene we are in front of the duke and the senators. It started out with Brabantio claiming that Othello stole his daughter, but that’s been settled. Now the question has become where does Desdemona go when Othello sails off to Cyprus to lead the fight against the Turks. The duke says that she’s to go back to her father’s house, but both Brabantio and Othello say no to this. So the duke asks Desdemona, and she says she wants to go with Othello to Cyprus.

And that’s where Othello comes in with Today’s Lines. Here’s the whole thing, which should make sense to you if you read it carefully, now that you have context. And remember, this is Denzel's role on Broadway right now, so you can picture him delivering these lines if you like.

Let her have your voice.

Vouch with me Heaven, I therefore beg it not,

To please the palate of my appetite;

Nor to comply with heat – the young affects

In me defunct – and proper satisfaction,

But to be free and bounteous to her mind:

And heaven defend your good souls, that you think

I will your serious and great business scant

For she is with me. No, when light-wing’d toys

Of feather’d Cupid, seel with wanton dullness

My speculative and officed instruments,

That my disports corrupt and taint my business,

Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,

And all indign and base adverstities

Make head against my estimation!

 

In brief,  Let her have her way. I not asking for myself, I’m too old to be driven by the need for sex. And don’t think that my duties as general will be impeded by her presence. No, when that happens you can let the housewives use my helmet for a kitchen skillet.

Yup, that’s what he’s saying. It was worth the read, wasn’t it?

 

It sure was, Mr. Blagys, and I think they should let her go with him. Does she get to go?

 Yes she does Mojo. But sadly, in the end, she probably wishes she didn’t.

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.

 

Rosencrantz

Hamlet            Act II Scene ii, Line 74

Our good friend Rosencrantz is replying to Hamlet’s question,

But in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?

Essentially, what are you doing here?

Just visiting you.

Ah, but is that the truth? Well, I’m not sure what brought Rosencrantz and his buddy Guildenstern to Elsinore, but I do know that the king has enlisted the two of them to try to find out what’s up with crazy Hamlet. And crazy Hamlet is on to them. These guys are old friends of Hamlet, but I think that friendship has waned a bit. Remember how this thing ends up for Mssrs. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: they end up unwittingly going to England to have themselves executed, thanks to Hamlet. 

Well, at least Rosencrantz gets a street named after him.

Seriously? If you're talking about Rosencrans Ave in Redondo, it's Rosencrans, not Rosencrantz. And if you don't mind my saying so, Mr. Blagys, to say that their friendship has "waned a  bit" is somewhat of an understatement, don't you think? He sent them to get themselves executed? How does that even work?

Wow, Mojo, you've got this blue light aura around you; it's almost mystical looking.

 Don't try to change the subject. Ugh! 

 

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?