Today's Guess The Shakespeare Quote As Reinterpreted By My Buddy Rob:
"Don't be scared of awesome. You could just be born awesome, or you could get that way on purpose, or maybe just circumstance comes in forcing you to be awesome."
Previous questions remaining open (THERE FOR THE TAKING!):
*NONE
Scoring remains open until the first correct answer is posted! Full score for 1st correct answer, half score for all subsequent correct answers until close of scoring.
17 comments:
Easy, Dogi. It's a paraphrase of the quote (and I am quoting this from memory because I am too lazy to get my copy): "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them," from Twelfth Night when Malvolio is reading the letter that he thinks is from Olivia but is really from Maria. Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespeare play, I performed that section as a soliloquy in tenth grade, and I am again performing the play for my Shakespeare class this semester. YAY.
AAAAAAA I realized I left off the first part where it reads "Be not afraid of greatness" and then leads into the "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." I am still not checking it against Shakespeare. This will be my test to see how well I remember Shakespearean lines years later.
"but be not afraid of greatness: some
are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em"
Twelfth Night SCENE V
"In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
Malvolio in Twelfth Night. No way I was the first one here this time.
I'll chime in for the easy one:
Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene IV
Malvolio:
"but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great,
some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
Jade! It breaks my heart to stickle you on 2 missing letters on ONE WORD, when you're working from memory.
If it takes the sting out at all, I am as impressed as can be that you nailed the quote THAT CLOSE, with the one word you got off practically being a grammatical correction ('em to them). But since I've been holding everybody to an every word must match exact standard I must do it the same to you.
Note: you can always take your "best crack" from memory on these on your first comment, and then look it up for exactness! It counts as correct as long as you get it in while the question's up - it's not a "one chance" deal.
So that brings us to Mel, with a full point for 1st correct answer, and Lacrema and snortingmarmots each with a full half-point for subsequent correct answers!
The Standings:
#1 Mel: 16.0
#2 Lacrema: 11.5
#3 snortingmarmots: 3.0
#4 Edana: 2.0
#5 TimT: 0.5
#5 Elliott: 0.5
We've got a pretty good field of contenders here, vying. I'm thinking of expanding the prize awarding to a gold, silver, and bronze situation.
MY COPY SAYS THEM, NOT 'EM.
Ah well, ain't no thang.
Ooooo, there's a bronze? Call it now! Call it now! Game over!
@snortingmarmots - not yet my impetuous friend! There remains plenty of Shakespeare for my buddy Rob to paraphrase.
@Jade - well hang on there, that makes a difference! If there's a reputable source you can link me to that shows the whole play, with the quote in it like that, I'd have to consider yours an acceptable alternate and give you full credit for it!
I usually go with shakespeare.mit.edu.
But to me it's got to be in the context of the full play, though. Shakespeare quotes are always being lifted out and tweaked all the time. Why, even in the play, Malvolio reads out -
"In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. "
- in Act II, then the Clown repeats it back to him in Act V thus:
"Why, 'some are born great, some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrown upon them.'"
The Clown's version has the "them" - and "thrown upon" works just as well as "thrust upon" for the paraphrase - but the Clown's line wouldn't work, since it lacks the 'Don't be scared' part."
Anyway Jade, I do see the isolated quote out there with a "them" in many places, but everywhere I find it in the play itself it is: "'em." If you can help the judges out with a hotlink that supports your take on the possibly doubtful question of canonical spelling of Victorian sources, I'm open to awarding you full credit!
Note to Mel: you wouldn't be penalized regardless, since you returned the first answer that matched mine. In effect Jade's would be a an alternate correct answer cf. Footnote 2 of the scoring rules.
Smells like controversy in here! Good to see a bit of excitement brought to the proceedings.
Let’s install a fucking jukebox and really liven the place up!
I can't find a quote from either of the sources online, but I own the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Wordsworth Library Edition, and the Arden Shakespeare's version of "Twelfth Night." Apparently, the Arden Shakespeare contains modern spelling corrections so that one is off the table, but I do believe the Wordsworth Library is reputable. I also own the Signet classics but Signet sucks because they censor stuff and they are super cheap. It doesn't matter, though, Dogi! Especially since it seems all unedited versions have "'em" as the proper word anyway, it is probably the original.
Jade - are you saying it is your Wordsworth copy that has Malvolio saying "but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them"?
(and not "them" from the Clown's mouth later on)
If so, then I say IT COUNTS.
To clarify the crux, here, for general readers and participants.
We know that Shakespeare's work dates from a time prior to any consistent strong standardization of spelling in English. We know too, that there was no hard-core fussiness about these plays then - not until long after the fact. No one today believes the "canonical" forms we have are hard core identical to the original manuscripts.
My priority then, is to go with the best, purest purist (i.e. non-revisionist), most authentic and authoritative take that I can. It's pretty easy, since so far I've found that the vast majority of sources do line up pretty well across the canon (punctuation tics aside!). So while I would sure rule out anything that was deliberately revised/modernized - I would never consider that an acceptable source - if it comes down to two equally-reputable-seeming takes then I say yes! Both should count as valid alternate versions.
Yeah, it says "them" instead of "em" from Malvolio's mouth. But SERIOUSLY it is not a big deal. Points have already been awarded!
Muchas Obligias! Don't even sweat the points issue, Jade, it came up once before and not only is fair's fair, but we've got all just such contingencies covered. The rule always is: points once awarded can not be taken back ("The call on the field stands." or "NO TAKEBACKS!")! ~but~ awarding points for good reason upon further review is not only permissible, but best!
The no-takebacks clause just keeps the game moving. But the further-review clause, the civilized back-and-forth wherein truth truly prevails, is arguably much closer to the heart of the whole game! The process is soberly educational, downright instructive. Thank you for sticking with a fair path, even in a small matter - and leading us down it aright.
This morning's Googlin' also brings forth Oxford Shakespeare in agreement with your bound printed Wordsworth's Shakespeare, on the "them" question. I'm satisfied that there is an equally-authoritative, non-revisionist tradition in favor of "them" for that line.
We here do well, even in our only semi-serious japes and puzzles, to ape the spirit of all that's fairest and best in the traditions of scholarly review that rest nestled so snugly into hallowed academia's smugly heaving bosom!
A corrected/revised standings has been placed under the current puzzle.
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