SCORING RULES (CHECK BEFORE YOU ANSWER! - no credit for partials!)
Today's Guess The Shakespeare Quote As Reinterpreted By My Buddy Rob:
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.
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.
Comments
are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em"
Twelfth Night SCENE V
Malvolio in Twelfth Night. No way I was the first one here this time.
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."
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.
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.
Ah well, ain't no thang.
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.
Let’s install a fucking jukebox and really liven the place up!
(and not "them" from the Clown's mouth later on)
If so, then I say IT COUNTS.
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.
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.