u/bravetherainbro

Have you read the tale of Mr Fox? Benedick quotes it when he says this while teasing Claudio for not admitting his crush on Hero to Don Pedro:

Benedick: Like the old tale my Lord... "It is not so, nor 'twas not so, but indeed, God forbid it should be so!"

It was already cool to be introduced to this morbid folktale through a Shakespeare play, but it's also not too hard to find interesting connections between this tale and Much Ado About Nothing.

One of the prominent elements of the play is trust, and breaking of trust, and people hiding a darker side beneath (Don John, perhaps Claudio), or being merely suspected of having a secret darker side (like Hero).

Mr Fox being confronted for his wickedness by his spouse-to-be on the day of his own wedding, and then dying shortly after, does bring to mind how Claudio makes a horrifying discovery the night before, and waits until the wedding is under way to accuse Hero and bring the evidence against her, which also seems to lead to her death.

Thoughts?

"How now, spirit? Whither wander thou?" Puck asks in iambic pentameter.

The fairy answers in... I will simply say... tetrameter, since the only common thing in all the first 13 lines of their monologue is four stressed syllables per line.

First four lines have a clear pattern of six syllables with a rest in the middle:

"Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,"

Seven syllables per line in the next three lines, adding an extra syllable in the middle instead of a rest:

"I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,"

Adding another syllable for full iambic tetramater for the next two lines:

"To dew her orbs upon the green:
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;"

Interesting how the changes in metre and the rhyme do not align!

Back to headless iambic tetrameter for one line:

"In their gold coats spots you see;"

Trochaic tetrameter:

"Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:"

Iambic tetrameter again:

"I must go seek some dew-drops here"

Finally, iambic pentameter:

"And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."

Again, the rhyme and metre do not align. This is a rhyming couplet of one tetrameter line and one pentameter line!

From here on, the lines are all in iambic pentameter, the most "neutral sounding" metre.

I like to think of this like the fairy's lines establish the magical, mysterious atmosphere of the forest, but then it's like, "ehh you get the idea we're in the forest, time for plot stuff" and transitions back to iambic pentameter, but the rhymes and metres are staggered in such a way that the seam is less obvious.

There's a lot of extreme certainty in this play, and people using rhetorical devices to express their certainty. I was wondering if the different devices have their own names.

One I know the name of already is called adynaton ("when pigs fly" is an example of it). It's when you describe something universally understood to be impossible, and compare whatever you're talking about to that.

Leonato: You will never run mad, niece.

Beatrice: No, not till a hot January.

There might be another example of it elsewhere in the play that I'm forgetting.

But I think even more common is when a character expresses their extreme certainty with even more extreme (or even ridiculous) wagers (in the vein of "I'll eat my hat"):

Beatrice: [...] But how many hath he killed? For indeed I promised to eat all of his killing.

Later in the same scene (Act 1 Scene 1), again as a rhetorical device, Benedick makes three different bets all in a row, telling the prince and Claudio what to do to him if he ever falls in love.

Then the Friar does it in Act 4 Scene 1, betting everything that Hero is innocent, using imperatives:

"[...] Call me a fool, Trust not my reading nor my observations, [...] trust not my age, My reverence, calling, nor divinity"

Hero does the same thing moments later, to express the same point as the Friar:

"Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death!"

Anyone know if this particular rhetorical device (making a kind of bet or "if this happens you can do [absurd thing]"), has its own name, or has been the subject of specific study?

I really don't get it. Over and over again I see them described as "dumb horny teenagers" in such an oddly dismissive way. People seem to have a real aversion to even calling the story a "love story" because it's not "real" love.

EDIT: I realise now I wasn't familiar enough with the rule for the number of syllables in "beloved"! It depends on the part of speech, and Shakespeare seems to follow this exact rule in almost every other use of the word in his plays.

As others have pointed out, the syllables of the line are "I/am/be/lov'd/of/beau/teous/Her/mi/a"

So this was all based on my own mistake, but here is the post for you to laugh at:

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I've known this monologue for nearly 20 years but never known how to scan "I am beloved of beauteous Hermia".

"I am, my lord, as well derived as he;

As well possessed; my love is more than his;

My fortunes every way as fairly ranked –

If not with vantage – as Demetrius';

And, which is more than all these boasts can be:

I am beloved of beauteous Hermia.

Why should not I then prosecute my right?

Demetrius – I'll avouch it to his head –

Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,

Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry

Upon this spotted and inconstant man."

Just today I thought, oh, this is four perfect dactyls:

I am be-lov-ed of beau-te-ous Her-mi-a.

It seems fair enough that this one line breaks the metre, considering it's Lysander's strongest argument and emphasises Hermia's will against her father's.

Not sure if there's anything else to read into it other than "it stands out more" though. And "dactylic tetrameter" does seem like a very unusual metre to throw in there for one line.

Thoughts??

For the life of me, I cannot fit this line into iambic pentameter in a satisfying way, but I'm open to being corrected here.

Seems like 2degrees have plans to join One NZ and Spark in partnering with SpaceX through Starlink. I'd rather none of my money go to SpaceX and Elon Musk, however indirectly, if I can help it.

So far I've found more than 20 different rules, definitions, or clarifications that are said to be available only in the app. Many of them seem pretty crucial to playing a whole game.

It's possible that a PDF download is exactly their plan, and they're only mentioning the app for now because they want to promote that.

Even if the app is free, it should be obvious that having the Appendix also available as a free PDF would be better than just not having that option anymore.

• Player's Rules
• Rules Sequencing
• Closest Model/Unit
• Table Quarter
• Within/Wholly Within
• Automatically Successful
• Modifying Dice Rolls
• Re-rolls
• Roll Off
• Multiple Battle-shock rolls
• Random Movement
• Multiple Weapon Profiles
• Modified Characteristics
• Characteristic Modifiers
• Modifying Damage
• Random Characteristics
• Not on the Battlefield
• Target No Longer Eligible or Viable
• Modifying CP cost
• Persisting Rules Effects
• Setting Up Large Models
• Regaining Lost Wounds