<p>I don't. </p>
<p>Do you understand this? </p>
<p>From Merchant of Venice </p>
<p>Launcelot: "Well, if any man in Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear upon a book--I shall have good fortune." </p>
<p>From foot notes, it says that table means palm, and he reads it like a table or notebook. swear....book means he will take an oath swearing with one's palm upon a Bible. </p>
<p>Does this have anything to do with Launcelot believing in fortune?</p>
<p>Could you post the whole line and not just an excerpt? Its hard to get much more than what you mention from that only..</p>
<p>Sparknotes.com.</p>
<p>Sparknotes.com has no fear Shakespeare which saved my life on today's exam! It matches the actual text with normal English.</p>
<p>LAUNCELOT
Father, in. I cannot get a service, no; I have
ne'er a tongue in my head. Well, if any man in
Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear
upon a book, I shall have good fortune. Go to,
here's a simple line of life: here's a small trifle
of wives: alas, fifteen wives is nothing! eleven
widows and nine maids is a simple coming-in for one
man: and then to 'scape drowning thrice, and to be
in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed;
here are simple scapes. Well, if Fortune be a
woman, she's a good wench for this gear. Father,
come; I'll take my leave of the Jew in the twinkling of an eye.</p>
<p>This is when Launcelot is now working for Bassanio. Act II, scene ii, starting at line 139 if you have the book. I don't really understand that whole passage.</p>
<p>It depends on what it is...</p>
<p>The plays: I liked Julius Caesar, but it too was in the mold of most of his stuff. Someone dies around Act III and then everyone else is dead at the end. Well, not everyone, but many of the important people. The style is tough to follow and I always had Cliff Notes/Spark Notes. Overall, not a huge fan but as I said I did like J.C.</p>
<p>Poems/Sonnets--These I like. Much better than the plays. Easy to understand, not hackneyed plots, and always a good read. And I'm normally not too big on poems.</p>
<p>And yes, Sparknotes is probably the best out there. I had to read Frankenstein last year for English. Didn't read one page of the book. Sparknoted the whole thing and got like a B+ on the whole unit.</p>
<p>4321234 from what I can see there he does... when he says "here's a simple line of life" he's reading his own palm... and the wives thing is his fortune</p>