the_vulture

 As an English teacher in a secondary school, I wind up going through a LOT of Shakespeare, especially for SAT and coursework preparation. In doing so, I find all sorts of interesting little side thoughts that I just really have to express.

I'll start with Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. I know most of you realize that Shakespeare deliberately made Romeo's early feelings for Juliet questionable, in that it seems he was purely attracted by her beauty at the Capulet Ball (driving out any thought of Rosalyn, whom he believed he loved for the same reason). However, there are a few choice bits of Act 1 Scene 1 which really show Romeo to be truly shallow. Most of these show up in the conversation where Benvolio has a talk with Romeo in order to find out why the latter has shut himself away in misery. It is revealed that Romeo is pining for Rosalyn, the most beautiful woman he has seen. Romeo has this to say about his attempts at courting her:

Well, in that hit you miss. She'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow. She hath Dian's wit.
And, in strong proof of chastity well armed
From love's weak childish bow, she lives uncharmed.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide th' encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold.

Am I alone in thinking that Romeo is whining because he can't even PAY to get into Rosalyn's pants? 

When Romeo first sees Juliet at the Capulet's Ball, he becomes immediately enamored, forgetting completely about Rosalyn. His first comments about Juliet are entirely about her beauty and how it outshines any he has ever witnessed.

When they first begin to speak, things get a little interesting. Their dialogue takes the form of a sonnet. Many would argue that, as the sonnet was the ultimate romantic thing to do, that this signifies the beginning of "true love" between Romeo and Juliet, as an Elizabethan audience would recognize it as such. However, I would argue that Shakespeare used it for the opposite effect. Afterall, everyone in his audience would have known that it was the thing for a gentleman to write to show deepest admiration. In otherwords, it was a fancy pickup line. This idea is further heightened by the skill with which Romeo lays it on to win a kiss from Juliet. Ultimately, she comments "You kiss by the book," indicating that, not only is Romeo skillful with his lines, but he's a pro at kissing. In otherwords, Romeo is a Shakespearan "playah". (Sorry, I couldn't resist that pun...)

It becomes very clear that Romeo feels very strongly for Juliet as the end of the play approaches. However, is it love? If it is, what is he really in love with? Many mentions are made of Juliet's beauty, but what else? Yes, Romeo proves that he is devoted, but is he still as shallow as he was at the beginning of the play? I wager he is.

Anybody else have an opinion on this?

 PS: The title for this post appeared in my TA's notes. *chuckle*

This has been an eventful week, beginning with a lovely Monday evening spent with ekatarina, during which we had a nice dinner, toured a bit of the south embankment of the Thames and enjoyed an informative and entertaining guided walking tour exploring haunts and hauntings around St. Paul's Cathedral. I wound up really missing my camera, though, as there was plenty of interesting architecture to capture in pixels.

Since then, I've discovered that, courtesy of an issue of being paid till the end of August like a teacher, yet being on administrative pay roll which does not, and the required resolution of such of by the headteacher, I am still not yet on the payroll, though I will be for next time. Fortunately, the bursar arranged for a direct deposit of pay, instead of those awful time consuming cheques (up a week to clear in this country), so my bank account is currently happy.

Thursday was spent trying to assist about three groups of pupils through the process of creating model buildings for a presentation to other school and a team of designers next week. I'll go through a fuller description of this sad state of affairs at a future point, but, currently, the kids are still at a point that they will be embarrassing themselves, the teachers roped into this bombshell, and the school. Worse still, they know it and, despite any encouragement we can give them, they are feeling exceptionally unmotivated. It is really unfair to them as this is not a situation of their own making, but we are all stuck in it till the bitter (and likely humiliating) end.

Friday, on my way to imapunkin's place, some young punk tried to nick my MP3 player! I was on the first bus, standing at my seat whilst waiting for a group of about five young adults (late teens) to pass by me. The last youth in the line noticed the player and turned around to face me. He casually reached out, grabbed it, and unplugged the headphones before I quite realized what was happening. I snatched it from him and bellowed out an indignant "What do you think you are doing?!" in that certain I-am-about-to-tear-you-a-new-a**hole-so-wide-your-head-will-fall-through-it that only a seasoned teacher in the British school system can deliver.

Between that and the fact that I felt, and consequently did not demonstrate, absolutely no fear of him (though he was fairly athletic and towered over me by a good six inches), he was sufficiently intimidated to back off in a hurry, saying words to the effect of "Just chill!" Sadly, the whole incident had me fuming for the remainder of the trip. Fortunately, cuddles with imapunkin on my arrival soon had me relaxed.

Saturday saw the return of the petrol powered strimmer purchased two weeks ago as the engine kept cutting out. It was exchanged for a new one (an upgrade since the former was not in stock) and J. and I spent some bonding time putting it together. We also watched Coneheads, as well as the usual doses of Big Brother.

Sadly, though, the evening involved tears for imapunkin as she discovered she got ripped off for £100 by someone who used to be a trusted provider of doll parts. Said person had taken an advanced order on a doll she had been really looking forward to, but never delivered. His on-line store has subsequently disappeared off the net.

Late yesterday evening involved a lot of cuddles and chatter until we were both just too tired to continue (silly grin).

Today, in theory, I'll be headed back in the early evening to meet up with ekatarina to hang out and catch up. One topic of conversation will be how to deal with the current complication for Monday evening's plan of watching Titus Andronicus at the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The original idea was to book tickets for the yard (where all the "groundlings" get to stand for the whole performance (but arguably have the best view)), but, sadly, when I phoned in, I found out all that was left for advanced booking was seated with restricted viewing. The current options are to book a couple of those, or wait and call the box office on Monday to see if anything else is available.

Yep, it's been an interesting week!