and from the ashes of a wedding...

i find it fitting that beatrice and bennidick's love flourishes in the aftermath of of hero and claudio's failed wedding. their's is a love that almost thrives on misunderstanding and chaos. it's that that wonderful fictional beast, the phoenix. It rises from ashes as something new and bold and beautiful.

let's talk about family disfunction

i should hope that in the case where i am accused of doing something dreadful that my father would give me the benefit of the doubt. that he would at least take a moment to recollect his wits and think rationally about the situation. "i know this to be true about my beloved daughter..." or something along those lines. rather than assume that the bearers of mine sordid tale held absolute truth and, in his rage, attempt to choke the life out of me for my transgression.

let us cogitate on the customs in the time period of, Much Ado About Nothing. while sex was a much more open and less taboo thing than it is now, sex out of marriage wasn't really something that happened a lot. and that could have been for a number of reasons. maybe because they married so much younger than we do now they didn't really have the urge or the opportunity to have sex outside of marriage. so when claudio accuses hero of having been clever enough to find the time and the lust to do just that, it really says something. remember, that family honor was everything and hero's indiscretion has brought shame upon her father and her upbringing. marriages weren't really for love, they were more sociopolitical contracts. no one wants to enter into contract with someone who is know for doing dirty business. if your daughter has a habit of sneaking around with men who are not her betrothed, no other family is going to want to make a fool of themselves by attaching themselves to you and your out of control household. if we consider all of these, then leonato's actions [trying to kill hero after he is told of her so-called promiscuity] seem much more in context.

i don't think that i can defend the claim that this announcement returns the play to the status quo because, even for shakespeare, this seems a bit over the top.

Real Talk [Sonnet II]

when you're 40
and the wrinkles have begun to take over your face
the way you looked when you were young and pretty
will be a distant memory of the past
like the fashion of yesteryear
then, when they ask you, "what happened? Where'd all your good looks go?"
you'll have to say, with your deeply shadowed eyes,
"I wasted my youth on myself
I never found anyone else..."
looking back, your stunning beauty would have been so much more astonishing
if you could point to your kid and and say,
"They're just as beautiful as I was, maybe even more,"
then perhaps,we could imagine you to be just a little more beautiful than you really are.
Kids bring you joy in your old age.

poor claudio

hero is pure and sweet and has something of a charm about her since she doesn't speak often. there isn't one thing that i can put my finger  on, but it's something in the way that claudio address her that alerts the viewer/reader that there could be something a little bit flaky about his affection. generally i'm a harsh cynic about love at first sight or infinite and lasting love after a week of interaction, but i'm even more so in claudio and hero's case. i feel that hero is much more shrewd than she let's on.

hide behind the reveler's mask

when in a masquerade, you can be anyone you want to be. you can be as bold as you'd never guessed yourself possible. there are no inhibitions. no one to recognize your face and send you scowls of disapproval. it's the sobers drunken revelry.