To swell a progress

Another day, another epiphany.

For a little over a week now, I've been posting some of my favourite Shakespeare pieces on Poi-tre (now also on Wordpress). Looking back over these posts, I suddenly realised how many of the pieces I picked were speeches by 'supporting' characters. Bottom, Mercutio, Feste, Jacques, the Three Witches, Puck and (obviously) Falstaff are all represented, but except for one speech by Macbeth and another by Prospero, all the other leading roles don't put in an appearance - no Lear, no Hamlet, no Romeo, not even Richard III.

I swear this is not deliberate. I didn't plan it this way - I simply picked the pieces that appealed the most to me and that I felt the most comfortable reading, so that the fact that I ended up picking neither the great heroes nor the great villains, but rather the fools, says a lot about who I am and how I see myself.

At the risk of being accused of plagiarism by JAP:

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or to
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous---
Almost, at times, the Fool.

- T. S. Eliot, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'

P.S. Yes, I'm back. Was helping a friend move over the weekend (which sounds like it should have involved sweat and straining muscles, I know, but actually consisted of me sitting in an empty house waiting for the movers to show up so I could let them into the house and then stand out of the way while they did all the work) and didn't have access to the Internet for ONE WHOLE DAY. Regular blogging resumes now.


Categories: Personal