Mojo, The Bard, & Me

I would I were invisible, to catch the strong fellow by the leg.

-Celia

 As You Like It     Act I, scene ii        Line 206

This is a pretty easy scene to set. Orlando (one of the main characters) is going to wrestle Charles (a very minor character, but in this scene he’s the ‘strong fellow’). I think they’re wrestling for money. In any event, they’re wrestling for a crowd, and Charles is a professional wrestler while Orlando is not. Celia (the speaker) is in the crowd with her cousin Rosalind. Apparently Orlando is quite the young hunk because it seems like both Celia and Rosalind are instantly in his fan club. You’ll remember that in our 8/23 post we had Rosalind giving Orlando a chain to wear. That line was from the same page that we’re on now, but occurs after the wrestling match is over. And you might guess based on that line that it’s Rosalind who ends up with Orlando. But for now, it’s Celia who’s sending her wishes that she could help Orlando in the wrestling match.

There, that’s what’s going on and why Celia utters today’s Totally Random line. Anyone out there got any thoughts? Because I have to be honest, I’m drawing a blank. For once I am very familiar with the play and the scene. And the language is perfectly easy to understand. But I just can’t think of much to add. So where do we go from here?

This makes me think of the time I was in Composition 101 as a freshman at St. Bonaventure. One day the professor had us write an essay in class. He told us to pick any subject, absolutely anything, and write a few pages on it. Everybody else started writing away. I sat there thinking, and thinking, and thinking. Finally I started writing about the fact that I couldn’t think of anything to write about. And I wrote a couple of pages on that. I handed that in and got a decent grade.

So I can think about a fairly meaningless experience I had in 1976, but I can’t think of anything to say about Celia’s comment that she’d like to get invisible so she can help Orlando win the wrestling match. Well this isn’t going to be a very good Totally Random Daily Shakespeare post if all you get is my lame story from 1976. But it will certainly qualify as Totally Random, and with the line up above you’re getting your Daily Shakespeare. Hmmm. I guess I can get away with that for today. Come to think of it, not much different than what I got away with in 1976, is it? I guess I’d just as soon be a little bit invisible today. How about you? Ever feel like being a little bit invisible?

Today’s Totally Random line is the first one that touches on any sport, in this case wrestling. There’s a lot of fighting in Will’s plays, but very little sports. Tomorrow morning I’m going to take a crack at my favorite sport. Can you guess what it is? And by the way, this sport was invented in Scotland about a hundred years before Will was born. Hey, I wonder if it's mentioned in any of his plays?