‘Tis
no matter: ne’er a fantastical knave of them all shall flout me out of my
calling.
-Sir Oliver Martext
As You Like It Act III,
scene iii Line 102
I thought this Sir Oliver Martext fellow was a pretty minor
character, so I decided to google him to see what was out there on him. I found
an interesting blog post suggesting that Sir Oliver Martext is a clue pointing
to the conclusion that Christopher Marlowe wrote As You Like It. You can read
about that if you like. Here’s the link: http://marlowe-shakespeare.blogspot.com/2010/10/significance-of-sir-oliver-mar-text-in.html
In any event, apparently Sir Oliver appears only in this
scene with three speaking lines, and is mentioned in one other scene. And yet
he gets the final line, alone, in Act III Scene iii. He’s been called out as a
fellow who is incapable of performing a legitimate wedding and so Touchstone,
Audrey , and Jaques head off to find a proper vicar. At which point Sir Oliver
says ‘No matter, these knuckleheads aren’t going get me to change my calling by
insulting me.’
Considering that there is no real character development of
this guy, and no further appearances by him, it’s hard to see what this line
has to do with anything, or what purpose it has. So maybe that lends credence
to that blog post referenced above. Or maybe not. Who the heck knows?
What do you think?
Looks like these folks are looking for the Vicar to perform a christening. I hope the Vicar hasn't been flouted out of his calling!
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