I
have said too much unto a heart of stone,
And
laid my honour too unchary out.
-Olivia
Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will Act III, Scene iv, Line 202
So now, how about that second to last word; unchary. That’s
a bit of a puzzler, eh? Anybody? Okay, it means carelessly. Now here’s the
funny thing: if I look it up in my online Shakespeare glossary it says ‘carelessly’.
If I google it and take the online MW definition it says ‘carelessly’. So one
would be speaking unchary if one were to say that Shakespeare was not written
in modern English, because it is (even thought Microsoft Word is giving me a
red underline spellcheck every time I type unchary). I had a long discussion
with one of my co-workers last week about the difference between old English,
and middle English, and modern English. It was actually more of a lecture than
a discussion. I asked her if she was ready for the lecture, and she said she
was. And it seemed like she was interested, but maybe she’s just a good actor.
Hard to tell.
Now, what’s Olivia saying? Well, without context it doesn’t
have a heck of a lot of meaning, but just the same, we can understand it. She’s
said too much to someone who pretty much doesn’t care, and in the process she
has carelessly put her honor out there, presumably to be trampled on. Well,
okay, I pretty much added that presumption, but it seems reasonable.
Obviously I don’t know this play, and I’m not going to look
into this scene right now, so you’re going to be stuck with simply learning a
new word for carelessly. My friend Garrett told me that this play had something
to do with Christmas season. Or at least the title does. But that’s about all I
know about it.
Speaking of Christmas, this is my workshop. I put up some Christmas lights this year and decided to keep them up after the holiday season was over. I'm not doing it unchary. I just like the way it looks.
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