Saturday, June 6, 2020


O ye gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife!

-Marcus Brutus

Julius Caesar                          Act II, scene i, line 303


Well I suppose you think that I would just post a picture of my noble wife and be done with it. Perhaps I’ll do just a little reading to see if I can find out what in particular has happened for Brutus to be making this exclamation. I mean, it seems unlikely that he’s just sitting there eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and all of a sudden blurts out O ye gods, render me worthy of this noble wife! I guess it’s possible, but…

As usual, I’ve found something pretty interesting here. Brutus’s exclamation is in response to his wife’s questions about what’s bothering him. She’s noticed that he’s not sleeping, and that something’s really troubling him and she wants to help him, whatever it is. Little does she know, and he’s not going to tell her, that it’s because he’s plotting the assassination of Caesar.

Now, why is that so interesting? Because early today at breakfast I was talking to my wife about why she wasn’t sleeping well. I have to admit that I was not professing as strong a devotion to her as Portia was to Caesar, nor was she about to exclaim O ye gods, render me worthy of this noble husband! But just the fact that we were discussing the same thing is pretty interesting. And by the way, I’m almost certain that she’s not planning any assassinations. Jeez, I hope she’d not.


So here's the kitchen where yesterday morning we were discussing the sleep thing. I couldn't think of anything better for today's pic. Sorry.





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