Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

            By him that justly may

Bear his betrothed from all the world away.

 

-Bassianus

Titus Andronicus                     Act I Scene i, Line 286

 

This is truly a strange play. Granted, Will wrote it early in his career. In fact, I believe this qualifies as his first crack at a tragedy. And it’s definitely a tragedy. Heck, just about everyone dies in this one, including Titus. But there’s so much plotting, and changing sides, and just weird stuff going on. And Lavinia, Titus’s daughter, seems to be caught in the middle of much of the action, starting here in Act I (she is the betrothed being mentioned in today’s Totally Random line) and ending in the final scene of the play where her father kills her. Yeah, Titus kills his daughter. That’s what I mean: this whole play is just a bit fakakta. I mean, it’s still like a game of golf: a bad day of golf is still better than a good day at work, and a lesser work of Will is still better than just about any other writing. Nevertheless, a bit fakakta.

Here's a good example of fakakta. The wood in this pencil goes right up through the middle of the graphite. I've never seen anything like this in a pencil before. This pencil is a bit fakakta.