Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 Today’s Totally Random Lines

Gentle Cousin,

Let us go thank him and encourage him:

My father’s rough and envious disposition

Sticks me at heart.

 

Ceila

As You Like It                        Act I Scene ii, Line 234

I’ve concluded that reading Shakespeare makes you smarter. Do I need to back that up with details? Well, I think it should be obvious. Just figuring out what’s being said is a good mental exercise. And then thinking about what it is that’s being said is further good, strong work.

For instance, take sticks me at heart. That’s an odd little turn of phrase. And yet, pretty easy to figure out what she’s saying. She’s obviously remarking about feeling bad that her father was mean to Orlando. Sticks me at heart is simply makes me feel bad.

But then you can think about that choice of those four words: sticks me at heart. Why those words, and in that order. Perhaps that was a common phrase back then. Perhaps not. I don’t know. Without any modifier in front of heart, it makes me think that Will is speaking less of her heart and more of feelings in general, or maybe trying to get more emphasis on Ceila’s father than on Ceila.

See what I mean? You can really dig into this stuff and roll around in it. It’s a good mental exercise, and we’ve barely scratched the surface.  Beats the hell out of watching Charlie bit my finger videos.

Wait, then that means I’m getting smarter too!

Sure Mojo, you’re getting much smarter.