Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

The poor, lame, blind, halt, creep, cry out for thee;

But they ne’er meet with Opportunity.

 

Lucrece

Lucrece                                 Line 902

 

Lucrece is lying in her bed. She has been raped by Tarquin, he has fled, and now she is having all sorts of thoughts: none of them particularly good.

In this particular stanza, and several that go before it, she is blaming Opportunity for what happened to her. That’s right, she’s personifying Opportunity (hence the capital O). She’s spent the previous four stanzas talking about all the troubles that different people get themselves into, and how it wouldn’t have happened if they’d not had the Opportunity. Now, in these last two lines that we have today, she’s noting that the people who could use Opportunity to help them out of troubles never see Opportunity.

Interesting.

Opportunity. Today’s line is all about Opportunity and the lack thereof. But it puts a really bad spin on Opportunity. I think generally we use Opportunity in a more positive sense.

For instance: 

We recently had the Opportunity to take a fantastic trip (see previous post).

And Mojo had the Opportunity to make a new friend. Yes, he has a somewhat apprehensive look on his face, but I can assure you that Mojo and Dave got along famously. 

Opportunity.