The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.0043  Tuesday, 9 January 2001

[1]     From:   Don Bloom <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Monday, 08 Jan 2001 11:16:37 -0600
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.0037 Re: Orlando

[2]     From:   Sophie Masson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Tuesday, 9 Jan 2001 09:27:07 +1100
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.0037 Re: Orlando


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Don Bloom <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 08 Jan 2001 11:16:37 -0600
Subject: 12.0037 Re: Orlando
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.0037 Re: Orlando

Ed Taft writes:

>I think that Rosalind initially falls in love with Orlando because he
>has a great body.

Can we assume that Ed is engaging here in a bit of whimsical
exaggeration at Rosalind's expense? Surely, she falls in love with
Orlando because he is heroic, not just handsome (and scarcely
muscle-bound). A secondary appeal would be to her maternal instincts
through the seeming hopelessness of his situation. Last would be his
physical attractiveness with his shirt off.

At least, that's how I'd pitch it to the actress doing Rosalind if I
were directing the play,

Cheers,
don bloom

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Sophie Masson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Tuesday, 9 Jan 2001 09:27:07 +1100
Subject: 12.0037 Re: Orlando
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.0037 Re: Orlando

My feeling is that here we have Shakespeare the imaginative, perceptive
realist, who understood that in a marriage, people's temperaments,
qualities and foibles alike, can gel together or clash in a variety of
unexpected and interesting ways. More than most writers, he seems to
understand that love-from the beginning-and marriage are not static
states but a constant process of discovery, of chaos and peace, of an
always-evolving tension and resolution, an at-times terrifyingly doomed
or threatened noble daring, a learning staggered continually. The
relationship of two human beings is thus a kind of microcosm for the
constant struggle of humanity to maintain meaning, however small and
modest, against a n often seemingly random and mightily crushing
universe. Sorry to get so philosophical, but Ed's inspiring post is to
blame!

Sophie Masson
Author site: http://www.northnet.com.au/~smasson

Subscribe to Our Feeds

Search

Make a Gift to SHAKSPER

Consider making a gift to support SHAKSPER.