The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.0954  Thursday, 15 May 2003

[1]     From:   Martin Green <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 14 May 2003 10:55:05 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

[2]     From:   Abigail Quart <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 14 May 2003 12:13:10 -0400
        Subj:   RE: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

[3]     From:   Brian Willis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 14 May 2003 09:43:30 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

[4]     From:   William Sutton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 14 May 2003 23:53:15 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Martin Green <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 14 May 2003 10:55:05 -0400
Subject: 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

In Sonnets 1 and 4, Shakespeare clearly - - and in other Sonnets, e.g.,
5 and 6, , not so clearly - - urges "beauties Rose" to turn from
masturbation to procreation.

Martin Green

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Abigail Quart <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 14 May 2003 12:13:10 -0400
Subject: 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation
Comment:        RE: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

What? You never noticed the glorious description of Jaques jerking off
in the woods?

AYLI II i:
1st Lord: Today my Lord of Amiens and myself
Did steal behind him as he lay along
Under an oak whose antique root peeps out
Under the brook that brawls along this wood.
To the which place a poor sequestered stag,
That from the hunter's aim hath ta'en a hurt,
Did come to languish, and indeed, my lord,
The wretched animal heaved forth such groans
That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat
Almost to bursting, and the big round tears
Coursed one another down his innocent nose
In piteous chase. And thus the hairy fool,
Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,
Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook,
Augmenting it with his tears.

Later, Jaques enters exclaiming (AYLI II vii): A fool, a fool! I met a
fool i' the forest!

In the same scene, Duke Senior heightens the analogy to the wounded
stag:

Duke Senior: Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin,
For thou thyself hast been a libertine
As senual as the brutish sting itself,
And all the embossed sores and headed evils
That thou with license of free foot hast caught
Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world.

My impression is that the "hunter's arrow" that got Jaques with its
"brutish sting" is venereal disease. That's why he indulges alone, and
that's why he doesn't return with the others at the end of the play.

Jaques is the reason why the exiles are not, to Orlando's surprise,
living as savages. He is the bad example of license.

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Brian Willis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 14 May 2003 09:43:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

Romeo and Juliet Act II Scene i seems to be an extensive joking and
punning upon Romeo's solitary withdrawal in order to masturbate, whether
with the help of medlars and poperin pears or not.

Brian Willis

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           William Sutton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 14 May 2003 23:53:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.0934 Shakespearean Masturbation

'For having traffic with thyself alone, thou of thyself thy sweet self
dost deceive' springs to the fore in Sonnet 4: the ultimate lonely man's
sonnet.

Don't forget you might go blind,
William S.

_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>

DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the
editor assumes no responsibility for them.

Subscribe to Our Feeds

Search

Make a Gift to SHAKSPER

Consider making a gift to support SHAKSPER.