The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 19.0531  Friday, 5 September 2008

From:       Felix de Villiers <
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Date:       Tuesday, 2 Sep 2008 08:41:48 +0200
Subject:    Aaron Manson

Aaron Manson,

I must thank Sam Small for reminding me in which play that monstrous Aaron comes 
up, as I think about him quite a lot. He is the one character In Shakespeare 
that is defiant in his evil doings until the bitter end, like Don Giovanni who 
goes on unrepentant until he is swallowed by the flames of hell. So Aaron is a 
key figure in Shakespeare. There is so much violence and cruelty around him that 
he is, in a way, its logical conclusion. Both Aaron and and Charles Manson where 
the products of the world they lived in, the difference being that the one lives 
in fantasy and the other lived in reality. I would not like to encounter a real 
Charles Manson and if I did I would call the police. Yet slamming and punishing 
them and being morally indignant about monsters is not enough : The real ones 
get loads of fan mail in prison. We have to understand the social background 
that breeds such creatures.

Yours,
Felix

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