Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No.0755. Wednesday, 28 Sept. 1994.
(1) From: Jean Peterson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 26 Sep 1994 22:16:08 -0400
Subj: RE: sonnet and Bianca
(2) From: Geoff Pywell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 26 Sep 1994 11:02:01 -0500 (EST)
Subj: Character
(3) From: Kathleen Kendrick <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 27 Sep 1994 13:42:16 -0500 (CDT)
Subj: Re: SHK 5.0750 Qs: MND Video
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jean Peterson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 26 Sep 1994 22:16:08 -0400
Subject: RE: sonnet and Bianca
So where
>does this sense of veneral disease come from? The use of fire is consistent
>with the images of hell (place of eternal punishment and female sexual organ)
>in the rest of this poem, but I'm baffled by the gloss. And, oh dear, what an
>attitude toward female sexuality is revealed here...
See also *Comedy of Errors*, 4.3.55-59, where Dromio (S.) warns his master to
stay away from the Courtesan because "light wenches will burn." The Signet &
the Riverside both gloss "burn" as transmitting a veneral disease (consistent,
it seems with the sense of warning in Dromio's words). I can recall being
taught this particular "double-entendre" as far back as a high school
shakespeare class, so it's an idea that's been around for a while--but it's
unlike Partridge and the OED to "miss" this precise usage, if it were indeed
common, no? Curiouser and curiouser...
AND....
With all due respect to Ronald Dwelle--
"Shrew" is animalistic, but "bitch" is not???!
Jean Peterson
Bucknell University
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From: Geoff Pywell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Monday, 26 Sep 1994 11:02:01 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Character
May I suggest the recent book by Bert O. States, Hamlet and the concept of
character, as an elegant and illuminating examination of the whole vexed
subject of what constitutes character. As always with States there is a great
deal of common sense laced with humor.
(3)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kathleen Kendrick <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 27 Sep 1994 13:42:16 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: 5.0750 Qs: MND Video
Comment: Re: SHK 5.0750 Qs: MND Video
Try Facets Multimedia in Chicago on Fullerton Ave.
