The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 19.0633  Wednesday, 5 November 2008

[1] From:   Alan Pierpoint <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
     Date:   Sunday, 02 Nov 2008 15:28:13 -0500
     Subt:   Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

[2] From:   Robert Projansky <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
     Date:   Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 12:56:28 -0800
     Subt:   Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

[3] From:   Joseph Egert <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
     Date:   Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 13:26:23 -0800 (PST)
     Subt:   Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

[4] From:   Jason Rhode <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
     Date:   Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 23:40:51 -0600
     Subt:   Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:       Alan Pierpoint <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:       Sunday, 02 Nov 2008 15:28:13 -0500
Subject: 19.0623 Heroes
Comment:    Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

Have we ruled out poor Brutus, then? Honest self-sacrifice? Brutus puts 
everything he has including his life on the line. Do we discount Anthony's 
judgment as only magnanimity in victory: "Only he, in a general honest thought / 
And common good to all, made one of them . . ."??-Alan Pierpoint

[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:       Robert Projansky <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:       Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 12:56:28 -0800
Subject: 19.0623 Heroes
Comment:    Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

Larry Weiss:

 >If unselfishness and self-sacrifice is the defining characteristic
 >of heroism, we can add Desdemona and both Portias.

I don't think that fixing a trial = heroism.

Bob Projansky

[3]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:       Joseph Egert <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:       Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 13:26:23 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 19.0623 Heroes
Comment:    Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

Larry Weiss writes:

 >If unselfishness and self-sacrifice is the defining characteristic of heroism,
 >we can add Desdemona and both Portias. Interesting, isn't it, that the only
 >characters I can think of are women.

Scratch Cato's daughter and add Iago's wife Emilia along with Cornwall's servant 
and Cade's nemesis Iden. The hero risks what s/he values for what we value, both 
values being subject to "particular will", time and place. Or are they precious 
in themselves?

Joe Egert

[4]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:       Jason Rhode <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:       Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 23:40:51 -0600
Subject: 19.0623 Heroes
Comment:    Re: SHK 19.0623 Heroes

A hit, a very palpable hit.

Evett and Weiss raise interesting points. I should have clarified. Bottom 
doesn't sacrifice much, except his dignity (of course, it's not like he has a 
surplus of that), I guess. Then again, who else in the plays is whisked back and 
forth between humanity and donkeyhood so abruptly? Even Lear gets to stay mostly 
h. sapien during his play. What's having your retinue sliced here and there 
compared to lugging around the head of a different species on your shoulders? I 
ask you. For all Nick Bottom knows, this is a recurring condition. And something 
tells me Athenian health care doesn't cover transmogrification. Nor is the 
Weaver's Guild likely to "pony" up the dough.  The bravado among his fellow rude 
mechanicals is to cover up a deep, abiding fear of becoming the herbivorous 
plaything of some dew-bedecked she-demiurge.

Also, he gets a special pass from me for being Bottom. Yes, I play favorites. 
This critical vessel is flawed.

As for Evett's question, Horatio gives nothing? Really? How isn't he the most 
virtuous and stalwart wingman in the Canon? He endures Osric and doesn't kill 
anyone. Unlike some members of the blood royal I might mention ...


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