nostr:npub1vdd75n9nzj09xp4z95xcw6gq7fjqr2m666tqkkphhf5cmpw6e8wscjtkfq Act II cont'd:

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Helena is such a fucking yandere

> I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,

> The more you beat me I will fawn on you.

> Use me but as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me,

> Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave

> (Unworthy as I am) to follow you.

The fairies' lullaby for their queen is adorable. The idea that bugs and snakes could be threats to them really underscores how small they are. It looks like Titania uses discarded snake skins as sleeping bags?

> And there the snake throws her enameled skin,

> Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

The part where Lysander says "One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth." feels like classic Shakespearean wordplay. It seems like three meanings of "lie" are at play: to lie down and sleep with someone, to lie by not telling the truth, and to lie in death (which meaning reappears later when Hermia wakes up Lysander *because* she worries that he might be dead).

My absolute *favorite* part of Act 2 comes at the end, where Lysander, under the influence of the love potion, falls in love with Helena and attributes it to his now-fully-matured *reason*. It is an obvious truism that reason is more often used to 'rationalize' an irrational opinion than to 'be rational' in the first place, and nowhere else is this more clear than when someone tries to 'rationally' explain why they are in love. It is the logical conclusion of all the 'comparing between Hermia and Helena' which has gone on in this play. What an amazingly fitting end to an act which is all about the capricious spirits of the unreasonable and unreasoned.

I haven't read ahead or read any spoilers. I want to lock in a prediction: the 'foul beast' which Titania falls in love with will be Snug the joiner, "slow of study", whose only part in the play is to roar like a lion.

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nostr:npub1pt6l3a97fvywrxdlr7j0q8j2klwntng35c40cuhj2xmsxmz696uqfr6mf6 on act II as well:

>But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.

Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,

As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea

Contagious fogs; which falling in the land

Have every pelting river made so proud

That they have overborne their continents

here it's actually love being interrupted that causes bad things to happen instead of love itself causing them to happen like mentioned earlier, i get the feeling this might come up later

>And even for that do I love you the more.

I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,

The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:

Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,

Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,

Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

this is relatable, though not to anything at the moment

>Your virtue is my privilege: for that

It is not night when I do see your face

again the lunar/solar motif in connection with love and the lack of it. very interesting

>Worm nor snail, do no offence.

it's so over 🐌

>I mean that my heart unto yours is knit,

So that but one heart we can make of it;

Two bosoms interchained with an oath—

So then two bosoms and a single troth.

reminds me of the idea in the symposium that men and women used to be one creature that was later separated. also the use of the word troth which is where betrothed comes from

funnily enough, as the first act mentioned men breaking their promises we have it happening right in the next act when lysander stops wanting to elope with hermia. it wasn't his fault but still

>Either death or you I’ll find immediately.

nice dramatic end.

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nostr:npub1pt6l3a97fvywrxdlr7j0q8j2klwntng35c40cuhj2xmsxmz696uqfr6mf6 ACT III opens with some funny moments as the performers think of disclaimers to put before their play, like saying the lion isn't really a lion or that the person playing the role of pyramus doesn't actually die, to avoid scaring the ladies. they settle on the lion speaking and politely introducing himself as the man playing him before making a million other changes. lions actually used to live in greece even after the classical period ended... anyway i have a feeling the play they're writing is going to suck

>The moon, methinks, looks with a wat’ry eye,

And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,

Lamenting some enforced chastity.

what a beautiful characterization and association, once again.

>We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,

Have with our needles created both one flower,

Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,

Both warbling of one song, both in one key,

As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds

Had been incorporate. So we grew together

Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,

But yet an union in partition,

so hermia and helena were very close, now drifted apart by circumstances of love

>And made your other love, Demetrius,

Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,

To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,

Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this

To her he hates?

"i love you!"

"who put you up to this?"

>Away, you Ethiop!

>Be certain, nothing truer, ’tis no jest

That I do hate thee and love Helena.

in this play hate is presented as the opposite of love; if you don't actively love someone you must hate them. in reality the opposite of love is indifference, and in fact love necessarily carries much hate within itself, and the two are inextricable.

>“Little” again? Nothing but “low” and “little”?

Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?

Let me come to her.

not often you see some teasing on physical attributes like height, at least not conducted like it is here among the two women.

>And yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger,

At whose approach, ghosts wand’ring here and

there

Troop home to churchyards. Damnèd spirits all,

That in crossways and floods have burial,

night is a magical time. it came to mind here that reading a play has an advantage over seeing one performed. when you go to see one the set-designers are responsible for creating the places where the play takes place, but reading it you can imagine it detached from any physical stage, any hall, any audience. the actors aren't actors, they simply are the characters, and portray themselves; grassy fields and castles and towns, you can imagine these places that could never perfectly be recreated on a stage in your own head.

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nostr:npub1vdd75n9nzj09xp4z95xcw6gq7fjqr2m666tqkkphhf5cmpw6e8wscjtkfq nostr:npub1pt6l3a97fvywrxdlr7j0q8j2klwntng35c40cuhj2xmsxmz696uqfr6mf6

>here it's actually love being interrupted that causes bad things to happen instead of love itself causing them to happen like mentioned earlier, i get the feeling this might come up later

Righteous, appropriate love is the order of life?

>reminds me of the idea in the symposium that men and women used to be one creature that was later separated. also the use of the word troth which is where betrothed comes from

Even Eve is considered made from the material of Adam.

Troth: faith or loyalty when pledged in a solemn agreement or undertaking. I did not know that.