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Will

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Will is currently reading

Oscar and Lucinda

by Peter Carey

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Jan 08, 2020 05:30AM

Will is currently reading

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)

by J.K. Rowling

bookshelves: 2020, currently-reading

read in January 2017

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Will said: " I've lost track of the number of times I've read "Harry Potter," and as "Sorcerer's Stone" is its first installment, that is doubly applied here - I can confidently say I've read the series at least six times, so probably at least 10 times for "Sorce ...more "

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(page 262 of 309)
— Jan 17, 2017 11:30AM

Feb 07, 2017 01:06PM · see review

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The Two Gentlemen of Verona

by William Shakespeare

bookshelves: currently-reading, 2020

read in January 2017

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Will said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" The essential question of this play is an interesting one to grapple: does a young man value his best friend or the woman he's currently interested in more (or, if you want to put it more colloquially, "Be it bros beforeth hoes?"). Does it do a satis The essential question of this play is an interesting one to grapple: does a young man value his best friend or the woman he's currently interested in more (or, if you want to put it more colloquially, "Be it bros beforeth hoes?"). Does it do a satisfactory job answering that question? No. A longtime Shakespeare fan, I find that The Two Gentlemen of Verona trips a little at the finish line. When Proteus attempts to rape Sylvia at the end and is stopped by Valentine, Valentine forgives him far too quickly and far too easily, perhaps an interesting commentary on their obsession with each other, but the value in that is negated (to a modern reader, anyway), but Sylvia remaining silent for the rest of the play, even as Valentine at best says that he loves Proteus more, and at worst offers her to her attempted rapist.

This clearly settles the play's question of friendship vs love in favor of friendship, with both gentlemen (and I use the term loosely, Proteus is far from gentle and ultimately, Valentine's ease in forgiving Proteus over his treatment of Sylvia certainly puts his gentlemanly qualities into question) reunited in their friendship, their romantic triumphs secondary. Is that an incorrect or wrong conclusion? Not necessarily. But Proteus's inconstancy towards Valentine certainly makes it a hollow conclusion.

Speed, Launce, and the unfortunately underused Lucetta add some strong comic moments, specifically Speed's swift wordplay and Launce's monologue on the love of his dog. That monologue, incidentally, works (humorously) well with the overall question of the play: perhaps it is not the love between two lovers or the somewhat homoerotic love between two best friends that triumphs over all others, but the love of a pet owner for his faithful canine companion.

One scene that does not receive enough discussion - and also is important in relation to that play defining question - is where Julia, in disguise as Proteus's page, Sebastian, delivers a message to Sylvia, and the two women (even though Sylvia is unaware that they are both women) bond over solidarity from the deceptions. This is the one relationship of equal peers in the play where no one is betrayed, assaulted, or belittled. In a play pitting male friendship against male-female love, it is the female friendship that, despite being neglected overall, shines through as the strongest.

Not the Bard's finest work, but an entertaining (if problematic) read. ...more "

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(page 39 of 245)
— Jan 09, 2017 05:57PM

Jan 05, 2020 12:18PM · see review