We talked about the tradition of monasticism that may have inspired some of the introductory events in Love's Labour's Lost. People sequester themselves away from the world for a period of time and focus on God and learning. My understanding, however, was that joining a monastery was generally optional.
I find myself wondering what motivated Ferdinand to decide that he didn't want any women near his court for a three year period. Like, none at all. No one in his court is even allowed to talk to women. This seems so mind-bogglingly stupid that I can't understand why he would do this. Bad breakup? I've heard that you should take at least fifty percent of the time you were in the relationship to get over it. Maybe he was in a six-year relationship that went south, and he wants to spend the next three years eating ice cream and watching Beaches (that's what guys do after breakups, right?). Maybe he's not sure he likes women and he doesn't want people asking him why he isn't dating. Maybe his ex was super clingy and now he just wants some bro-time, and plans on spending the next three years eating the 16th century equivalent of buffalo wings and watching the 16th century equivalent of Anchorman (Turkey legs and bear baiting?). Who can say?
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| From Left To Right: Biron, Ferdinand, Longaville, Dumain |
Hehehe, I am amused by the implication that he's gay. Although I don't think that it was quite the idea that Shakespeare was trying to convey, I still think it would make an interesting interpretation to see onstage in the context of a comedy. Perhaps if Love's Labour's Lost was put in a modern context, Ferdinand would be some strange bicurious frat boy looking to get in on something new.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know that he's gay. I just have known many gay people who hadn't come out on a broad scale who used things like work or school or extracurriculars to explain why they were "too busy to date."
ReplyDeleteAnd, I mean, there's tons of speculation that Shakespeare himself was involved in a romantic relationship with a youngish boy. Many of his sonnets are speculated to have been about this young guy he was in love with. It wouldn't shock me if there were some gay people in some of his plays somewhere, or at least, characters Shakespeare himself thought were gay, even if he couldn't be up front about it. Kind of an Albus Dumbledore situation, if you will.