Once again I find that the biggest problem I have with recording my notes is that none of them make any sense. At all. But I will say that one of the things that pops up the most is that literature is nothing but displaced myth. We might try to take the mythology out of a story, but it creeps back in where we least expect it. There's also quite a bit about alchemy, which we talked about in the first test too, but the refining of the soul is what we all strive after, so why should we not include it in our further discussion? Then, of course, comes the all-important law of villainy. If you're going to be a villain, be a good one. Don't be a Cloten.
We also had a discussion, although brief, that has stuck in my mind for quite some time. It was about how entrapping someone in fantasy is sometimes the only way to save their life. This of course made me think of the movie Inception. Anyone who's seen it should have at least some idea of what I'm talking about. Perhaps the reason I'm so interested in this idea is because I've spent most of my life being "saved from fantasy." My parents are what some people call "realists." Others might refer to them as groundlings. They refuse to take part in anything that has anything to do with fantasy, and even explained that they would never take the family to Disneyland because "it's not a part of real life." For me, fantasy has always been my escape from that, and indeed, at times very well might have saved my life.
One of the things that I've done my best to be on the lookout for (though my best wasn't very good in this case) was how the characters deal with immortality. I think there are a lot of interesting points that can be brought up with this in mind. But there is an even more vital question to ask - What do the romances have to do with Shakespeare connecting with mythology? The romances are mythology. The separation from the goddess of the complete being, the rejection of her offspring, the goddess wailing and searching for her child who was lost, and at the end, the circle, made complete only through our imaginings.
I had planned to write more about the puttock, and what nasty little creatures pikes really are, and I might come back to that, but I have pages more to fill before I feel I have time to catch a breath. So I'll ask the question that all of us long to know. Why are women sacrificed? Is it because we are meant to symbol purity? After all, the virgin sacrifice is one of the most common. And we rarely see the sacrificial man. But wasn't a man's job to protect a woman? It doesn't seem to fit that the one that's supposed to be protected ends up on the altar. But then the world rarely makes sense.
The definition of a romance isn't seen the same way these days. Although there are just as many pirates. People still love pirates. And pirates understand that if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself. That and honey torture is the most terrifying thing ever. Forget waterboarding. That doesn't hold a candle to this. But class is starting soon and I need to go. So more later.
