Tag Archives: Sherlock Holmes

manners

people have got to learn them! I’m encountering a particularly bad case at work. I teach on the side and there is one private student who is unable to stick to a schedule. Granted, she is an athlete, so I am giving her some leeway – but her organization does not impress me. I recently heard back from a friend who’s also dealing with some unreasonable people and I don’t understand why some people are unable to figure what what happens in the next week of their life!

Sigh–is it really too much to ask?

Anywho, I am working on my Shakespeare comparative exercise. We are given a 2 page length limit so it’s a pretty short assignment – but that just makes editing that much harder!! Here’s a teaser (hasn’t been manicured yet–so beware):

Theses remarkable torrents of correlations also venture into the perimeters of their working lives. Social classes and cultural conformity were strictly enforced and were very much an integral part of everyday life in the Elizabethan and Victorian era. For Shakespeare, social hierarchy provided the backdrop and often, the major source of conflict in many of his plays. His characters are caught between the desire to break away from those customs to fulfill their own yearlings and the hesitation to reject social conventions. The central hurdle for Romeo and Juliet is the parental opposition from both families (who consider each other to be socially inferior). For Macbeth, the path to the throne is not by loyalty to the king, but by murder and deceit. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom, the simple minded weaver, is given the most profound vision of the ballad. Shakespeare was not a member of the aristocracy and had none of the usual symptoms of “high society” about him. He was particularly sympathetic to the plight of women and of the lower classes. He often attributes intelligence and insight to the under privileged characters, rather than those of the nobility…

(I can’t get the font size to stay consistent on this blog. sorry)

I am going to follow this paragraph with:

For Shakespeare and Holmes, the casts of characters are not only governed by social hierarchy, but also by sex. Even during the Elizabethan era, women were not permitted to be on stage and all of the female roles were usually performed by young, somewhat inexperienced boy actors. Shakespeare was a savvy playwright who knew to write to his actors’ advantage. And hence, there are very few women characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Holmes, in stark contrast, is infamous for his vocal pronouncements of his disregard of women kind in general. His treatment of women is generally regarded as racist… 


ten impossible things before breakfast

I am supposed to be reading Green Grass, Running Water (by Thomas King) for class but of course I got distracted by Katie Forsythe. Her second instalment of Softly and Suddenly quite plainly torn me apart. Now, I’m not a fan of slash, platonic bromance is more my taste – but GAH, she writes so good. The vile things Holmes says out of hurt and out of self protection are so terrible, but you understand why he is being cruel, and how, in some ways, he is trying to save himself. Watson has the biggest heart, and that capacity to love tangles his desires and his “duties” as a respectable man in the Victorian Era.

Oh, sod it. I might as well just finish the fic and heal my heart with some brownies.

PS. I came up with the title days ago when i found out that the anniversary of The Hobbit is on Sept 21. And then i got side-tracked and this post got revamped.


attributive compounds

MUST SHARE THIS. It’s an astonishingly candid interview with the great Jeremy Brett (who I should mention, was gorgeous and talented and thus, very accordingly stolen my unyielding affections. Hey! Another dead old guy to add to my list of obsessions ~ whatdoyaknow?) I believe this interview took place during his last years, when he was addled with both physical and emotional distress – some people believe that’s the reason why his words don’t conceal but reveal, unlike most actors’ speeches.

I’ve seen every one of the 42 ACD stories and I whole hearted agree with the general online consensus that Brett was the authentic Holmes as ACD had written and envisioned him, down to the barking laugh, the persian cigar slipper, the aquiline nose and impeccable wit.

FRIDAY: Hawaiian pizza, mexican fries, juice

SATURDAY: chicken strips, coffee, preserved egg congee, egg and tomatoes with rice

SUNDAY: congee, mango juice, baked salmon, stir-fried broccoli, egg and tomatoes with rice

MONDAY: 2 buttered honey oats bagels with strawberry jam, disguising coffee I made (I only had 1% at home!), chicken strips…


sight

If I can be prevailed upon to rely on my own deductions, then I believe it is entirely possible that I have figured out the precise reason why I attack my obsessions with such fervent passion.

Well, now. That did not sound like me at all, did it? Hopefully not, because I was trying to be convoluted and all manner of Victorian … GAH! I can’t pretend anymore!

I was rereading “A Hymn to the Endlessly Falling” (click on this link if you want to lose sleep for a week) a moment ago and my startling revelation occurred when I reached the third page. Holmes and Watson had just relocated to Sussex and Holmes has found himself impossibly enchanted by bees. I’ve pasted word for word below the section that drew my attention:

Holmes loves the in the way he loves things he doesn’t understand entirely. It must be such a curse, understanding so very many things. It took me some time to learn that about him, to understand that part of why… is that I baffle him. I find myself to be very simple. My motives are enough to fathom, and i make it my habit never to take motiveless actions, so my own lack of capriciousness causes me to wonder at times why Holmes is looking at me the way he looks at fascinating murder scenes. But if I can puzzle him, then God bless him, he’s welcome to me, and welcome to bees…

The phrases I have bolded explain precisely when and why I gain and lose obsessions. It’s terribly arrogant and presumptuous of me to declare this, but when I think that I’ve learnt all there is to learn about something, someone, somewhat or other, I lose interest! I pay an insurmountable amount of attention to detail – so that prolongs the life of these obsessions a bit, but once I’ve been exposed to it all, I’m done. Next one up please!

I don’t know how happy I am about this. I am at the point where I know Cabin Pressure as well as any fan can possibly know. If I’m wise, I’ll let it rest until I forget all the details in all their fantastic comedic ways. It’d be a real tragedy if I were to get sick of it.

Belatedly, however, I should mention that I am in no way saying I’m any sort of detective investigative genius. Just putting that out there.