Sonnet 116

Which one, you ask? There are a lot of Sonnet 116's out there in the world. But it is obviously by Shakespeare. Because if it wasn't, I would have to include the author, seeing as how all other sonnet writers are automaticaly inferior to the good old Bard. Note to everyone who ever knew me: from this point on, if the author is not specified, automatically assume I am taking about Shakespeare. Duh.

Back to 116... This morning I was seized by the irresistible desire to watch Sense and Sensibility. Which I tried to do. Then I realized that the yellow part of the cord that goes between the tv and the vcr, enabling tv usage, is broken yet again. This must have happened sometime yesterday when I was rearranging the living room, an activity which involved carrying around tvs and stuff. Jeff Clifford, be relived. It was my fault this time. (Dang. I still think there is something wrong with the plug, or why would it always be the yellow one that breaks?) So I was really depressed because Sense and Sensibility is a vhs, hence introducing the impossibility of just watching it on my laptop. Suck. And then I realized that I have the whole thing memorized anyway, so I will just watch it in my head. (this is actually a common activity for me. I tend to watch the same movies over and over again and then I just memorize them. This is a handy tool when you are in a really boring class, or waiting in lines, or in desperate need to escape the company of everyone around you who won't. quit. talking)
 So I was sitting on my couch watching it in my mind and I got to the part with Marianne and Willoughby reading sonnets and falling in love. (Dang computer. Shut it. I spelled Willoughby right. Your vocabulary is simply inferior to mine.) Anyway, they fall in love and they sort of have 116 as their theme sonnet, and then willoughby decides to be a scuzzer and all that crap. (by the way, I don't believe in falling in love. you slipped in mud, and all of a sudden, you are in love! No.) And we come to the scene where Marianne is standing in the rain looking at Willoughby's house and saying the sonnet and every woman in the room starts crying, and then Colonel Brandon comes and saves the day!

So all this was happening and I was thinking about Shakespeare. He is great, but I do have one qualm about his writing. So many of his plays are about love, but a lot of the time they get it wrong. Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer night's dream, etc. These people fall in 'love' and then do horrible things to each other. That is not how it works. But I think this sonnet is the part where Shakespeare really gets it right.  Love, even if it isn't romantic, should be the constant in everything else that happens. Because when you really love someone, you are in it all the way no matter what, not just for whatever they can give you, because real love is service. This one is actually already on the blog, but I believe it so I'll say it again. Toni Morrison said " Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't love at all." So true. Thin love could be called mild affection, but its not the real thing. That is what is so great about Sense and Sensibility. Because the whole time Colonel Brandon loves Marianne and does stuff to help her even though he knows he is never going to get anything back from her. (and then he does, and we all cheer.) And Willoughby gets nothing good, because he is selfish and he leaves when she can't save him financially. Again. Scuzzer. A handsome one, but still a scuzzer.

This is the part where you all ignore the fact that I am being all sappy about Shakespeare/ Jane Austen. And you give me a break because after all, I am not an English major for nothing. This is also the part where everybody goes and watches that movie and marvels at Shakespeare's brilliance. Anyway...

I'm going to go watch all those other vhs movies I own in my head while I pack. peace.