Shakespeare's Heroes, Tragic and Comedic

I have recently, for reasons relatively embarrassing and which will therefore be left unsaid, dove into the works of Shakespeare. I have read King Lear, Macbeth, and Cymbeline, and Othello, watched Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and re-watched Much Ado About Nothing (movie with Emma Thompson), and watched the Hollow Crown (Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V) trilogy. Haven't gotten to Richard III yet but I will.

And I have found a peculiar, recurring thread that I just noticed after finishing Cymbeline. No, it started niggling in my head while reading Macbeth, which opens with glowing praise of Macbeth. Says King Duncan-- "O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!"
And you know, even if you don't know anything about Macbeth, that during the course of the play Macbeth's character will regress from valiant and worthy to base and violent. Just the simple fact that his goodness is pointed out makes you suspicious. I remembered Othello, which starts out similarly (oh how wonderful Othello is I'm actually glad my daughter married you). I remembered Much Ado About Nothing, which has most of the cast calling Hero's faithfulness into question. Then I read Cymbeline, and most of the action starts with Posthumus praising his wife's virtue. This, of course, is quickly challenged.

Then it finally hit me. Whether or not the heroes of Shakespeare remain heroes, or fall and are known as tragic heroes because of their flaws, their goodness or lack thereof is the turning point of everything. Either they win because they are good or they fail because they are not. It seems none of his characters can simply say "Yeah she's pretty good, isn't she" and continue their lives.

None of us can, either. If we see a good person, it's almost though it becomes a challenge-- when will they fall, not will they fall. Because surely, such goodness isn't natural and cannot remain? Maybe it's jealousy on our part, and a kind of shame because we are not as good or virtuous as this other person, but we want to tear them down off their pedestal and show the world that really, they weren't all that.

It made me think of Jesus, actually, and the quote that...oh, somebody said, I can't remember who. "If there ever was someone perfect, the world would kill him because they couldn't stand it." How true it is. We're not good, not at all--

But He provided a way for us to be. Not by anything we can do-- because there's nothing--but by what He's done. It's putting on His clothes, His perfection, His goodness. It's accepting Him, the only Good One.

A Verse For the Christian Wrimos

I have recently--actually, not that recently at all but I am a procrastinator but I am also doing NaNo so I have an excuse for not getting on here so hush--'recently' come across a verse that I found applied to writing, life in general, and our spiritual walk with God.

I have, in the course of my life, come across this verse, but had never really read it in the all-encompassing 'everything is NaNoWriMo' glasses we wrimos tend to wear in November. so I had never applied it to writing, but it fits. Really well.

(Oh look at that I dated it because it was from a Bible study...on the 14th. yeah, procrastination can be blamed for you not having it. especially since I wasn't even writing Part 2 yet so...*shakes head despairingly at self* anyway here we go)

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(Hebrews 12:1-2)

You see? Totally a writing verse. And I never knew... (though I have thought of God as the infallible, perfectly orchestrating Author before, which was from this verse, I guess)

Let me break it down for you. 'Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses' equals, pretty much, the vast number of people we have told about our ambitious writing endeavor, which is, as some of you might not know though probably do if you saw my older posts, the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. And, as we have told everyone we know, pretty much, that we are doing this, they get turned from the ambiguous 'friends and family' into 'guilt monkeys who will probably stare at you in accusatory glances if you should fail'. yeah. Having the lot of you out there, knowing we are doing this, means a lot to us. Really. Without the threat of embarrassment hanging over us, many of us would never finish.

Not that we're going to let you read it immediately, of course.

anyway. next part. 'let us lay aside every weight'--this translates to 'everything that distracts us from writing', which can be anything from the Internet in general, to movies and tv shows (Behold my impressive self-control: I have not watched the Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary special yet, and not only because my sister would kill me if I watched it without her-- I am writing, and my self-imposed goal is not to watch any of these things while doing so. after all, if you have time to watch an episode, you have time to write, and if you have time to write, you need to write.), to books, to lounging about on the sofa thinking about writing. Doesn't count. Lay aside every weight which ensnares us.

'And let us run with endurance'-- Every day, each of the 30 in November (or the 6 at the beginning and the last 15 if you did what I did which I do not recommend), you sit down at that computer and you write. If you miss a day (I have! I missed one! Entirely my own fault but I needed to be there to add helpful facts that greatly increased the enjoyment of my father when he watched the Hobbit for the first time. but yeah. my own fault. could have gotten up earlier and written.), if you miss a day you make it up. You run with endurance. Keep writing.

(hey, what are you doing here if you should be writing?)

'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith'-- this stretches the parallels a bit, gets into more of 'the actual intent of the verse', but here we go. When we set out to do something, we find who else has done it, and finished, and use them as examples. For noveling, it's looking at others who have done the same and listening to their advice. (the pep talks given by the folks at NaNo are wonderful, wonderful things of joy and happiness and inspiration and encouragement. shout-out over.) For living the Christian life, it's watching what He did and doing that. The old saying 'what would Jesus do' is still applicable, though it should really be 'what did Jesus do', since... it really seems backwards to think of the Creator of the universe as someone you can pretend to know, in and out, well enough to guess what He would do in any given situation. Sort of. This is confusing. I'm suffering from sleeplessness; it's NaNo. sorry. um...yeah. utilize examples given.

'who for the joy'-- Why are we doing NaNo? We are writing a novel. In 30 days, we want to be able to look at our finished novel and say "I wrote a book." And because we can, we are going to be able to say "I wrote a book in thirty days." This is the goal we are aiming for, the glorious overconfidence given by our egos fueling our fingers as we pound away at our poor keyboards, each word getting us closer to that wonderful 50,000 mark, the treasure at the end of the quest, the goalpost we're running for.

Come November 30th, I will be able to say, and hope you will be able to say with me, "I am a writer. I write books. I wrote a book in thirty days."

I love you THIS MUCH!!!

You know when you're kids, and somehow or another the conversation turns to subjects like who is the strongest? Invariably, it will become a discussion that uses hand gestures to get the point across. "I'm this strong!" *holds hands about a foot apart*
Then there's those conversations where the subject is who loves Mom the most. Same hand gestures are used. "I love Mom THIS much!" *holds arms straight out*
Then there's that one guy who said "I love you this much", and he held his arms out.

I think He wins the contest.

"Because Dad said so"

That's my little brother's comment of the day (or week, or two weeks, however long). "Libeth, can you get me something to eat? Dad said so." "Libeth, can you change my diaper? Mom said so." "Libeth, time to eat! mom said so." "Libeth, can you help me play Reader Rabbit? Mom said so." (No she didn't; she said you could play Charlie Church Mouse) "Yeah, can you help me play Charlie Church Mouse? Mom said so."
Dad said so....
If all of us showed the same devotion to our Heavenly Father, what would that look like? "Anger, I'm not going to be your slave. Dad said so." "Laziness, I'm not going to follow your rules for my life. Dad said so." "Brother, I'm going to be nice to you. Dad said so." "Bible, I'm going to read you every day. Dad said so."
Dad said so...
I hope we can follow His instructions, for the very simple reason that Dad said so.