Friday, September 23, 2011

Autolycus being true to his namesake... sort of

Because Autolycus' name is of Greek origin, I thought we'd get into a Greek mood, here are pictures of ancient Greek architecture, the Greek alphabet and of course we can't leave out a Greek pot.  

With Autolycus speaking of himself:  "My father named me Autolycus,' he tells us, 'who, being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.' This single sentence compresses several Greek-mythological pieces of text... that tell the story of the master thief Autolycus, son of the god Mercury. While Shakespeare's Autolycus is 'littered under Mercury' in the sense, one presumes, that he was born when the planet Mercury was in the ascendant, his namesake was actually sired by the god Mercury, inheriting from his father the magic power to transform stolen booty into new, unrecognizable forms... Shakespeare's Autolycus does his namesake proud. He, too, is 'a wyly pye' who 'in theft and filching' has no peer. His link to Mercury--the trickster god, god of thieves, lord of roads, known primarily for his 'subtle cunning'--gives Shakespeare's Autolycus a quasi-mythological status, casting a kind of glamor on his thieving." 
We read an interesting line from Autolycus just as he sees the old Shepherd and the Clown approaching as "gentlemen," that I'd be interested in hearing opinions on.  He says:  "Here come those I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune."  To me his mood seems a stark contrast to his mirth after the festival.  Then he went on and on about how if he wanted to be honest, fortune wouldn't let him for all the opportunities to capitalize on fools.  Monetarily he has no less than before, but because those he robbed profited more by his con than he did, he is no longer the chuckling, can do no wrong, con man.  I guess this 'god of thieves' wasn't ever was as happy as he thought.   
If you would like to read more about our friend Autolycus, you can look up:  
Mowat, Barbara A. "Rogues, Shepherds, and the Counterfeit Distressed: Texts and Infracontexts of the Winters Tale 4.3." Shakespeare Studies 22 (1994): 58. Print.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sometimes MORE is more... but sometimes LESS is more...

Men and women with spirits easy for advice:


(Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa)

My favorite line from The Winter's Tale comes after Polixenes gives his "Mark your divorce... and mark my words" lecture and is spoken by Camillo in conversation with  Florizel.  After Florizel declares, "This you may know and so deliver, I am put to sea with her whom I cannot hold on shore," Camillo said:

"I Would your spirit were easier for advice,
Or stronger for your need."

How often are our spirits "hard for advice?"  To me this is THE major theme of The Winter's Tale.  Leontes lost his wife and son because he was hard for advice.  The Clown was just hard for anything and lost everything.  Polixenes is now "hard for advice" and I hope he pulls out of it.

The lives of those who have a spirit "easier for advice," make the largest difference; and don't wear the chains of anger and jealousy.