The Men of Shakespeare and My Stupid Scanner(WARNING! Yes, the title is quite inappropriate. No, I don't approve of that. Let's just pretend it says "15 Literary Characters I Would Date" or something like that so that I don't have to feel bad about commenting on it, mmkay?)
So, I'm going down the list, and while I don't agree with all of them, I can see the reasoning. (Except for Ned Nickerson, but that's a different story.)
And then I get down to... MACBETH.
Not only is he on the list, he is #2.
WHAT THE HECK?!
Now, listen. I love Shakespeare. Macbeth is brilliantly written, without a doubt. But Macbeth as a character...
How do you find him attractive? He spends the entire play swinging between being uber-violent and calculating, and being guilt-ridden and whiney. He might well be manic-depressive.
Also, he refers to his significant other as "dearest chuck", and swings between being condescending to her and being completely controlled by her (and kind of scared of her, too).
What in this, exactly, is appealing?
Which got me thinking about the men of Shakespeare in general. Brilliantly developed characters, but as potential romantic partners... I have to say, I'm hard pressed to find one I'd fancy.
Romeo: Fickle hormonal teenager.
Hamlet: Depressed, suicidal, revenge-obsessed, and apt to lash out violently at the slightest provocation.
Macbeth: See above.
Lear: Shallow, requires everyone to worship him. Also, at the risk of sounding shallow myself, OLD.
Petruchio: Don't get me started.
Othello: Murders his spouse just because he THINKS she's cheating. Finds out too late that he's wrong. OOPS!
Brutus: I've got three words for you: E tu, Brute? I've got another four: Murdered his best friend.
Caesar: Oblivious AND egotistical. Nice combination.
Oberon: Sexist and controlling. And messes around with people's lives as if they were his personal puppet show.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. (The women, lest you get the wrong idea, really aren't much better, but I was thinking of the men specifically.)
I think the guy from Shakespeare I like the most is Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing, and he's insanely stubborn and also pretty egotistical. He just seems better by comparison to the others.
What are your thoughts, people? Anyone out there care to defend their favorite Shakespearean man?
While I'm at it, I'll give you my thoughts on that list in general:
15) Dr. Carlisle Cullen: Well, fine. I don't really agree OR disagree here. I mean, I respect him and everything, and I'd probably take him over either Edward OR Jacob. But he seems kind of improbably perfect at times. Also, even though I know he looks young, his role as father is emphasized so much in the series that it just feels kind of weird. Still, I found him an extremely admirable character, so ok.
14) Jay Gatsby: Disagree. If you want to talk about shallow, look no further! Also: a compulsive liar. Also: Obsessed with a girl without ever realizing that she's a uber-shallow, apathetic jerk.
13) Mr. Darcy: Agree. He's not really my type (too aloof), but he's so awesome that I have to agree.
12) Ned Nickerson: Disagree, and also, what the heck? He's probably one of the most pathetic, ineffectual, personality-less characters in literature.
11) Atticus Finch: Again, I'm torn. Do the people who wrote this list have a thing for fathers? Atticus is an amazing and admirable character, but the book is from his little girl's point of view. I thus find it impossible to think of him in that way.
10) Heathcliff: Disagree. Ugh, no. Guy is in serious need of anger management. Why do people find this attractive?
9) James Bond: Against my better judgement... Agree. He is a terrible womanizer and probably the most egotistical character on this list (which is saying something), and I disapprove of that, but... he's JAMES BOND, and at the end of the day, I cannot argue with James Bond.
8) Holden Caulfield: Never read Catcher in the Rye (pathetic, I know), so I can't comment. Don't like the sound of him from their description, though.
7) Phantom: Disagree. Repeat after me: MURDER IS NOT SEXY. NEITHER IS STALKING.
6) Aragorn: Eh. I have no objection to him, and his character has many good points, but I didn't really find him memorable, either.
5) Gilbert Blythe: Agree. He and Anne are probably my favorite literary couple.
4) Noah Calhoun: Shame on me, but I've actually never read or seen The Notebook. From what I know of it, I like him but he seems a bit unhealthily obsessed with Allie.
3) Logan: Never read this (not at all ashamed this time, BTW) so I can't comment.
2) Macbeth: I think I've covered him, haven't I?
1) Rhett Butler: This may seem shocking, but Disagree. He just seems incredibly smug and condescending at times.
If I have time, maybe I'll compose my own list. Who would you put on yours?
As for my stupid scanner... well, I've been drawing a lot lately - stuff that I actually like, for once - and my stupid scanner is broken, and shows no signs of being fixed. UGH.
--
'I wish life was not so short,[...],languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lost Road
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'I wish life was not so short,[...],languages take such a time, and so do all the things one wants to know about.'
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lost Road
a lot of your thoughts made good sense such as the contrast between ginny and mrs. weasley's reaction to Fleur. (you are right that Mrs. weasley's reaction was worse)
however I'll have to agree to disagree on two little issues: ron and Harry.
while Ron did freaked out while Ginny and Dean were making out and start yelling at them, well from personal experience (having younger sisters and older cousins-who act like brothers) I really can't blame Ron from what he did (except the almost calling her a name. that was a bit far)
I mean prior to book six, and as ginny so acidly pointed out, Ron was VERY naive in terms of relationship and how they worked. I imagined him, like Harry, did not stop to think that people they knew (ginny, hermione, their own parents in case of the weasleys) did those things *or at least not in public, I mean even if the place they choose to snog was an empty corridor it was STill a corridor, someplace relatively public.*
and well sometimes the over protectiveness of older siblings comes through first as an explosive reaction to "sister who I as older sibling see as little tiny innocent sibling suddenly french kissing with someone in an open hallway nonetheless= does not compute in brain"
and with harry, well we are told that Ginny supposedly "understand harry" better (example the talk in the library, "he doesn't care for fame,etc")
so Ginny should have known that Harry wasn't defending Fleur because she is pretty.
but maybe it's just me overthinking it.
don't get me wrong I liked Ginny. just not post GoF- ginny
And I'm not sure that knowledge of Harry's character would preclude suspecting him of being susceptible to a pretty face. After all, Ginny had seen Harry ignore her for years in favor of Cho Chang who is, in essence, just a Pretty Face. (A Pretty Sobbing Face. But still.) Harry is not a shallow person, but he is a teenage boy and they sometimes think with their hormones and not their minds. And of course this is especially relevant in the case of Fleur who is part veela and seems to send all of the boys around her into hormone overload. I don't think Harry defended Fleur simply because she was pretty, and I also don't think he was really interested in her in a romantic sense, but there's no denying that she has some effect on him.
I don't think you even have to go that far, however. I think Ginny snapping at Harry when he defended Fleur was a knee-jerk reaction. All summer, she'd seen at least two of her brothers (Ron and Bill - I don't remember F&G's reaction to Fleur) fawning over Fleur. No doubt when Hermione, Ginny, or Mrs. Weasley mocked Fleur, those two were the ones who would step in and tell them to stop (as we see with Ron). So by the time Harry comes along, in Ginny's mind Boy Defending Fleur = Boy in Love with Fleur. So she didn't stop and think "Hmmm, is liking someone just for their looks in line with what I know about Harry's personality?" She just reacted instinctively - "Back off! Harry is mine!"
looks like we are on even ground now.
it was nice having this conversation with you.
*by the way and off topic I love the chronicles of prydaine (the Taran and Eowyn art you posted although I only seen the disney black cauldron version. I'm trying to find the books.
do you know if they still sell them? on amazon maybe?
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