fandomhigh | Modern Shakespeare, Wednesday, Periods 1 & 2

Karla's class took place in an ordinary classroom, though she'd taken a leaf from Lady Ghanima's book and had all the desks cleared out, replacing them with cushions and over-sized beanbags, as well as a few padded chairs. They were going to be watching movies this session and Karla saw no reason why everybody shouldn't be comfortable. When the class entered, they'd see her lounging across a small loveseat, waiting for them to find a spot they wanted to claim as their own.

"Ambition," she said when everyone was settled. "Pride. Love, lust, and hatred. Anger. Fear. A question of what truly is the measure of a man. A truly staggering number of puns and dick jokes. I fell in love with Shakespeare when I was a student here," in no small part due to Ender Wiggin "and it was his depiction of human nature that did it. What is the best course to take for a son who finds that his mother has married his uncle--who is also his father's murderer? How much blame can be attributed to a man who kills his king, but is urged into the deed by others? What is a suitable punishment for a man who believed lies and gossip to the point where he repudiates his bride? Or, in another play, kills her? William Shakespeare wrote a great many plays across a great many genres, but in the end, they all come back to one central theme: people's motivations. By writing about people, truly recognizable people, Shakespeare plays have survived multiple centuries--a real feat in this short-lived world--and are still popular and relevant today. Had you gone to a normal high school, you likely would have read several of his plays before graduation. In this class, we'll be watching movies."

She straightened in her seat, feet finally hitting the floor. "Not just any movies; modern retellings of his classic plays. Many old classics are filmed and then immediately shown on the Black and White Period Piece Old Lady Boring Movie Channel, or whatever it's called," Karla dismissed the question with a wave of her hand "--of interest only to people who liked the original work. But Shakespeare's plays are constantly being updated, modernized, and retold, thus reaching out to new audiences all the time. And the reason for that is because his characters and his plots work regardless of what time period they're set in. They're problems and issues that people still face today, if in slightly altered forms: fears of infidelity, questions of one's legacy, ambition and advancement, falling in love, interpersonal problems. prejudice."

No one had promised this was going to be a light and cheerful class, kids. Even if it was a summer workshop. "So, first, introductions. It's a tradition that spans back to my time here, too. I am Karla, graduate of the class of 2013, though it's been about six years in my world since I graduated, rather than three." Really, that long? Mother Night! "When I'm not teaching here, I'm the Queen of the Territory of Glacia." She also served in the First Circle of the Dark Court, but there didn't seem to be any Kaeleerans in the room this year, so she left that off. "Today, for your introductions, name and class, favorite Shakespeare play and why if you have one--no worries if you don't--and tell me what you think this Shakespeare quote means: The worst is not, So long as we can say, 'This is the worst.' Or, if you'd prefer something slightly less macabre, try God has given you one face, and you make yourself another."

And with that, she was pointing at a student. "And you are?"

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"I am Peridot, Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG." Yeah, that was a mouthful. No, she wasn't about to stop introducing herself that way until she started realizing that nobody was going to remember all of that anyway. "I don't know what a Shakespeare is, but I assume the first quote has something to do with human mortality and some sort of flawed if optimistic notion that it can't get worse than 'dead.'"

Bucket of sunshine, this one was.

Pfft, Karla had to remember weirder and longer titles all the time. It might not mean a damn thing to her, but Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG was hardly the oddest name she'd have learned in the past few years.

Besides, facets and cuts were somewhat important to her. Go figure.

"Shakespeare was the name of the human playwrite whose plays we'll be referring to," Karla explained. "He lived roughly six hundred years ago, which, for Earth, is an impressive span." Karla had slightly different view of things, but then her adopted uncle was over fifty thousand years old. That tended to skew one's perceptions.

"And, while you're on the right track, the saying is a little more complex than that. It's not exactly death, that's the worst thing--the play this is from makes it very clear that there are worse things than one's own death. Would you like to try again?"

While Karla examined the Jewel stuck to your forehead, perhaps?

Peridot squinted a little, more at Karla's examination than in thought about the quote, really. Why were humans so fascinated with her gem?

Considering it was the only part of her body that was actually real, it was maybe a touch unnerving.

"I don't know," she said, leaning backwards juuuust a bit. "Did some human lose their tongue?"

Karla's fascination came from an entirely different place. Her fascination with Peridot's Jewel was a lot more...cultural.

"Not in this play, though one does lose both of his eyes, before being thrown into the wilderness and abandoned. But it's close to that. Have you ever been faced with a situation so bad you didn't have the words to explain how terrible it was?"

Did being tied up by a rogue Amethyst while trying to escape an exploding ship count?

"... I might have been in such a situation. At least once," she agreed, tilting her head thoughtfully. "This simply corresponds to whether or not somebody has the ability to articulate their concerns at all?"

"This specific quote does, yes," Karla said. "According to the character, so long as you can talk about how bad the situation is, it's not as bad as it possibly can be. It's only once you've lost the ability to speak about it do you run into the possibility that it's actually the worst case scenario."

Peridot pursed her lips slightly as she considered that. And then she nodded.

"A simplistic explanation," she said, finally, "but it does make a certain sort of sense."

She personally only very rarely ran out of words to talk about how bad a situation was.

Most of those words involved 'clod.'

But how many words would she have when she was staring face to...face?...with the Cluster and no way of escape, huh?

...However many, odds were good that 'clod' would be on the list.

"Words are often a way for us to judge other people--how well they speak, what they choose to talk about. And words are a way to define one's self, at least to others, so the ability and right to speak--or not!--is important as well. So something taking away that ability or right to speak must therefore be something very grave indeed."

Face to facet, clearly.

"... Why would it be grave to take away the right to speak?"

Peridot looked genuinely puzzled, now.

"What definition of grave are you using?" Karla checked. Peridot struck her as being very literal and this question would be easier to answer if she was certain Peridot wasn't thinking that people got thrown into holes in the ground for losing their ability to speak.

No, no, people came out of holes in the ground. Which probably meant, in this case, that Peridot's bemusement was a little bit more concerning than a simple misunderstanding might be.

"... The solemn and serious definition. What else is there?"

Gems didn't quite die that way. So.

Modern Shakespeare, Wednesday, Periods 1 & 2

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