The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Thursday, December 02, 2004

Morning "Golden Hour"

Well, today I practised Ashtanga Yoga while listening to a lecture on the death of Falstaff.  It was sad, the way Prince Hal used his friends to establish himself as a ne'er-do-well, so that when he became Henry, King of England, people would be surprised.  Falstaff's heart was broken when Henry turned away from him.  Of course, Falstaff was a thief, a lecher, a drunkard, and a coward and a liar.  In one sense, he hardly deserved to be treated better.  On the other hand, he was an affectionate father figure, and one suspects Hal was slightly self-deluded to think he was carousing just to create a false image.  Yeah, right.  He was knee-deep in flesh so that future courtiers would be impressed.  If you believe that, our views of human nature are very different indeed.  Shakespeare knew human nature much, much better than that.  None of us have perfect self-knowledge.  We are all partially deluded about who and what we are.  to me, this was the Bard's art at a very high level indeed.

1 comment:

viagra online said...

Yoga keeps you youth the true story of this discipline is kinda sad, I wonder if you know it ?