A Heart Locked in a Chest
Today, I was thinking about locking my heart in a chest and giving it to someone to mind.
Naturally, I feel some attachment to my heart. We share a life-or-death bond of sorts, and thus, I’m rather reliant on its well-being. Were it to be locked in a chest and entrusted to another, I’d like that person to keep it safe. The job would be rather important.
Romeo springs to mind. Of course he springs to mind. But to entrust my heart to the hero of a tragedy? A passionate, lust-driven disaster? It is unwise, to say the least. To his credit, he would go to sickening extremes to ensure my heart was cherished, at first. But teenage lust is as unsure and unstable as an unmanned dingy. It could be mere days before he’d left to chase another girl, leaving my heart abandoned. Romeo is known to act rashly. He would take his life without a second glance or verification, so what would stop him taking mine should the circumstance arise? No, it’ll not go to Romeo.
Macbeth, apart from general lack of appeal, would certainly doom me in his messy plight to be king. Should anyone claiming to be magic inform him of its danger to him and his ambitions, he’d plunge a sword through it without a second thought, nor a second glance at the witch’s qualifications. And even if my heart did survive his reign, once he was overthrown his enemy would surely destroy his things, and my heart with it. No, no, it cannot to Macbeth.
Petruchio, do you suppose? Manipulative, determined, selfish ass Petruchio. By handing him my heart I’d hand him no power he didn’t have already. His motivation is purely self-centered, which round-aboutly ensures my heart’s safety. For if he were to stab my heart, he’d lose the thing he worked so hard to tame, the trophy of his skilled manipulation, his success in society’s eyes. It’s a strange sort of security. Like any villain he’d dangle it above cliffs to sway opinions. But unlike any Macbeth or Romeo, he’d never throw it over.
Of course, were I to consider extracting my heart and locking it in a chest, I think I’d have greater issues to deal with.
Charlotte Crown
Like blood loss.
You want the Shakespeare hero who will be there at the bottom to catch your chest when everyone else drops it off of that cliff. We have yet to study a play with such a hero. Shame, isn’t it?
June 6th, 2007 at 22:47
Seventeen
Petruchio is in both Romeo’s adventures and, well, Petruchio’s adventures isn’t he? Petruchio’s adventures being that with Kate and her attitude. I always thought of Petruchio as a “guest star” in the play of Juliet and Romeo. Katherine the shrew and Demetrius from fairy land are my favourites.
I think perhaps you haven’t yet contemplated Shakespeare himself. In his world, at his time, he knew and understood every kind of heart. Not one to throw anything as lovely as a heart away I wouldn’t think?
Or I would always be a fine choice to store and secure it- I have plenty of bubble wrap.
June 6th, 2007 at 23:25
Dr George
Have you ever seen a human heart? It looks like a fist, wrapped in blood! Go fuck yourself! You writer! You liar!
June 7th, 2007 at 16:32
Alexander van Zandt
Pfffffffffft. I like Petruchio best. Reminds me of myself.
June 7th, 2007 at 16:40
Charlotte Crown
Then we’re all liars, doctor, and for the record, I know you ain’t a real one.
June 7th, 2007 at 22:54
Seventeen
Everybody knows a human heart looks like one of those chocolates you get on Valentine’s Day. Stop kidding yourself!
June 8th, 2007 at 00:38