THE REPRESENTATION OF FOOD IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAY
William Shakespeare is probably one of the greatest writer of all times his writings are well crafted and his messages is divine and all his works is a part of literary history and his ideas is masterful and endearing. In all his undertakings and most of the academe has been transcribe and envied by scholars he is a genius in literary art, culture, theater and even in movies.
He also contributed too many controversy but he is worthy of much praise, the impact of his creation is adopted all over the world that creates even more wonders in the life of the people who could never understand its worth. There is so much to write about the man and his writings but it could take a century to analyze all his visions and his biography of why this genius have left his writings in the past and how it still used in the present and why it will still be used in the future.
There are also speculation about his perception on his religious affiliation or if he believes in Christianity or what about his sexual preference. And there is so much to learn about his works but for now we are going to dig a simple but profound ways of how and why he has included food and drinks in his writings in various ways.
Of course most of his writings include a play and rhetoric inclusion of it as a metaphor to show his feelings and to identify his genuine feelings and intelligence. There is no right or wrong interpretation of his writing but if it will be divided into parts or phrase to use for a social instrument or quotation it can be formed into another learning opportunity and everyone is entitled to his own conclusion about its meaning just like the bible.
When he says “If music be the food of love, play on” twelfth night, (Act 1 scene1) shows his love for music that we can release our emotions through music although we may not be able to show it to somebody else, or we can say that music is the food of the soul so he insist to play it on.
This one says “do you think you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?” Twelfth night (Act 2 scene 3). This is a part of a comedy play of mistaken identity which means a highly moral person do not necessarily need to be a humiliated or belittled for we have our own personal distinction. High moral person should not always be sacrificial but practical to play a good part in the society.
In Othello says “Good wine is a good familiar creature, it will be well used”. (act 2 scene 3) how can it be related in your life? Maybe a good friend, should be chosen or you will be the one to suffer if they have a been a bad influence over your life, or we can literally say that a good wine can give us a good remedy for starvation and a bad one makes us drank and may cost us accidents and sickness or stupidity just like illegal drugs that ruins our body. This phrase is definitely a question of chose and his perception and haziness.
This one is a bit obvious, “Why sir? For my part I say the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five senses”. The merry wife of Windsor (act 1 scene 1) this one says that we all have our own ambition but sometimes we’ll do everything even if it’s wrong just to reach it. Or it may also say that we can betray our loved one’s in replacement of fame and fortune. Or it also says that money is more important than dignity and reality. In our society there are victims of crime because of greed and selfishness. Literally it can simply mean that people became stupid because of his vices.
The comedy of error (act 5 scene 1) says “Unquiet meal make ill digestion” There are people who takes away the ownership of others for his self worth, there are people in our society that are dishonest, and they have no conscience or sympathy over others. Some people do not work but they eat the labors of other people. Or some people are fraudulent and treacherous in earning their living.
As you can see there are various ways we can use the sayings of William Shakespeare in our present life and it insist on lessons and wisdom whether in part or in full, so we must learn to live with it for it will give us guidance and inspiration and probably knowledge through examples that we can use in our daily life. The representation of food included in his masterpiece is therefore not just food for stomach but a food for thoughts and a food for the spirit.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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