The Movie "Wit" In the movie Wit, English literary scholar Vivian Bearing has spent years translating and interpreting the poetry of John Donne. Unfortunately, she is a person who has cultivated her intellect at the expense of her heart. Both colleagues and students view Bearing as a chilly and unfriendly person lost in her private world of words and mysterious thoughts. At the age of 48, she is diagnosed with stage-four metastatic ovarian cancer. Dr. Kelekian wants her to take eight high-dose
In her play “Wit”, Margaret Edson depicts Professor Vivian Bearing as an intense, brilliant scholar with a passion for the cryptic Holy Sonnets of John Donne. However, as she struggles with metastatic stage IV ovarian cancer and gets closer to death, her perspective seems to shift; when her mentor Professor E.M. Ashford comes to visit her, Bearing wants her to read not one of Donne’s sonnets, but instead the children’s book The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown. Through her inclusion of The Runaway
Mike Nichols' Film, Wit In the film Wit, directed by Mike Nichols, Emma Thompson (Vivian Bearing) is portrayed as a woman professor who had dedicated her life to teaching and studying John Donne and his sonnets. She was about 48 years old and was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. This film showed us some of the hard decisions that Vivian had to make such as when she agrees to the radical and painful chemotherapy. The film showed us the changes she went through like in her body and mind
Margaret Edson’s Wit is a touching play that takes the reader through a woman’s critical journey from being diagnosed with stage-four metastatic ovarian cancer to gaining an understanding of life and its many intricacies. This woman is Dr. Vivian Bearing, and she tackles the incredible challenge of cancer with her unique relationship with words. Her wit and intimacy with words are what cause enormous upheaval in her life up until the very end. Words were the keystone of Bearing’s profession, but
toward its claims? Is it possible for something that ultimately has the greatest impact on your life to be unnoticed until the last possible moment? In most cases, a true revelation does not present itself until later in a person’s life. In the play Wit, by Margaret Edson, the character of Professor Vivian Bearing reaches a profound realization concerning one of the great impacts in her own life. Vivian, self-proclaimed intellectual and widely-feared professor, essentially devotes her life to the
Feste is No Fool in Twelfth Night In most Shakespearean romantic comedies, there is a character that plays the part of a truth-teller. And in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night it is no different. Feste, a clown, through his mixed up words and songs enlightens the other characters whilst playing the role of the truth-teller. Through aiding the Duke with his patience, helping Viola with her love problems, and having a major role in Malvolio's downfall, Feste holds one of the primary parts
She knew that her brilliance may have been lost while her audience experience her working low wage jobs, so she added tactful humor to flaunt her writing style. This levity for the hopelessness of the situation never went too far. Because all of her wit had a place and a purpose, it can all be categorized as completely appropriate humor. Works Cited Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001. Print.
lives. Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, is a lady of high society, and she bases her life on the standards and morals that the Victorian society proposes. The film replaces the verbal banter with physical humor which ultimately loses the satire and wit the characters have in the play. In Act I of the play, Lady Bracknell questions Jack about his life in order to approve her daughter’s engagement to him. Her questions are based on what the society deems important, instead of what she, as a mother,
Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” epitomizes the idiosyncrasy of the Victorian society through satire and wit. Throughout the play Wilde criticizes the common perception of the mid seventeenth through early eighteenth century culture, “Prudish, hypocritical, stuffy and narrow minded”. With his quintessential characters and intricate situations Wilde configures the perfect depiction of the carless irrationality of social life, the frivolity of the wealthy, the importance of money, and
Benedict and Beatrice are: “a pair of outsiders to conventional behaviour, a pair of clowns”. To what extent do you agree? I believe strongly that Beatrice and Benedick are simply a pair of clowns, I believe this because of how language is used and the portrayal of their genders however on the other hand I think that many readers will disagree believe that Beatrice and Benedick are very serious characters. One example of language used to portray comedy is repartee; the prime example of this is at
different things to the play. In the first scene where we see Feste and Malvolio together Feste says 'better a witty fool than a foolish wit.' This comment shows some of Feste's dislike towards Malvolio as it seems to be directed towards the steward, although he does use himself in the comparison, as Feste is obviously the witty fool and Malvolio, the foolish wit (I believe this because the comment seemed to be directed towards Malvolio and this seems to be Feste's opinion of Malvolio). I think
In book Four, Chapter Eight of the Ethics, Aristotle applies his philosophical ideals to the concept of humor and good company. He establishes categories and kinds of humor or wit, and sets limits for the behavior that a gentleman and a wise man will accept. At one point, however, he makes the admission that it’s hard to define when ridicule is appropriate. Because people react to ridicule in different ways, according to their temperament. This paper will examine the second paragraph of Book Four
out that’s not the case at all. Meanwhile, in The Imaginary Invalid, there is the disputatious Toinette, who is the maidservant and nurse to the imaginary invalid himself, Argan. Maria and Toinette are two strong women characters, their strength and wit is depicted through Maria and Toinette’s deceiving schemes to make their plays more stimulating as well as their objectivity throughout all the chaos in their respective play. In addition, Maria plays the role of the lady in waiting who essentially
in his early years have opened his eyes to see the lighter side of everything to keep his sanity. This sometimes gets in his way of experiencing new things. The lingering insecurities in the back of his mind, which are shadowed by his unsurpassed wit, put a wall in front of anyone trying to get close. David Letterman and Garrett Scharton’s sense of humor are comparable in two ways. David’s peachy, childish remarks surprise even the most intelligent of observers. He cracks jokes, plays pranks
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as a Feminist Play I agree to a certain extent that twelfth night is a feminist play. What exactly is feminism? It simply means subversion of traditional ideas of gender. This means that men are supposed to be active, rational, wise, perceptive, loyal and trustworthy. On the other hand, Women are supposed to be passive, emotional, shallow, vain, deceptive and fickle. I agree to a certain extent that “Twelfth Night” is a feminist play [meaning that
Hellena entirely disrupts societal norms of women of her time period, she is an inspirational and empowering character with a charming wit and bold perspective. Behn’s use of Hellena to explore radical notions of their era such as women taking back their independence, women taking charge of their sexuality, and women exploring gender roles and the effect of their clothing is an moving
He entertains Orsino and Olivia. He is not a fool by nature; he is a fool by profession. When he entertains Olivia he says the truth about her but she doesn't realise that he is talking about her. FESTE Better a witty fool than a foolish wit' - God bless thee, lady. OLIVIA Take the fool away. FESTE Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady. OLIVIA Go to, y'are a dry fool: I'll no more of you; besides, you grow dishonest. FESTE Two faults, Madonna, that a drink and good
suggests that the characters involved in this scene, except for Olivia, are of a lower social class. The punctuation used by those of a lower class in the passage is ironically correct. For example, Feste says, “Wit, an’t be thy will, put me into good fooling!... ‘Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit’ God bless thee, lady.” (1.5.28-32) (Greenblatt, et all. 1800). Feste serves as an ironic character because he is a fool or a clown, but he is actually very clever. Furthermore, Olivia speaks of Feste as
A study of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, showing how Shakespeare's choice of form, structure and language shape meaning Wit, and't be thy will, put me into good fooling! Those wits that think they have thee do very oft prove fools; and I that am sure I lack thee may pass for a wise man. For what says Quinapalus? 'Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.' Shakespeare's plays were written to be performed to an audience from different social classes and of varying levels of intellect
intelligence. In The Merchant of Venice, however, Portia is a woman that saves the life of a man with her wit and intelligence. Portia is one of Shakespeare's great heroes, whose beauty, lively intelligence, and quick wit are very well known in the society in which she lives. She is known throughout the world for her beauty and good qualities, and she is able to handle any situation with her great wit. Portia is thought of a perfect woman. This is brought forward to us before she appears, as