PORTIA
They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,
That they shall think we are accomplished
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accoutred like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace,
And speak between the change of man and boy
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays
Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
I could not do withal; then I'll repent,
And wish for all that, that I had not killed them;
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,
That men shall swear I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,
Which I will practise.
Yes, yes she did.
Honestly it's a little bit sad that a man's attitude has not changed in the last 400+ years. I mean take a look at the character of Barney Stinson played by Neil Patrick Harris on "How I Met Your Mother." His whole goal in life is to have as many one night stands as possible. Does this sound like Portia's bit:
"Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;"
It's not the exact same, but it's transformed into something worse. Rather than just lie-bragging about women whose heart's Barney has broken he's actually disgraced over 250 women. Granted he's a fictional character, but I've actually heard this kind of talk all over the place. It's not very common place to hear of a guy that values the relationship he's had with a one-night-stand. In fact, it's nearly impossible to find.
It is interesting how much the playboy attitude has risen in our generation. I was raised to know the unfairness in youth- men are encouraged to be playboys and sleep around, while girls are condemned for such action. Even to the extent that I have heard guys like Barney say that they want to marry a virgin. So yea. I think Portia was right and I think that is has transformed mainly through the acceptance by society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteIt is also tragic that it is common for girls to be sexually abused by men who think they have a right to take what isn't theirs. I fear the day that society thinks men taking what they want is more commonplace than gruesome behavior. Do you think we will digress to such a mentality?
After all there is still sex traffic and prostitution apparent in our world.