Chasuble: Why, what a lovely day it is.
Bianca: Pray I have seen better days. The sun is unbearably hot and the sky is dotted with clouds.
Chasuble: Perhaps we could go under the shade of a tree?
Bianca: Well, perhaps that would be nice.
Chasuble: Oh, dear! I have just forgotten! I was supposed to visit my ill friend, Ditherly, this afternoon. He has come down with a case of terrible chills, and it would be too unkind of me not to visit him.
Bianca: Why is it that I’ve never heard of this friend? He sounds perfectly tragic.
Chasuble: Well, if you must know, he likes to be alone. Unnoticed. Preferably living the life of a hermit.
Bianca: A hermit? What kind of life is that? Meeting new people is the greatest joy in life!
Chasuble: My dear, dear Bianca, some people just don’t have the mental grasp on reality that we do.
Bianca: “I pray you bring me on the way,” I would love to go into town (3.4. 196).
Chasuble: Oh, but my dear, my poor friend does not live in town. He takes his pleasure traveling around the shore.
Bianca: The shore? What a delightful pastime! Pray you let me join you!
Chasuble: I’m sorry I must disappoint you. The story is “very sad, indeed” (26).
Bianca: And why is that?
Chasuble: See, my poor friend, he’s not quite right at the moment. The chills, it has affected his head. It would not be wise to bring new faces for him.
Bianca: “Let the devil and his dam haunt you” (4.1. 148)? Oh, you mustn’t go! He sounds rather unsafe.
Chasuble: Safety has nothing to do with it. I am simply acting on the requests of a poor friend. I would not have it any other way.
Bianca: What a sweet, noble action dear Chasuble.
Chasuble: You are all too kind, love.
Bianca: So we must part now?
Chasuble: I’m afraid so, but “you were always the most generous and forgiving,” so I believe all will be forgotten soon (26).
Bianca: But please, will you tell me more about your friend first?
Chasuble: That would be unwise, dear.
Bianca: Aw, but why?
Chasuble: Well…
Bianca: Please?
Chasuble: I’m gonna get real weird with it right now.
Bianca: Chasuble, what ever do you mean?
Chasuble: Well…my friend Ditherly, that I told you about…
Bianca: Yes, go on.
Chasuble: Well, he’s not actually ill.
Bianca: And what do you mean by that?
Chasuble: I mean…he’s really an earth crashed alien that’s trying to make contact with his home planet who asked me to protect him from the ever present eyes of those who would most certainly expose him.
Bianca: Oh…well, in that case…Please enjoy your stay with your friend…and I’ll stay here… and enjoy this wonderful shade.
Nicola, I think you did a really good job of depicting how the characters would talk in such a situation with all their formal language and evasive manners. The whole scene was very realistic up until Chasuble started talking about aliens. I literally laughed out loud when he said “I’m gonna get really weird with it” because that line so greatly contrasted the rest of his dialogue. It was very clever and you did more certainly get "real weird" by including an alien named Ditherly.
ReplyDeleteHahaha I did not see that ending coming. I agree with Katie about the "I'm gonna get real weird with it" line definitely contrasting the rest, but as I look over other people's blogs, that line generally looks humorously out of place in every posting. Also, I forgot how much we fixated on Bianca during Othello, and this post just reminded me.
ReplyDeleteNicola, I quite enjoyed this conversation between Bianca and Chausable. As Katie and Sarah have mentioned, the line "I'm gonna get real weird with it" contrasts the rest of the conversation, and it greatly reminds me of the conversations in which I have with people on a day-to-day basis. Often, I bring up the most random of things in the midst of a conversation(the other day it being the pregnant guinea pig that I owned in first grade. what a horrible experience.) and people make fun of me for it, but it always provides me with a good laugh.
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