Henry V and Sophos
May. 28th, 2012 04:28 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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queensthiefI'm a new member and this is my first post, but I've been following Sounis for more than a year now. I was just reading "Henry V" by Shakespeare and came across a lovely passage that perfectly mirrored Sopho's feelings about being a slave. King Henry is musing to himself on the heavy responsibility of being a king, and supposes that a slave's sleep is better than a king's:
..."Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave
Who, with a body filled and vacant mind,
Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread;
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,
But like a lackey from the rise to set
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night
Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
And follows so the every-running year
With profitable labor to his grave." [4.1, lines 25-275]
Now, I think King Henry and Sophos have a very idealistic view of slavery. But this is something like what Sophos did experience as a slave. I was able to understand this passage immediately, having read "A Conspiracy of Kings" and thought about why Sophos seemed so content to remain a slave. But also this passage of Shakespeare's helps me understand Sophos even more. So it goes both ways!
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Date: 5/28/12 10:52 pm (UTC)That passage from Shakespeare seems like just the sort of thing Sophos would like to read - and probably heartily agreed with. Thanks for sharing =D
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Date: 5/28/12 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 5/29/12 02:25 am (UTC)For example, I really wish I didn't want to do homework right now, but other people wish they were in school. But. I still have to do my homework. Eh.
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Date: 5/29/12 02:40 am (UTC)I think Sophos valued his time as a slave mostly just because it was a change from the particular issues that had dogged him all his life. I can understand why he would feel that way. It reminds me (in a much much smaller way than Sophos) of my experience finishing university and going to work as a page in a library (i.e. shelving books). That's very physical, simple work without a lot of intellectual effort and you don't have to deal with much responsibility, but you feel useful and you get physically stronger and your mind gets a break, and that's somewhat rejuvenating after the stress and expectations of school. But it only felt that way to me because I had had the privilege of coming to that work from something else, so my existence hadn't been limited by it. I had had opportunities beyond it. I think it's the same with Sophos; he enjoyed his work as a slave because he was not really a slave, i.e. not stuck in it; slavery hadn't limited his experience of life, and on one level he had a choice to be there. And he never really gave up his identity, he always had Sophos as a secret identity inside even when Bunny was his day to day character, so I don't think he ever felt truly "owned". If he had been born to that life, I think he would have been very unsatisfied there, because he is a very bright person with a lot of curiosity and the life of a slave would not have given him what he craved. So I hope he doesn't apply his own positive feelings to all slaves. I don't think he does, though...I think he would be aware of his own subjective reasons for his experience.
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Date: 5/29/12 02:59 am (UTC)I sort of said this above in reply to andiepiano, but I wonder if Sophos now idealizes slavery as a whole like Henry V seems to, or whether he sees his own experience as peculiar and probably different from the average slave's. I would somehow hope the latter... because while I think kings do have more problems than we tend to give them credit for when we picture their luxurious lives, I don't think it would be fair to say that they are born into equal problems and shouldn't envy each other. The difference between them is obviously that Kings can choose to abdicate, whereas Slaves can't. A king can become a slave if he wants to (it's unlikely, but possible. Sophos almost chose it). A slave can't decide to become a king.
...just musing. Welcome again. :)
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Date: 5/29/12 04:16 pm (UTC)But I agree with what you said above; if Sophos had been born into slavery, he probably wouldn't be too fond of it either. I doubt he'd be able to read and write, which are a few of the things he loves to do.
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Date: 5/29/12 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 5/29/12 04:55 pm (UTC)I also want to throw in another line on the same topic: Iliad 2.24-5
οὐ χρὴ παννύχιον εὕδειν βουληφόρον ἄνδρα
ᾧ λαοί τ᾽ ἐπιτετράφαται καὶ τόσσα μέμηλε
There must be no sleeping the whole night for a man who is a counselor, to whom hosts have been entrusted and who has such great cares.
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Date: 5/29/12 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 5/29/12 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 5/29/12 05:25 pm (UTC)