Hamlet was slothful, who knew?

First of all, let me clear up some old business. In last night's blog, I posted that I was distraught over a number of things not the least of which was that the curmudgeonly book seller was no longer in business. Well, I WAS WRONG! I was merely looking on the wrong block. I will be seeing him tomorrow…

Had a wonderful day here in Stratford upon Avon. Got to see Anne Hathaway's cottage which really isn't Anne Hathaway's cottage, but that's another story. What matters is that I walked where Anne and William walked. Got to try a eighteenth century recipe for a chocolate meringue tart. It wasn't very good, but I can say I tried it. I walked around 15,000 steps. I met a woman who could be the British counterpart to me. I will be getting to know her a bit better as classes begin tomorrow so I'll keep you posted. But mostly I just got to spend the day in the burgh of the Bard and that is magical.

The real thing I want to talk about is something that I learned in the studies I took upon myself to prepare for this week of instruction with the Shakespeare Institute and the RSC. Not a surprise that I turned to the ever intriguing Michael D.C. Drout and he did not disappoint. In listening again to his course titled How to Think: The Liberal Arts and Their Enduring Value, I came upon a passage that totally blew my mind. In speaking of the importance of cultural literacy he brought up Hamlet. He opined that few people today understand why Hamlet is (or was, back in the day) nearly always dressed in full black. He explained that people in Elizabethan times understood that this meant he was a character that represented sloth. Sloth? Yep, he then asked if we were all puzzled by this because Hamlet doesn't come across as lazy in the least? Well…sloth, when it was designated one of the seven deadly sins was not the way we use the word today. It didn't mean simply lazy, there was a deeper connotation. It meant being someone who is so bogged down in seeing their sins and the sins of others and has reached a point of hopelessness because the see no way to be cleansed of the sin that surrounds them that they fail to do what the Lord would have them do, they become so weighted down that they cease to function correctly and productively until they just stop trying to do good and give themselves completely over to darkness or despair. WOW! I can see where I have really fallen into the trap of this very real and deadly sin of late in my life. The longer I meditate and ponder on this one the more I realize that God is just smirking at me because he got clever again and used the literature that speaks to my heart to soften my heart and force me to own my mistakes. I am not quite certain how to dig myself out of some of the despair and angst, but I am choosing to own that while I have made this mess, there is totally a way out and I can get past this particular valley in my life and find myself up on a peak again if I will just take that ownership and run with it.

Thanks God! Thanks Shakespeare! Thanks to all of you who still love this slothful Cynthia!