February 18, 2012
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While sleeping in till 6:30 makes me feel like my normal self, getting up at 4:00, going back to bed at 5:00, and sleepin gtill 7:00 makes me feel even worse than the usual sleep deprived state.That was my obligatory whine about how tired I am. I had a good week, though. Too many meetings, for sure — five or six, counting phone meetings, plus three classes to teach. I realize that there are people who hae meetings every day, several times a day, and live, but this is me. Apart from that, I got a lot done, got some new jobs, and enjoyed my work.
#1 son came over last night and we discussed literature, his future, and what circumstances would drive someone to kill another person. I think it was all about Iago to begin with.
Iago, you may recall, was the bad guy in Shakespeare’s play Othello. Othello promotes Cassio over Iago, who feels that he deserves the promotion. Iago therefore makes Othello think that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with Cassio. Everybody dies.
Iago is clearly jealous of Cassio, and perhaps also of Othello and Desdemona. He announces at one point that he hates Othello, though it’s not clear why. This seems like an adequate reason for Iago to decide not to go to Desdemona’s cocktail parties, but not really enough to cause him to destroy the lives of all three.
Envious Casca, Georgette Heyer’s masterpiece of a mystery novel, suggests that Iago just loved having control over other people’s lives. I mentioned this, thinking that such a desire could show a mental illness, a feeling that no one else should be able to thwart him without paying for it with their lives. #1 son said that the mental illness was the second step.Anyone, he thought, might feel bitter or jealous and want to do harm to the object of that bitterness. Sane people just wouldn’t do it. I’m inclined to feel that wickedness is ipso facto evidence of insanity, on the grounds that sane people don’t want to do evil things — or, if they want to, couldn’t usually bring themselves to do those things in real life. There is a problem of circular reasoning here, I know, but really, could a healthy mind entertain the idea of causing someone else to commit a murder for very long?
Iago is an interesting character, and I have a novel from his point of view to read. I may begin that today. First I plan to do housework. There will also be knitting and possibly sewing. I don’t intend to do anything evil, apart from a little sloth. I’ve toggled 53 work hours so far this week, though, so I bet I could get quite a bit of slothfulness in before it would count as real evil.
The picture here is of one of my gussied up clipboards. #1 daughter saw the idea at Pinterest and I made it part of my office transformation. I need a round thing, I think to go in the open space at about 11:00 in the picture here.
