Should I Be Impressed? Or Really Worried?

Jane (8) just came to find me. "Mom, what is that quotation from...?"

I waited.

"You know, from Macbeth, I think? 'Is this a dagger I see before me...' You know? That one?"

"Well, I don't actually know it exactly but I can look it up for you."

"Oh, thanks, I want to put it on my profile page for Our World. You know how some people have quotations or poetry?"

Uh, yeah.

[Updated to add: Turns out that Jane learned everything she knows about Macbeth from reading the comic strip FoxTrot. Should I be relieved, do you think?]

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

Comments

Unknown said…
wow! all I can come up with from MacBeath is Out out damned spot, becuase I always imagine Lady MacBeath at the door with her dog...
tanita✿davis said…
Whoa! I'm going with... impressively... worried.

Your kids are so awesome. Man!
Susan said…
Oh My! And who is going to be reading this and forming an opniion of her? ( I'm not sure what " Our World " is.)

And she believes this to be be " Her Profile "

A little Pride that she even knows who MacBeth is. ;-)

And a tad bit worried that she wants something that contains " daggers, blood & guts " to be on her Profile Page.

~ Susan

~ Susan
Tenna Draper said…
I'm thinking this is the soliloqy before (and during) the murder of the king, by the murderer. Is she studying MacBeth in School?

Probably not the best thing to dwell on, unless she's having trouble understanding what's really going on "behind the words". Maybe some "play acting" (really bad play acting) could shed a little humor on the situation? The thoughts are really dark, but I doubt you need to worry--I do think that communication is in order. The play itself is too graphic for an 11 year old...JMHO.
Kathy Ireland said…
Um. Did she put the WHOLE thing on her profile?

Jessica actually reads alot of Shakespeare - in graphic novel form - and really likes them.

Don't be worried - be impressed. Did you read Shakespeare when you were 8?

Me either.
Marion Gropen said…
Isn't it fun being mom? Don't you love those moments of awe?

Be impressed, of course. And then find out what she's thinking about the speech, what the quote is saying to her, etc.

You undoubtedly already know this, but I sometimes have to remind myself that my daughter, bright though she is, doesn't always see the world as I do. Sometimes the things she says, or asks, don't mean the same thing to her that they do to me.

Don't worry until you know what you're worrying about, maybe?
MadMad said…
Whoa - my 8-year-old only quotes Sponge Bob....
Mrs.Q said…
You know, I was describing your blog to someone at Sock Summit, and I believe I used the words "precocious daughters." Good to see I was accurate!

I'd just be grateful she wasn't looking for the "Out, out damned spot" quote!
Mary Ellen said…
You can learn Shakespeare from comic strips? That would have been very helpful back in High School Lit...