Daily Dialogue — December 15, 2018

“Thomas Kent”: Tell me how you love her, Will.
William Shakespeare: Like a sickness — and its cure, together.
“Thomas Kent”: Oh, yes. Like rain and sun. Like cold and heat. Is your lady beautiful? [clears throat] Since I came here from the country, I have not seen her close. Tell me, is she beautiful?
William Shakespeare: Thomas, if I could write with the beauty of her eyes, I was born to look in them and know myself.
“Thomas Kent”: And her lips?
William Shakespeare: Her lips? The early morning rose would whither on the branch if it could feel envy.
“Thomas Kent”: And her voice, like lark’s song?
William Shakespeare: Deeper. Softer. None of your twittering larks. I would banish nightingales from their garden before they interrupt her song.
“Thomas Kent”: Ah, she sings too?
William Shakespeare: Constantly, without doubt. And plays the lute. She has a natural ear. And her bosom. Did I mention her bosom?
“Thomas Kent”: What of her bosom?
William Shakespeare: Oh, Thomas, a pair of pippins as round and rare as golden apples.

— Shakespeare in Love (1998), written by Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Profession of Love suggested by Mark Furney.

Trivia: Writer Marc Norman got the idea for the film when his son Zachary called him from Boston University and suggested doing something on William Shakespeare as a young man in the Elizabethan theatre. It took two years for Norman to come up with the idea of having Shakespeare struggling with writer’s block on “Romeo and Juliet”.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This is a profession of love dripping with dramatic irony as we know Thomas is Viola, but Will doesn’t… until the very end of the scene.