Elegy
- We're not all descended from the Puritans.
- No?
There was another colony,
It's not on the maps today.
Merrymount.
Ah, right,
you mentioned in your book...
The colony where anything goes... went.
There was booze...
There was booze, fornication,
there was music...
They even...
you name it...
They even danced round the Maypole
once a month, wearing masks,
worshiping god knows what, Whites and
Indians together all going for broke.
Who was responsible for all of this?
A character by the name of
Thomas Morton.
Ah... The Hugh Hefner of the Puritans.
You can say that.
I will read you a quote of what the
Puritans thought of
Morton's followers.
"Debauched aliens and atheists
falling into great licentiousness
and leading degenerate lives. "
When I heard that, I packed my bags,
I left Oxford, I came straight to America.
America the licentious.
So what happened
to all of those people?
The Puritans shut them down,
they sent in Miles Standish,
Leading the militia, who chopped down the
Maypole, cut down those coloured ribbons,
Banners everything.
The party was over.
strait-laced Puritans.
Well...
Isn't that your point though?
The Puritans won.
They stamped out, all things sexual
How would you say?
- Sexual happiness.
- Exactly.
Until the 1960's.
Until the 1960's, where it all
exploded again all over the place.
Right, everyone was dancing
around the Maypole,
then, "make love, not war".
If you remember,
only a decade earlier,
If you wanted to have sex,
if you wanted to make love in the 1950s,
You had to beg for it,
you had to cop a feel...
Or get married.
As I did in the 1960's.
Any regrets?
Plenty.
But that's my secret.
Don't tell anybody.
That's just between you and me.
I think it was Bette Davis who said:
"Old age is not for sissies"
But it was Tolstoy who said that
a man's life is old age".
Old age sneaks up on you,
and the next thing you know you're
asking yourself, I'm asking myself,
Why can't an old man act his real age?
How is it possible for
me to still be involved
in the carnal aspects of the human comedy?
Because, in my head,
nothing has changed.
Her name was Consuela Castillo
and she was my student.
This course is called
"Practical Criticism".
So... Let's go!
Right to the big question, shall we?
Does "War and Peace"
become a different book
because we read it?
Yes, of course.
But why?
Because we bring something to the book?
We bring ourselves.
What's more, if you read the book again
in 10 years, it will change again,
because you've changed.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I've always been vulnerable
to female beauty,
Ms. Castillo was different,
her posture was perfect.
And she dressed like a
young associate
of a prestigious law firm.
There was a sophistication,
that set her apart.
She knows she's beautiful.
But she's not yet sure what
to do with her beauty.
No, don't take notes.
Because honestly, it's not worth it.
Really, don't give it a thought.
A work of art reminds you of
who you are now.
Since they posted the sexual harassment
hotline number down the hall from my office,
with any of my students
until they've received their grades.
Afterwards I always throw a cocktail party
for the class.
And it's always a success.
Professor Kepesh,
we saw you on TV last night.
You were great.
Thank you. Charlie Rose was pretty
good too wasn't he?
Well, yes.
- You were great.
- Have a lovely evening.
- Thank you.
It's a colossus of perspective. It depends
on who's observing, right professor Kapesh?
Westerners see Islamic integralists as
primitive and dangerous while,
Islamic integralists see
Americans as depraved and corrupt.
Nothing's changed since the crusades.
We need an alliance of civilizations...
- Ms. Castillo.
- Hi, professor.
- Is this a real letter from Kafka?
- Yes.
Yes, it's one of the original letters
that he wrote to Milena.
It was a gift from someone.
Someone close to you.
Someone who was close
to me, Miss Castillo.
Consuela.
We're not in class.
We don't need to be so formal.
Consuela.
- Do you play the piano?
- Yeah.
Would you play for us?
Too many people.
I'd freeze.
You know there's something about you
that invites a kind of formality.
What do you mean?
You have a kind of elegant austerity.
Austerity?
Something like that.
Well, I guess I got that from my father.
He is austere...
and proud.
Very Cuban.
Cuban?
I was 11 years old when I came.
Did you go straight to college
from high school?
No, I was a legal secretary
in a law firm.
You worked.
I tried it, but I didn't like it.
I would go to college,
So I made up my mind
and here I am.
I want to show you something.
- Here we are.
- Goya.
- What's this one called?
- "La Maja Vestida."
And?
- And?
- She resembles you.
You resemble her.
Really?
Yes.
I think so.
What do you think?
I don't know.
The eyes, maybe.
Why all this talk about Kafka,
Goya and her Cuban family?
Don't get me wrong, it's great that her
family's Cuban and she enjoys my class.
But I go on yakking away mainly
because I want to f*** her.
- What can I say?
- True.
The room is full of spies.
I love music.
Excuse me.
I love opera, my grandfather
takes me to the Opera,
And I adore theater.
I review plays for a magazine.
Would you like to go with me
sometime to the theater?
- Yes.
- Sorry.
Go to the theater?
- Why don't you take her to the prom?
- I get it.
This girl is...
She's a throw-back to a completely
different time. She has to be wooed.
I thought we were talking about sex.
You know for a Pulitzer Prize winning poet,
sometimes you display a
remarkable lack of imagination.
That's why they gave me the f***ing prize.
Don't tell me you've never been
through the process of talking the talk.
That's why I have a family for
Christ's sake. I talk to them.
Maybe you should get married again.
George!
Talk the talk with your wife if you
feel like it, go to the museums,
look at all the Goyas that you want,
but keep the sex part just for sex.
Alright.
to your wife, George?
No. One all.
I'm not hitting that.
Sneaking off for a smoke?
- You know you shouldn't smoke.
- You tell me that
in this bed, every 3 weeks.
- I'm under a lot of pressure.
- I like to be consistent.
So do I.
You've been trying to get me
to quit smoking for 20 years.
Since the first day of your class.
Oh my God, your class made me smoke.
I'm under a lot of stress.
- Oh, how was Chicago?
- Cleveland.
Chicago was last week.
Atlanta's next week.
You sound like Cary Grant
in "North by Northwest".
Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha!
Ha ha, laugh, just try being a
woman running your own business.
I thought you liked
being your own boss.
I do. Oh, I do, I do.
Thank god for these little interludes.
That's all I can say.
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"Elegy" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/elegy_7557>.
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