Wit

You have cancer.

Miss Bearing, you have

advanced metastatic ovarian cancer.

Go on.

-You are a professor, Miss Bearing.

-Like yourself, Dr. Kelekian.

Why, yes.

Now then, you present with a growth

that unfortunately went undetected...

in stages one, two, and three.

-Now it is an insidious adenocarcinoma--

-lnsidious?

lnsidious means undetectable at an early--

lnsidious means treacherous.

-Shall l continue?

-By all means.

Good.

ln invasive epithelial carcinoma...

the most effective treatment modality

is a chemotherapeutic agent.

We are developing

an experimental combination of drugs...

designed for primary-site ovarian,

for the target specificity of stage three...

and beyond administration.

Am l going too fast?

No.

You will be hospitalized

as an in-patient for treatment each cycle.

You will be hospitalized

as an in-patient for treatment each cycle.

After the initial eight cycles,

you will have another battery of tests.

The antineoplastic will inevitably

affect some healthy cells...

including those lining

the gastrointestinal tract...

from the lips to the anus,

and the hair follicles.

We will be relying on your resolve...

to withstand some of the more

pernicious side effects.

l beg your pardon.

-Do you have any questions so far?

-Please, go on.

-Perhaps some of these terms are new--

-No, you're being very thorough.

l make a point of it.

l always emphasize it with my students.

So do l. Thoroughness,

l always tell my students...

but, they are constitutionally

averse to painstaking work.

-Yours too.

-lt's worse every year.

-Mine are blind.

-Mine are deaf.

-You just have to hope.

-l suppose so.

Where were we?

l believe l was being

thoroughly diagnosed.

Right.

Now, the tumor is spreading very quickly.

And this treatment is very aggressive.

-So far, so good?

-Yes.

-Better not teach next semester.

-Out of the question.

The first week of each cycle

you'll be hospitalized for chemotherapy.

The next week you may feel a little tired.

-The next two will be fine, relatively.

-Eight months like that.

This treatment is the strongest thing

we have to offer you.

And as research it'll make a significant

contribution to our knowledge.

Knowledge. Yes.

Here is the informed consent form.

Should you agree,

you sign there, at the bottom.

ls there a family member

you want me to explain this to?

That won't be necessary.

Good.

The important thing is for you to take

the full dose of chemotherapy.

There may be times when you wish

for a lesser dose, due to the side effects.

But we've got to go full force.

-Dr. Bearing?

-Yes.

You must be very tough.

Do you think you can be very tough?

You needn't worry.

Good.

Excellent.

l should have asked more questions.

Because l knew

there was going to be a test.

-Hi, how you feeling today?

-Fine.

Great. That's just great.

This is not my standard greeting,

l assure you.

l tend toward something

a little more formal...

a little less inquisitive.

Such as, say, ''Hello.''

But it is the standard greeting here,

so l just say, ''Fine.''

Of course, it is not very often

that l do feel fine.

l've been asked, ''How are you feeling?''

while throwing up into a plastic basin.

l have been asked...

as l was emerging

from a four-hour operation...

with a tube in every orifice:

''How are you feeling today?''

l'm waiting for the moment when

l'm asked this question and l'm dead.

l'm a little sorry l'll miss that.

l have cancer.

lnsidious cancer,

with pernicious side effects.

No, the treatment

has pernicious side effects.

l have stage four

metastatic ovarian cancer.

There is no stage five.

And l have to be very tough.

lt appears to be a matter,

as the saying goes...

of life and death.

l know all about life and death.

l am, after all,

a professor of 17th century poetry...

specializing in

the Holy Sonnets of John Donne...

which explore mortality

in greater depth...

than any body of work

in the English language.

And l know for a fact that l am tough.

A demanding professor.

Uncompromising.

Never one to turn from a challenge.

That is why l chose to study John Donne...

while a student

of the great E.M. Ashford.

Oh, yes.

Your essay on Holy Sonnet Vl...

is a melodrama with a veneer

of scholarship unworthy of you...

to say nothing of Donne. Do it again.

Begin with the text, Miss Bearing,

not with a feeling.

''Death be not proud

''Though some have called thee

mighty and dreadful, for

''Thou art not so''

You've missed the point of the poem...

because you've used

an edition of the text...

that is inauthentically punctuated.

-ln the Gardner edition--

-That edition was checked out--

-Miss Bearing?

-Sorry.

You take this too lightly.

This is metaphysical poetry,

not the modern novel.

The standards of scholarship

and critical reading...

which one would apply to any other text

are simply insufficient.

The effort must be total

for the results to be meaningful.

Do you think that the punctuation

of the last line of this sonnet...

is merely an insignificant detail?

The sonnet begins with

a valiant struggle with death...

calling on all the forces

of intellect and drama...

to vanquish the enemy.

But it is ultimately about overcoming

the seemingly insuperable barriers...

separating life, death and eternal life.

ln the edition you chose,

this profoundly simple meaning...

is sacrificed to hysterical punctuation.

''And Death'' capital D...

''shall be no more;'' semi-colon.

''Death,'' capital D, comma...

''thou shalt die! '', exclamation mark.

lf you go in for this sort of thing

l suggest you take up Shakespeare.

Gardner's edition of the Holy Sonnets...

returns to the Westmoreland

manuscript source of 1610.

Not for sentimental reasons,

l assure you...

but because Helen Gardner is a scholar.

lt reads:

''And death shall be no more,'' comma...

''Death thou shalt die.''

Nothing but a breath, a comma...

separates life from life everlasting.

Very simple, really.

With the original punctuation restored,

death is no longer something...

to act out on a stage

with exclamation marks.

lt is a comma. A pause.

ln this way, the uncompromising way...

one learns something

from the poem, wouldn't you say?

Life, death, soul, God...

past, present.

Not insuperable barriers.

Not semicolons.

Just a comma.

Life, death, l see.

lt's a metaphysical conceit, it's wit.

-l'll go back to the library--

-lt is not wit, Miss Bearing, it is truth.

The paper's not the point.

lsn't it?

Vivian, you're a bright young woman.

Use your intelligence.

Don't go back to the library, go out.

Enjoy yourself with friends.

l went outside.

lt was a warm day.

There were students on the lawn

talking about nothing, laughing.

There were students on the lawn

talking about nothing, laughing.

Simple human truth.

Uncompromising scholarly standards.

They're connected.

l just couldn't....

l went back to the library.

Anyway....

All right.

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