A MATTER OF SPELLING
By
Ashleigh Anpilova
Gibbs comes home to find Ducky reading Macbeth and gets an impromptu lesson in Shakespeare.
An established relationship story.
Written: December 2010. Word count: 500.
"Hey, Duck. What you reading?" Jethro leaned over and kissed Ducky.
Ducky beamed at him. "Hello, my dear. It's Macbeth. I thought it would be a good idea to reacquaint myself with it, as we shall shortly be attending a production."
"Oh, yeah." Jethro straightened up and went to the drinks cabinet. "Drink?"
"Thank you." Ducky smiled before returning to the play.
As he poured the whiskey, Jethro sighed. Two weeks earlier Ducky had received a letter from one of his friends from Eton. It turned out the man's grandson was staring in a production of Macbeth and knowing Ducky enjoyed Shakespeare, he had sent him seven tickets for one of the productions. Somehow that had led to the entire team agreeing to go - Ducky and Abby were very persuasive!
It wasn't that Jethro didn't want to go; it was that - he didn't really want to go. He hadn't read or seen Shakespeare since his school days and he hadn't enjoyed it then. It had seemed confusing and dull. However, Ducky had assured him Macbeth was a good play and the reviews for the production had been excellent.
"You know, it's very interesting how today we view Shakespeare as high-brow literature, to be studied and dissected and read for important meaning. That wasn't the case in Shakespeare's day."
"Wasn't it?" Jethro handed Ducky his drink.
"Thank you. Oh, no. Quite the opposite; Shakespearian plays were the popular culture of the era, to be enjoyed by all classes. And yet today we put him on a pedestal and revere his plays and sonnets and scholars aim to find everything he has ever written. His entire life is forever under a microscope. I'm sure if he knew the extent to which his plays were studied for themes and ideas we assume he was intent on portraying, he would be amused."
"Really?" Jethro was pacing around the room.
"Oh, yes. In many ways he was a very straightforward man. The plays were simply what they were for the time in which they were written. You know, somewhat amusingly he didn't even spell his name the same way all the time."
"Didn't he?"
"Oh, no. He used several different spellings when signing his name. That wasn't altogether unusual, Elizabethan spelling was very erratic by our modern standards. Even the simplest proper names were spelled a variety of ways. And also they tended to differ within and outside of London. You see - Jethro, are you listening to me?"
"What? Oh, yeah, course I am, Duck. Shakespeare spelled his own name different ways." Over the years Jethro had honed his ability to hear what Ducky was saying, even if he wasn't really paying attention.
"May I ask why you are prowling around the room?" Ducky moved to Jethro's side.
"Just trying to decide where to put the Christmas tree."
"Oh, Jethro! But you said -"
"Didn't really believe me, did you, Duck? What's Christmas without a real tree?" Jethro put his arms around Ducky and kissed him.
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