What is it? The bill, the longsword, the rapier.. Well, according to Swetnam it is a fair tongue. For a fair tongue, used with skill will prevent swords from being drawn. Solve fights before they occur and so on.
Which is true. Not getting into a fight is the best method of self defence around. Especially since training is usually done with gentlefolk- the kind of people who won't rip your testicles off, bite your ear and gouge at your eyes. In general, we don't fight too seriously (as I've mentioned when talking about intention).
However, one of the reasons I thought Swetnam would be interesting to study is due to the lewd arraignment of women. Not because I stand by his beliefs- but due to the fact that London women probably haven't changed that much over the past 400 years and anyone who can publish that kind of thing would have learned a lot about how to defend himself.
So there we go- a chapter on being polite and civil to avoid fights and yet he publishes something that is so sexist that it results in satirical plays decrying him as a misogynist.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment