thebeesareback

[thebeesareback]

Why did Katniss vote for another Hunger Games?

Before looking into what Katniss tells us the reader about her choice we need to look at the context leading up to the vote.

Katniss knows that Coin considers her a political threat and wanted her to die during the last stage of the war. When Peeta joins the Star Squad Katniss ends chapter 18 (and part II) with "But if Coin sent Peeta here, she's decided something else as well. That I'm of more use to her dead than alive." (Mockingjay p. 293) In the next chapter Katniss notes that Boggs is angry and he doesn't deny that Coin wants Katniss dead. Katniss doesn't understand why, so we get this exchange:

"Sometime in the near future, this war will be resolved. A new leader will be chosen," says Boggs. I roll my eyes. "Boggs, no one thinks I'm going to be the leader." "No. They don't," he agrees. "But you'll throw support to someone. Would it be President Coin? Or someone else?" "I don't know. I've never thought about it," I say. "If your immediate answer isn't Coin, then you're a threat. (...)" Mockingjay p. 298

There are earlier events in the book where we can see that Katniss does not trust Coin. A prime example being that Katniss insists Coin make the Mockingjay Deal announcement in front of all of Disctrict 13.

The next important piece of context for the vote is Prim's death. Prim is killed by a bomb design to kill the rescuers after one round of bombs dropped by a hovercraft with a Capitol sigil on it (Mockingjay chapter 24). This type of bomb was designed by Gale and Beetee in District 13 (Mockingjay chapter 13). Katniss mulls over the evidence she has, what Snow said and what she knows about both Coin and Snow:

(...) it doesn't mean she dropped those parachutes. Victory was already in her grasp. Everything was in her grasp. Except me. [Reminder of what Boggs said about Katniss being a threat to Coin] Suddenly I'm thinking of Prim, who was not yet fourteen, not yet old enough to be granted the title of soldier, but somehow working on the front lines. How did such a thing happen? (...) But for all that, someone very high up would have had to approve putting a thirteen-year-old in combat. (Mockingjay p. 406)

Katniss does not conclude anything about the bombing in the internal dialogue the reader gets to follow. At minimum Katniss knows Coin likely authorised Prim being put in harms way to get to Katniss and destabalise her. Katniss does not tie Prim's death to Snow or the Capitol at any point after this.

Now we get to the actual vote. The Victors are gathered right before the planned execution of President Snow. Coin presents having a final Hunger Games with children "directly related to those who held the most power" (Mockingjay p. 415). Haymitch asks if it was Plutarch's idea and Coin clarifies that it was hers. Peeta, Annie and Beetee vote against. Johanna and Enobaria vote for.

Now it is up to Katniss and Haymitch.

Katniss thinks about what it must have been like deciding those first Games and "All those people I loved, dead, and we are discussing the next Hunger Games in an attempt to avoid wasting life" (Mockingjay p. 417). Next we get these two sentences: "Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change now." (Mockingjay p. 417) And then she casts her vote:

I weigh my options carefully, think everything through. Keeping my eyes on the rose, I say, "I vote yes... for Prim." (Mockingjay p. 417)

The last we heard about Katniss's thoughts of Prim connect her death with Coin. This I think is likely the point when Katniss decides to shoot Coin and not Snow.

Haymitch now has the deciding vote and this is what Katniss thinks:

(...) I can feel Haymitch watching me. This is the moment, then. When we find out exactly how alike we are, and how much he understands me. "I'm with the Mockingjay," he says. (Mockingjay p. 417)

Haymitch and Katniss have communiced wordlessly with each other since the 74th Games. Katniss has a plan and Haymitch understands this. If Katniss had no plan I don't think she would think about "how much he understands [her]". She wants him to vote for these last Games to keep Coin happy and oblivious to what Katniss's next step is. Haymitch understands this, or at least that Katniss has a plan and she needs his help here. Without adding any spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping: Haymitch would have voted no without Katniss asking him to vote yes.

The next thing Katniss does is kill President Coin. Thus stopping the cycle of violence she sees Coin ready to continue. Nothing has changed with Coin as President. Nothing will ever change unless Katniss steps up. Which she does. For Prim.

[thebeesareback]

He found visits to the countryside, and the cows in particular, helped calm him down.

[thebeesareback]

Can we please just have one Australian election that doesn't end up revolving around cum? 😭

[thebeesareback]

An important but often overlooked aspect of Tywin Lannister is that he is incredibly camp. So camp. Seriously. Even his horse is camp. This is the description of his armour from the ASOIAF wiki

And really, I think it's a shame that Charles Dance didn't get to embody that

[thebeesareback]

Hey, the Arthurian book you are looking for is the Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. As you say, It has some Merlin & Morgana in it but the woman who surfers the "there wounds" (body, mind and pride) is Nimue, not Morgan; Nimue is another of Merlin's apprentices who quickly outshines Morgan in this retelling. the Warlord Chronicles is told from the POV of Derfel (another protegé of Merlin Who eventually will Arthur's trusted soldier) formed by there volumes:

1. The Winter King

2. the Enemy of God

3. Excalibur

Hope you enjoy them! ❤️

Thank you so much!

[thebeesareback]

OK so this is NICHE but if you would like a challenge

When I was inappropriately young, perhaps 12, I came across a retelling of Arthurian legends from the perspective of a young man who knew and grew up with Morgana Le Fay. I would love to find this book and actually finish it, because plenty went over my head.

Here are the things I can remember:

The main character doesn't really interact with Merlin, but young Morgana does and it's pretty creepy

Merlin tells Morgana that she will need to suffer three wounds to become a prophet: one to the body, one to the pride and one to the mind

Morgana lives on some kind of island fortification which is attacked by a nearby clan. She is raped, her eye is cut out and (rather understandably) she has a mental breakdown. This means that she has had all of her wounds

She then has sex with the protagonist and cuts diagonally along their hands, then sort of glues them together with blood and the next morning, when the blood has dried and their hands separate, she goes off somewhere

That's all I can remember! Again, this was about 18 years ago and also, well, I don't think I finished the book. If anyone knows the actual title or remembers anything, please let me know!

[thebeesareback]

I think the amount i enjoy a drink is linked directly to how close it is til 2am

Water: splishy splashy, I am a sleepy fish and this is rejuvenating. If I have more than a pint I am a horse, slurping in a sunny field

Rum: I am a pirate and this night is about to get turned up

Wine/beer: i am going to learn something truly incredible tonight

Coffee: gotta get my stuff, I'm going to the airport. If there is no flight I will simply create one

Champagne: Gatsby would attend one of his own parties to hear my witticisms

Redbull: I am on a deadline and I am tapping into a stream of consciousness never before accessed. My thoughts are magnetic and original and incomprehensible

Sparkling water: bubbles. Avante guard

Orange juice: this will Heal Me, body and soul

Moon milk/hot chocolate: oooo cosy. Mmmm. Sleepy

Miso soup: a perfect addition to my skincare routine. My next serum will make it look like I've had more than 4 hours of sleep

And, while I don't drink tea or have kids, I do think that a partner passing you a cuppa when you're up with a baby and giving you both forehead kisses would be enough to make your heart float

[thebeesareback]

An update for Ramadan 2025:

It goes both ways?! The cats are up for suhur?! Ultimate allyship from sleepy felines

I'm not at all religious but I fucking love it when people include their pets in their ceremonies. I just saw a cat dressed up (and looking 🔥🔥) in little Iftar outfits. Remember that tweet about the Jewish household who got their cat an advent calendar because, well, who are they to tell the cat she has to be Jewish? I've seen videos of people taking a huge variety of animals to be blessed by the pope, all looking incredibly befuddled. And the cats who love their owners' prayer mats? So they have to have their own? Incredible

[thebeesareback]

Severance theory - who is the secret Eagan baby?

Spoiler/speculation warning.

Following last week's Severance episode, The After Hours, I've seen a fair amount of speculation that there's a secret Eagan hidden among the cast. When Mark, Devon and Cobel approach the birthing suite Cobel gets the guard to let them in by indicating a (fake) pregnant Devon and saying, conspiratorially, that she's "one of Jame's", thus suggesting that there are plenty of women who come to the birthing cabins secretly pregnant with Jame's babies. Ew.

As Severance loves its twists and is designed to make its audience try to figure out puzzles, it seems likely that we're supposed to assume that there are some other Eagan babies around. The only character whose father we know is Helena, so we can rule her out. Also, she is an acknowledged Eagan baby. Some people have suggested that Rickon, Miss Huang, or even Cobel herself could have been fathered by Jame. I have a different theory. I think it's Mr Drummond.

Drummond is a big old weirdo who turns up in season two and has a very creepy air. He could be mysterious for the fun of it, but I think there's a specific reason. It takes two to tango, and I think that he's the child of Jame Eagan... and Ms Cobel.

Here are my reasons.

In "Trojan's Horse", Drummond, Natalie and Helena have a meeting. Helena refers to Jame as "father", and Drummond also refers to Jame as "father". I mean, that's the biggest part of my theory. If you're looking for the person who might be Jame's child, start with the person who calls him daddy.

In "Goodbye, Mrs Selvig" there's a scene where Helena and Cobel are supposed to get into a car together. Then Drummond comes into view and suddenly, Cobel is terrified. She can't get away fast enough. Certainly, it could be because Drummond is super creepy, but I don't think Cobel scares easily and I don't think that she would be intimidated by one of the regular Lumon goons (big love to Irving). I think there's a personal history, and perhaps confronting your angry, estranged child would be enough.

Cobel seems to know what to say when speaking to the guard in "After Hours". It seems as though she's been in this situation before. But we know that the driver for the Eagan's unpleasant missions isn't Cobel: it's Burt! Perhaps, though, she was taken to the birthing suites because she, personally, was pregnant. We, the audience, also know that Cobel has some experience with motherhood, hence her (apparently successful) job as a lactation consultant. Hope Devon and Rickon's baby is okay... she seems to have vanished.

In the massively underrated "Sweet Vitriol", we see Cobel's backstory. She was brought up and groomed by Lumon, working in one of their ether factories. When Cobel hit adolescence (ish), she was shipped off to a special school for girls - the one Miss Huang now attends. So you have young women who have been taught to worship and obey the Eagan family, all in one place, all adjusting to life outside of their poverty-stricken hometowns. It sounds like St Trinian's. It also sounds like the kind of place absolutely rife with sexual exploitation. Sissy speaks about the Eagans as if they're gods -- would a young woman like Cobel say "no" to whatever an Eagan wanted?

Drummond himself seems to have absolutely gulped the Lumon Kool Aid. He doesn't have a huge amount of screen-time, but we know that he's involved in management - typical nepo baby - and has a "frolic" tattoo, presumably because he's so devoted to Lumon.

Let's triangulate. There's a cult leader who has access to young, vulnerable women. We have a woman who has experience of birth and "early years" care, and was one of the aforementioned vulnerable young women. We have a younger man who refers to the cult leader as "father" and can scare the woman. I think that Jame + Cobel = Drummond.

Let me know what you all think, and check out my page for more discussion of media and literature!

[thebeesareback]

She's organising her stuff: Seinfeld edition

https://www.tumblr.com/thebeesareback/776221800289943552/reasons-season-seven-of-seinfeld-is-the-best?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/thebeesareback/775644053705572352/if-they-remade-seinfeld-now-theyd-make-every?source=share

[thebeesareback]

Jamie and Cersei and MacBeth and Lady MacBeth

I should preface this by saying that I haven't read/seen MacBeth since I was at uni, 10 years ago.

Trigger warnings: death, suicide, incest, abortion, violence, gender dysphoria, mental health issues, sexual violence - the sort of topics you'd expect from ASOIAF and MacBeth

There are plenty of Shakespearean references, influences and parrallels in ASOIAF. It's something which Eliana from Girls Gone Canon talks about all the time, and I find it really interesting. One thing which I think has been overlooked, though, is the similarities between the Lannister twins and the MacBeths.

To start: the most obvious MacBeth-ian character in ASOIAF is Stannis. He's this cursed, haunted king who drags himself around dreary castles, urged to do increasingly awful things by the women around him. He knows his line won't inherit, and yet he can't stop sacrificing everything for power. There's also Theon, betraying a king for a crown which won't make him happy. I guess Reek is his Lady MacBeth?

Aesthetically, Jamie and Cersei are the opposite of the MacBeths. They're beautiful and warm - very different from the cold, dark setting of MacBeth. (If you've not been to Scotland, it's very cold and wet. I love it). I think this is why people would gravitate towards a Stannis/MacBeth comparison. Additionally, and crucially, Jamie does not become king. There are a few asterisks, though: in the initial pitch, Jamie does take the throne and frames Tyrion for any murders he commits along the way; Jamie sits on the throne after murdering Aerys, which could be interpreted as him pronouncing himself king; also, Jamie's sons do becoming kings - though this would cast him in more of a Banquo role. Cersei, like Lady MacBeth, does become a mad and evil queen.

One of the reasons that Cersei is such a compelling character is that she has a fully fleshed out backstory. At the end of the published books, we know about her birth, her childhood, her visit to Maggy the Frog, her marriage, and we know that she thinks she'll die with Jamie. We know about her within the context of her family and with outside influences. A driving force for her is the prophecy given by Maggy the Frog. She's told that she'll marry a king, have three children who will be crowned and die before her, and that she'll be destroyed by a younger and more beautiful queen before dying at the handS (!) of her little brother. She obsesses over this in her chapters. The fact that Cersei receives the prophecies instead of Jamie is one of the many times she actually is closer to MacBeth instead of Lady MacBeth. MacBeth hears his prophecy at the start of the play and, like Cersei, thinks about it often. There are two main parts: MacBeth will get a promotion, then become king, and Banquo will be the father of kings. The promotion happens before MacBeth has time to do anything, then he acts to make himself king, and then he desperately tries to avoid Banquo's heirs gaining the throne.

Cersei fights against her prophecy from the outset. She believes Sansa and Margery are the younger, more beautiful queens and does everything she can to dis-empower and undermine them. She (understandably) does everything she can to keep her children safe. Interestingly, Maggy says that she'll have three children with Jamie, but when she gets pregnant by Robert, she has an abortion. Would continuing the pregnancy defeat the prophecy? It would be interesting to see her thoughts on the matter. It's not surprising that she doesn't want to have Robert's child, given the violence he inflicts upon her, and it's also understandable that she wants to have Jamie's children, because of her obsession with House Lannister. There's a moment which appears to be both foreshadowing and a double-metaphor where she wakes from a prophecy nightmare wrapped in sheet, choking and panicking. She feels choked by the prophecy and the prophecy says she will be choked. She can fight the sheet off, but it seems unlikely that she'll be able to escape her fate.

Cersei and MacBeth both get their prophecies from people who seem to fall outside of the traditional feminine. Cersei fears age and has, well, extremely complicated feelings on her own womanhood. We know that Maggy the Frog is old, ugly and her feminine features - her breasts - are saggy and unpleasant. MacBeth thinks that the Weird Sisters are women with facial hair, and there have been plenty of discussions on how to cast the Weird Sisters. They're great examples of beings who exist outside the gender binary in older fiction, and they're almost literally demonised - which, let's be honest, has been the case for many gender-nonconforming people up to and including the present.

There is something feminine about prophecy. Firstly, within classical literature, the great prophet Cassandra is a woman and (I think?!) so are all the oracles. OK, let me see if I can articulate this. Women are prophets because prophets provide the future, and women provide babies, and babies are future generations. There are about a million points to be made alongside this, but you know what I mean. There's plenty more, um, gender fuckery in Cersei's story-line and in MacBeth, and we'll get to that later. For now, though: Cersei and MacBeth's futures are revealed to them early in their lives/the story, both prophecies come from 'woman but wrong' and both insinuate death. To be fair though, most people know they will die without a prophecy.

Lady MacBeth and Cersei fail at femininity in their own ways. While I, a cisgender woman, am not the best person to speak on this, I have read several interpretations of Cersei as transgender. Check out Lo the Lynx. Cersei hates women and feels constrained by her gender role, and she fantasises about being a man - see, for example, her seduction of Lady Merryweather, where she keeps thinking about what Robert would do and then behaving in that way. Lady MacBeth also "fails" at femininity: she does not produce a child. Now OBVIOUSLY this is a deeply, deeply shitty opinion, and it's not factually accurate - the fertility problem could easily come from MacBeth, instead. However, in an entrenched patriarchal society where children inherit wealth, titles and power from their parents, it's essential to actually have children. The MacBeths don't. In fact, the only time they discuss having children is when Lady MacBeth says that she would pull a baby away from her breast and kill it if it meant that MacBeth got what he wanted. She's not exactly a nurturing, motherly type. Lady MacBeth also fights against her femininity and sees womanhood as lesser and weak: she calls out for spirits to "unsex" her; that is, to remove her supposed feminine weakness and allow her to embrace her violent urges. The men in MacBeth are expected to be violent, and Lady MacBeth would quite like to join them.

Both Cersei and Lady MacBeth use their womanhood to manipulate those around them, and both express frustration about the limitations of their power because of their gender. Cersei claims that she should have the sword and Robert/Jamie the dresses, and Lady MacBeth makes her "unsex" wish. They goad men and claim that any reluctance to use violence is feminine and weak. Lady MacBeth just wants her husband to chop up everyone who stands in their way and, at Derry, Cersei pours poison into Robert's ear (wait, wrong Shakespeare) to give her Nymeria's pelt for her bed. As MacBeth is a short play - in fact, I think it's Shakespeare's shortest - and the ASOIAF series is famously rather long, we have many more mentions of Cersei manipulating men compared to Lady MacBeth. Off the top of my head

Cersei tries to flirt with Ned to get him to keep her secrets

Cersei talks about seducing Stannis - or his horse - to keep her and her children safe during his attack on Kings Landing

Cersei plays the role of concerned wife to manipulate Robert into fighting in the melee at Ned's tourney

Cersei uses sex (or the promise of it) to keep the Kettleblacks in line.

As you may notice, things don't always work. MacBeth is traumatised and horrified by his murder of Duncan, which is why Lady MacBeth has to step in and mess around with the daggers, and everything I've listed above for Cersei fails. Ned doesn't rat her out because he's worried about her children. Stannis has no interest in sleeping with her. Ned talks Robert out of competing in the melee, and the Kettleblacks are just a disaster. Perhaps - and I could be wrong here - but perhaps men don't like women manipulating them and trying to use their feminine wiles. Perhaps this breeds resentment. It's an oroboros: women act against their societal roles, but men find it unsettling so it's inefficient, it doesn't work, and women are more frustrated by their societal roles and are more keen to act against them.

There is a contrast, as well, with the women who stay within their prescribed roles. Catlyn is an obvious foil for Cersei. They're both political players, both mothers to kings, and are both going to die because of political machinations. Likewise, Lady MacDuff doesn't manipulate her husband - but she's still killed. The takeaway appears to be that in a violent patriarchy there is no safe way to be a woman. Lady MacBeth has, I suppose, the most agency. She decides how to die. She's hardly a heartwarming feminist icon, throwing herself from her husband's battlements, mad with guilt. It's always bothered me that we don't really know her name. She just has her title and her husband's surname. Cersei and Lady MacBeth both use their surnames to wield power. Lady MacBeth uses her personal connection to MacBeth to encourage him to kill Duncan, and Cersei is happy to invoke the power of the royal family and of House Lannister wherever necessary. She does this internally and externally: if someone threatens her, she'll get Jamie to defend her. If she feels ashamed, she reminds herself that she's a "daughter of the rock".

Jamie and MacBeth both kill kings. That's a big, obvious parallel. For now, though, let's consider them killing children. Both of them do it to protect their partners and kids/future kids. It's a subversion of a masculine ideal: men protect their families. Jamie knows that if Bran tells everyone about his sexual relationship with Cersei, they'll probably all die. MacBeth knows that the only way Fleance can become king is if he dies childless. There are plenty of other things, like bravery, intelligence and martial prowess, which are supposedly good qualities embodied by the men but ultimately become corrupted.

There are a number of reasons for their corruption. One interpretation is that the women bring the men down. Women take men's good actions and distort them. Jamie saves Kings Landing from wildfire - Cersei will probably destroy Kings Landing with wildfire. MacBeth gets promoted because he serves Duncan well - Lady MacBeth convinces him to kill Duncan. It would be inaccurate, however, to claim that a feminine/power influence was the only thing which corrupted men. MacBeth might be happy enough to let the prophecy pan out until Lady MacBeth convinces him to go further, but it's clearly living rent-free in his mind and one could argue that by telling Lady MacBeth about the prophecy he's encouraging her to convince him to do something evil. Likewise, Jamie thinks he was soiled by the white cloak. Who encouraged him, though, to join the Kingsguard? Cersei. Who was already living in Kings Landing and knew just how morally bankrupt the court was? Cersei. All actions and decisions made by both men are influenced by the women, because their lives are so entwined. More on their deaths later.

Jamie and MacBeth have the potential to become forces for - for want of a better term - lawful good before what could be seen as their initial corrupting influences. For now, let's take the initial corruption as occurring during Jamie's time in Aerys' kingsguard and MacBeth's first interaction with the Weird Sisters. Jamie is a good soldier, intelligent, witty and diplomatic. He does well in tournaments, figures out how to stay (mostly) unharmed during his trip from Riverrun to Kings Landing with Brienne; his internal monologue is hilarious ("honour is a horse", anyone?) and he ends the siege of Riverrun without anyone dying. His immoral/evil acts always have an extremely fair justification. He killed Aerys to save the city, he attempts to kill Bran to save his family. His actions in Feast/Dance might not be popular, but he is attempting to end a war as quickly and painlessly as possible. Like with Lady MacBeth earlier, there's simply less MacBeth content, but we know that he fought battles before the play starts to uphold a king who seems like a basically good, slightly naive guy. Throughout the play MacBeth makes more and more harmful choices, his moral and political standing disintegrating with his mental state. Jamie is more chaotic. He does something bad - not protecting Dany's mum - then he does something good - killing Aerys. Then he's hated for it. The books don't have a straightforward redemption arc: it's mixed and chaotic and much more true to life. Whether he ends up killing Cersei (which I think is unlikely) or trying to save her, we know that the twins think they'll die together, and probably won't be remembered for their (well, Jamie's) good acts. Shakespeare and Martin make sure that their characters aren't simply villains - they have human complexities and moral ambiguities.

The twist in Jamie and MacBeth's arcs comes when they kill their kings, people they've sworn to protect. Their reasons and the public reactions are opposite: Jamie had a very valid reason for killing Aerys, but was known and hated for it; MacBeth had a bad reason for killing Duncan and nobody knows he does it. The murders are clearly traumatic for both characters, and they feel isolated. It's kind of funny because they're surrounded by violent people who regularly kill. The audience meets MacBeth and Banquo as they return from battle and Jamie is surrounded by the survivors of Robert's Rebellion. What's interesting is the authors' depictions of the other violent men. Martin takes time to show how everyone involved in Robert's Rebellion is stunted and upset by it, but Shakespeare has the majority of Duncan's court feel unaffected by the violence they've recently inflicted. That isn't to say that they don't care when people die, but it depends on *how* they die. Duncan, murdered in his bed? Horrifying. Lady MacDuff and her children? Tragic. Yet the nameless soldiers in Dunstanain Woods are, well, unnamed specifically because they're unimportant. There's a social hierarchy at play, and there's the betrayal, and the isolation. Jamie tells Brienne the truth about Aerys and seems to be better for it, but MacBeth has no comparable unburdening and becomes more alone with Lady MacBeth's mental breakdown and death. Perhaps MacBeth and Jamie's isolation is because inflicting pain is upsetting for the perpetrator, but what's considered to be bad/wrong is the betrayal. Violence itself is not supposed to be traumatising: it's permissible and even encouraged in certain situations, but transgressive and "wrong" when performed incorrectly. There are expectations for who, how and when it's good to be violent, and when violence is performed outside of these times the morality is, well, absent. All of this inevitably leads one to think of the Red Wedding, where there is no anticipation of murder aside from foreshadowing in prophecies and visions. Nobody - Tywin, Bolton, Walder Frey - appears to feel any guilt about their actions, yet we know that society and the story itself will punish them.

There's a little moment which draws parallels between the Lannisters and the MacBeths. After Duncan is found dead, MacBeth kills Duncan's guards, allegedly out of grief. In truth, it's because he's framed them and knows this is a good way to make sure they don't contradict his story. They've been given a sleeping potion and have no idea that MacBeth slipped past them to kill the king. When Jamie frees Tyrion, he orders the guards to have wine with a sleeping potion so he can pass by. When Cersei finds out that the men were asleep, she orders their deaths without even stopping to question them. In both stories, guards are drugged and killed for no reason and there's no repercussions for these murders. In the wider stories these deaths are irrelevant, but it's one of the more obvious and straightforward parallels between MacBeth and ASOIAF.

There are social norms in place which govern the direction of violence. In MacBeth, almost all of the male characters are, essentially, warlords. They kill regularly. However, they're not supposed to harm someone in their home - see the MacBeths' murder of Duncan. They're not supposed to kill people who can't defend themselves - see the murder of the MacDuffs. And, although this is less clear, they aren't supposed to kill relatives. Lady MacBeth is the person who really struggles with this. She can't kill Duncan because he looks like her father. She talks, in graphic detail, about killing her own baby if it would help MacBeth. However, because she doesn't actually have a child, this is all null. ASOIAF is much more clear on the rules of violence, and the characters even have a common expression: "no one is as cursed as the kinslayer", and the custom of "guest right", where hosts and guests can't harm each other. Unfortunately, the Lannisters LOVE killing and threatening each other.

Cersei tries to rip Tyrion's penis off

Tyrion wants to rape Cersei

Tywin wants to kill Tyrion

Cersei wants to kill Tyrion

Tyrion poisons Cersei

Tyrion wishes he'd killed Joffrey

Jamie rapes Cersei

Jamie and Tyrion want to kill each other

Tywin has his stepmother paraded around naked

Kevan has Cersei paraded around naked

Joffrey/Cersei orders Tyrion's assassination

Joffrey/Cersei orders the assassination of Joffrey's supposed half-siblings

Joffrey wants to kill his supposed uncles and they want to kill him

Joffrey is killed by his grandmother-in-law

Cersei has her daughter-in-law imprisoned

Cersei is going to be killed by Tyrion (probably)

and, of course, Tyrion kills Tywin.

It's the family's pastime. My family likes to go for walks, instead. Dysfunction and harm permeate the Lannister family. It's like their blonde hair - nobody can escape it. It goes nicely with their incest, too: they love the idea of their house, but they have no way of living up to the ideal. They obsess over each other and harm one another because they feel that the others have failed the ideals, and yet they have toxic sexual bonds with each other because they don't think that anyone else is worthy. I think it's worth noting that it's not just Jamie and Cersei having sex: Cersei sleeps with Lancel; Tyrion jokes about having sex with Cersei; Tywin married his cousin, and Kevan thinks of Cersei in an weirdly sexual way. Tywin is uncomfortably interested in Tyrion's sex life. I heard recently that incest is a form of cannibalism, and you can see that in the Lannisters. The MacBeths don't appear to be incestuous, but they clearly have strange attitudes towards their family and don't shy away from thinking harm upon them. A difference, though, is their attitude towards their children. Jamie might not care when Joffrey dies, but Cersei will do anything to protect her children. She talks about the intense pleasure she feels when breastfeeding Joffrey - not at all like Lady MacBeth, who fantasises about pulling a baby off her breast and killing it against the wall.

My final point of comparison between the MacBeths and the Lannisters is that they're all so clearly doomed. It's explicitly spelled out in the prophecies, but it also just permeates the narratives. Jamie and Cersei both think they'll die together, because they were born together. And I can't think of a Shakespeare play which starts with horrifying magical creeps on a stormy night and ends happily. MacBeth kills a king, and in doing so defies social norms and sets a precedent for kings to be killed. He'll never be safe. Jamie participates in a rebellion and lives in a deeply uneasy alliance. He doesn't expect to die peacefully. All of the characters, in their own ways, fight against their awful ends, but it's clear to the audience that they'll never escape.

[thebeesareback]

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes review

Casebook is the most controversial collection in the SH canon, and is widely seen as the worst. For me, its biggest fault - other than the racism - is the inconsistency. Here is a breakdown of the stories and my thoughts.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Client. Straight up, a good story! I would probably put it in my top ten faves. It has some of the better female characters and two characters - Kitty Winters and Shinwell Jonson - who I'd love to see more of. Both are people with murky pasts who work for morality, not legality, and can both be witty and perceptive. I wish they turned up in other stories, because they have loads of potential.

The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier. Again, plenty of potential! I like the idea of SH as a narrator, if it was done well and we got an interesting look inside his thought process. This would be difficult to write, though, and (not for the first time), ACD skips over it.

The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone. It's adapted from a play, and it's not done very well. Again, there's potential... but it's wasted.

The Adventure of the Three Gables. I don't know this story as well as the others because I can't go back to it - it's just so racist. There's nothing interesting here, no commentary. Don't bother. I am a white Brit, so I'm not the best person to comment, and if any POC have thoughts/opinions, please share!

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. Not a fan of the toxic masculinity, def seems a bit racist, too. Plenty of the stories deal with interracial marriages or the clashing of cultures, and almost all do it better than this one.

The Adventure of the Three Garridebs. It's ok! I would have liked to know more about the old man's collection, and there's a tender Watson/Holmes scene. Shame that the old man didn't get a happy ending.

The Problem of Thor Bridge. Like the Sussex Vampire, this story has an interracial marriage and it can come across as a bit stereotyped. Frustratingly, there's a bunch of mentions of other stories which sound far more interesting.

The Adventure of the Creeping Man. Look, if you want to write science-fiction, just commit. I don't know if ACD writing a whole short story collection based on the supernatural would work, but i do believe in putting your whole pussy into things. There's a hint of social commentary, which could be interesting, but ultimately it's hard to concentrate when the plot is just absolutely bonkers. There's plenty more I could say, and maybe one day I'll write a whole post.

The Adventure of the Lion's Mane. A few things: firstly, I associate "lion's mane" with either lions or mushrooms; secondly, this is the latest we see Holmes; it's also narrated by Holmes. Aside from that, it's just a bit forgettable. Nothing amazing. If this will be the last appearance of Holmes, I think it should be more special.

The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger. Again, there's wasted potential: you could do more stories about Holmes in the circus. As it is, the story is pretty forgettable.

The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place. The most interesting thing about this is the antisemitism. As a gentile, I feel I can't really comment, but I think that a depiction of Jewish people as money obsessed and greedy is problematic and unoriginal. Any Jews who have thoughts, please comment!

The Adventure of the Retired Colourman. Not very good. The reader doesn't meet the victims of the crimes and the villain is uninteresting.

[thebeesareback]

[thebeesareback]

I heard that Lucky Strikes were named that because there was a 10% chance of getting a joint

[thebeesareback]

Desiree Burch is going to be performing at a festival I'm attending!

[thebeesareback]

EAT THE MOON

Eat the MOON dude

eat the MOON

I don't gotta explain anything

The objective could not be more clear

get up and

eat the moon

go go GO GO GO

You've always wanted to eat the moon

gO GO GO GO GO GO