Trying too hard to make it naughty.
by
sugar_k
06/17/2009, 5:44 PM #
The key line in "I would not have it grow on my chin" is neither "chin" nor "my", it's "grow".
If she emphasizes "chin", then she's implying she wants it to grow somewhere else... but wouldn't she already have that "beard"? If not, then she's prepubescent, which introduces a creepy note that doesn't work with the sweetness and light of the story. If she's prepubescent, then so is her twin Sebastian, and are we really expected to believe that Olivia would fall in love with an underage boy?
If she emphasizes "my", then she's saying she wishes it would grow on someone else's chin. But... in that case she's sick for a beard that doesn't exist. Makes no sense.
If she emphasizes "grow" then she brings into question what else a beard could do. It could rest on her chin. If she emphasized both "grow" and "chin" then that beard could do anything at all, and the more childish minds could still have their dirty joke.
But really, I think trying too hard to make Shakespeare transgressive (it's secretly gay! no, it's transgendered!) is just as silly and childish as bowdlerizing.