associated with the liver; and Graziano is suggesting that he would rather be like the drunken and carefree reveler instead of a sober, somber, sad, and serious individual. Love and sadness were often connected to the heart – especially the experience of unrequited or unreturnedlove.
In his speech, Graziano explains that there are too many overly serious individuals in society who always seem to be unhappy and whose visages or faces “do cream and mantle like a standing pond” (89).Inother words, such individuals have hard and ugly expressions. Graziano is, in a sense, warning Antonio not to become like one of these men. Graziano goes even one step further in discussing the faults of being overly serious. He asserts that such men appear to be wise by continually frowning and keeping silent. But, if they were to speak, other people would then realize how such men are actually quite foolish. Graziano asserts that such men go around acting as if they were “Sir Oracle” (93).Inancient Greek times an oracle was a priest or priestess who would speak for the gods and deliver their serious judgments in regards to the acts of mankind. Graziano's metaphor indicates that these overly serious men, then, act as if they have the wisdom of the gods and are ready to deliver harsh and cruel judgments on those aroundthem.
Shakespeare frequently in his comedies commented on the qualities ofwitandfoolishnessthrough his fools or clowns (such asFesteinTwelfthNight).Shakespeareassertedthatoftenin