a small present for someone
I have a little gift for you, this book.Suddenly, Last Summer · 1959 — 第 18 / 27 章 · 3'11" · B2
Violet Shows the Death Certificate, Explained：taken a vow
Mrs. Venable offers the doctor her son's book of poems, one written each summer, and only admits he died when pressed. "There was no letter, only a death certificate," she says, while offering to fund the operation and give Catherine's doctor permission to cut. The scene is a gift that works like a bribe.
あらすじ
At her home, Violet Venable gives Dr. Cukrowicz a volume called 'Poem of Summer,' one poem her son Sebastian wrote each summer they traveled. She speaks of him as if he were still alive, then admits he died the summer before. Asked how he died, she says a heart attack; asked for proof, she mentions a death certificate and promises to add her permission for the operation.
注目の表現
hard to delivertraveled togetherdeath certificateI must say
00:00 / 03:11Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
いま
このシーンの表現
taken a vow
made a solemn promise
Mrs. Venable compares her son's chastity to a solemn vow, proud and possessive at once.
He had taken a vow never to touch a drop.
このシーンの他の表現
- hard to deliver
hard to produce or birth
- traveled together
went on trips together
- death certificate
official proof of death
- I must say
I have to admit
- personal life
private life
このシーンのメモ一覧
59 行のセリフに 22 件のメモ
and so do the rest
That volume contains only one poem, as do the others I have.inversion after as: As do the others inverts the order to mean the other volumes are the same.
That volume contains only one poem, as do the others I have.conditional clause: A present-tense if-clause sets the condition and the main clause takes will.
If you like that one, I'll bring the others.merely groundwork
The other nine months of the year were really only a preparation.hard to produce or birth
The doctor picks up the pregnancy image and says the poem must have been hard to deliver.
I gather the poem was hard to deliver.in my absence
Even with me. Without me, impossible.in what precise way
Mrs. Venable, how exactly did your son die?Did your runs together, close to 'did-jer'.
Mrs. Venable, how exactly did your son die?a cardiac arrest
I told you, a heart attack.is that the claim
Is that what the letter said?The in what the weakens to a quick 'thuh'.
Is that what the letter said?fail to recall
She can't remember.you will receive it
You shall have it tomorrow.surely already suspected
- He must have suspected... - Mrs. Venable.private life
The doctor probes Sebastian's private life in careful words, touching the one subject she guards.
What sort of personal life did he have?Sort of often reduces to 'sorta' with the t dropped.
What sort of personal life did he have?made a solemn promise
Mrs. Venable compares her son's chastity to a solemn vow, proud and possessive at once.
As strictly as if he'd taken a vow. This sounds like vanity, doctor...as if clause: As if introduces a non-factual comparison, so the past perfect marks it as imagined.
As strictly as if he'd taken a vow. This sounds like vanity, doctor...again and again
Time after time, he'd let people go, dismiss them...would you like to
Would you want to see Catherine?leave someone waiting
Surely you've kept the lawyer waiting before.「Violet Shows the Death Certificate」を読み解く
What's really going on
Violet Venable does not merely remember her son; she has built a shrine to him. Every summer produced one poem, she explains, and the other nine months were 'only a preparation,' the length of a pregnancy — a metaphor she uses about a grown man, which tells you how she sees him. The gift of the book and the offer of a building and an operating permit arrive in the same breath, a mother buying the doctor's loyalty. When he asks about Sebastian's personal life, she insists he was chaste, 'as strictly as if he'd taken a vow,' and tests the doctor: 'You don't believe me, do you?' The death certificate she finally promises stands in for everything she will not say about how her son really died.
Theme
SecretsA mother offers gifts and a permit while steering the doctor away from how her son actually died.
Family loveViolet's devotion to Sebastian is so absolute it reshapes the truth into a summer poem.
このチャプターで学べること
- Official words can shut a question down faster than anger.
- A vow is invoked here to make possession sound holy.
- The poem count is really an argument about who mattered.
- Chastity is offered as evidence, and it does not hold.
発音のポイント
- did your son — Did your runs together, close to 'did-jer'.
- what the — The in what the weakens to a quick 'thuh'.
- sort of — Sort of often reduces to 'sorta' with the t dropped.
That was his last summer's poem.Violet turns her son's death into his final poem, refusing to separate his art from his life — or to admit she failed to protect him.
There was no letter, only a death certificate.The proof of Sebastian's death is a bare official form. Violet has no account of his last days to offer the doctor.
You don't believe me, do you?Violet challenges the doctor directly. She knows her claim of Sebastian's purity sounds strange and dares him to doubt it.
Surely you've kept the lawyer waiting before.The doctor neatly turns her own busy schedule against her, implying she can make time for Catherine if she chooses.
このシーンについての質問
Why does Mrs. Venable give the doctor the book of poems?
She wants him to understand her son as she does — a poet of rare purity — and to enlist him in protecting Sebastian's memory before he treats Catherine.
Why does she claim Sebastian was chaste?
She insists he was pure and untouched, calling him 'as strictly as if he'd taken a vow.' It protects an image of her son that the doctor has begun to question.
What does the death certificate reveal?
It records that Sebastian died of a heart attack, though the official form says little. The doctor still doesn't know what happened that summer — only that Violet has no letter to back it up.
Why does the doctor keep asking about Sebastian's death?
He is deciding whether to operate on Catherine. To judge her mind, he needs to know what she witnessed and why the family is so guarded.
Is Mrs. Venable helping Catherine?
She agrees to fund the hospital and permit the operation, but the timing suggests it is part of a bargain tied to her son's story, not pure generosity.
去年の夏 突然に · 全 27 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 19 章objects for your pleasureCatherine Confronts Aunt Violet
第 1 章command performanceA Doctor, a Letter, and Money
第 2 章goddess from the machineMrs. Venable Meets Dr. Cukrowicz
第 3 章not unlikeMrs. Venable Shows the Garden
第 4 章mad as a hatterViolet Talks About Her Dead Son
第 5 章at one's wits' endViolet Describes Catherine's Madness
第 6 章in the image ofMrs. Venable Tells the Turtle Story
第 7 章my lips are sealedThe Hollys Come for Sebastian's Clothes
第 8 章inherit the earthMrs. Venable's Empty Chair
第 9 章bossed and bulliedThe Doctor Interviews Catherine
第 10 章to be usedCatherine on Love as Use
第 11 章make a sceneCatherine Recalls the Mardi Gras Ball
第 12 章burn upCatherine Relives the Burning Beach
第 13 章no strings attachedHockstader Shows Off the Million
第 14 章go through probateThe Hollys Visit Catherine
第 15 章go off your rockerCatherine Learns It's a Lobotomy
第 16 章all of a suddenCatherine Asks Where They'll Cut
第 17 章on the menuCatherine on Sebastian's Appetites
再生中 · 第 18 章taken a vowViolet Shows the Death Certificate
第 19 章objects for your pleasureCatherine Confronts Aunt Violet
第 20 章the other way aroundDoctor Fights to Delay the Surgery
第 21 章godforsakenMrs. Venable and the Sealed Coffin
第 22 章have to do withThe Doctor Hypnotizes Catherine
第 23 章third personCatherine Tells the True Story
第 24 章give someone awayViolet Explains the Spider's Web
第 25 章procureCatherine on Procuring for Sebastian
第 26 章fatal errorCatherine Recalls the Beach Children
第 27 章find a way outCatherine Tells How Sebastian Died第 18 / 27 章 · 残り約 29 分