deeply impressed by
I was struck by something you said in the paper.Suddenly, Last Summer · 1959 — 第 4 / 27 章 · 4'16" · C1
Violet Talks About Her Dead Son, Explained：mad as a hatter
Violet Venable welcomes a young surgeon and turns the conversation into a seduction of sympathy. She flatters him, mentions her mad niece Catherine, then walks him to her dead son's studio and speaks of him as an artist: "quiet desperation is the word for most lives. But ours were different." The charm is the trap.
あらすじ
At her New Orleans mansion, Violet Venable receives Dr. Cukrowicz. She praises his newspaper words as 'almost poetic,' tells him her niece Catherine is shut up at St. Mary's and 'mad as a hatter,' and shows him her dead son's studio. There she describes Sebastian and herself as a famous pair whose days were carved like sculpture, unlike ordinary lives.
注目の表現
carried awaypoeticcustodial homemad as a hatter
00:00 / 04:16Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
いま
このシーンの表現
mad as a hatter
completely crazy
Right after the clinical term, she drops mad as a hatter and then adds poor child, mixing contempt with thin pity.
His family thought he was mad as a hatter for sailing alone.
このシーンの他の表現
- carried away
overly swept up
- poetic
like poetry
- custodial home
a care institution
- dedicated to
devoted to
- abhorred
hated intensely
このシーンのメモ一覧
81 行のセリフに 23 件のメモ
The k of struck runs into by as one burst.
I was struck by something you said in the paper.slightly
I'm afraid I got a bit carried away.equally experimental
But we need help, particularly in a field as experimental as mine.as...as comparison: As experimental as mine compares his field to hers for equal experimental risk.
But we need help, particularly in a field as experimental as mine.a publicly funded hospital
Particularly at a state hospital like Lions View.almost nothing
We have very little money, practically none.a niece through marriage
...I have a niece by marriage...For the weakens and links into fuh-thuh.
It's a custodial home for the insane.the poor thing — Pity or faint condescension, depending on tone.
Which is to say, she's mad as a hatter, poor child.what was once
It's at the end of the jungle in what used to be the garçonnière.every last bit
Because I must use every inch and ounce of what little strength I have...a monument honouring someone
Building a memorial to my son.relative clause: The that-clause explains where the false values come from.
He abhorred the false values that come from being publicly known...he would — Spoken contraction; keep it out of formal writing.
He'd say to me, "Violet, Mother, you're going to live longer than me.whatever-clause: The whatever-clause is the object of do, leaving the choice entirely open.
When I'm gone, it will be yours to do whatever you please with."devoted to
She calls the doctor dedicated to his art, and in the next breath slides from healing to using people.
...are dedicated to your art.long trails of waste
...what are they but trails of debris?The s of trails slides straight into of.
...what are they but trails of debris?I suppose — Softens a claim in speech; avoid it in formal writing.
I guess...the right term for
...quiet desperation is the word for most lives.a sculpture
Each day, we would carve each day like a piece of sculpture.left in the past
We left behind us a trail of days...「Violet Talks About Her Dead Son」を読み解く
What's really going on
The scene is a long, elegant seduction. Violet wants the doctor to operate on Catherine, but she never asks directly; she flatters him, compares him to her dead son, and shows him the studio where Sebastian worked. Her language turns people into art: 'Using people the way he did. Grandly, creatively. Almost like God.' The doctor answers, 'I'm afraid my art is to help. Not to use, but to be used.' That exchange is the whole conflict in miniature — she treats others as material, he refuses to. When she calls ordinary life 'trails of debris' and says most lives are 'quiet desperation,' she reveals a world view that justifies almost anything. And the title line lands here: 'until suddenly, last summer.'
Theme
DeceptionViolet flatters the doctor and shows off her son's studio to steer him toward a surgery he has not agreed to.
Death & griefHer worship of Sebastian and contempt for ordinary lives turn her mourning into something dangerous.
このチャプターで学べること
- She grades other lives as debris to feel rare.
- Money arrives wrapped in a memorial.
- Complimenting the doctor is praising her son.
- The niece is mentioned, never visited.
発音のポイント
- struck by — The k of struck runs into by as one burst.
- home for the — For the weakens and links into fuh-thuh.
- trails of — The s of trails slides straight into of.
- You're very like him, doctor. - In what way?Violet tells the doctor he resembles her dead son, a flattering hook. His puzzled reply shows he does not yet see where the compliment is leading.
...what are they but trails of debris?Her view of ordinary lives: nothing but scattered rubbish. It sets up the idea that only she and Sebastian lived as artists.
...quiet desperation is the word for most lives.Her definition of most people's existence, borrowed from Thoreau. She uses it to flatter herself and the doctor as exceptions.
I'm afraid my art is to help.The doctor's quiet rebuttal to her talk of using people: his work is to heal, not to consume. It marks their moral difference.
このシーンについての質問
Why does Violet want to see the doctor?
She is planning a foundation in memory of her son Sebastian, and she is interested in the doctor's experimental surgery. Her real aim is to have him treat her niece Catherine.
Who is Catherine, and what is wrong with her?
Catherine is Violet's niece by marriage, kept at St. Mary's, a custodial home. Violet says she has dementia praecox and is 'mad as a hatter,' though the doctor questions the label.
What does "mad as a hatter" mean?
It means completely insane. The phrase comes from hatmakers, who once worked with mercury and were rumoured to go mad, so a 'mad hatter' became a byword for craziness.
How does Violet describe her son Sebastian?
As a poet who refused fame, hated false values, and lived as her partner. She says they were a famous couple whose days were carved like sculpture, unlike ordinary lives.
What does the doctor say about his work?
He says his art is to help, not to use people, and that he would rather be used than use others. It is a direct answer to Violet's praise of using people 'almost like God.'
去年の夏 突然に · 全 27 章
すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 5 章at one's wits' endViolet Describes Catherine's Madness
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
再生中 · 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
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 4 / 27 章 · 残り約 77 分