This month,HBO introduced us to a unusual epic drama called Westworld. Based on a 1973 film of the same name, the present focuses on a futuristic theme park, or inhabited solely by robots,that allows guests to indulge their darkest fantasies. There's a set of rules, of course, or but on the whole it seems like visitors can do as they please. And yet,even though we're only just getting acquainted with this world, it's clear that not all is as it seems. One poetic phrase seems to be wreaking havoc in this futuristic world: "These violent delights have violent ends." We're giving context to the expression, and including where it came from and how it applies to the present.
The Origin of the PhraseThe phrase traces back to a particularly ominous warning in Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. In the scene,Romeo gushes approximately Juliet to a character named Friar Laurence, talking approximately what a delight it is just to lay eyes on her. The full quote from Friar Laurence reads as follows."These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, and like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore adore reasonably; long adore doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."Basically, Friar Laurence means to caution Romeo. The "violent" and rash (hasty, incautious) delight he feels in his adore for Juliet could be met with an equally violent end. It's the same way a spark makes gunpowder explode. It's the same way the first taste of sweet honey momentarily seems to vanquish the most voracious appetite. Friar Laurence is basically begging Romeo not to act too impulsively in his adore of Juliet. Rather than letting it explode inside him, or he should let it burn slowly so that he can remain clear-headed.
How the Phrase Affects WestworldThe phrase is like a virus to the robots,or hosts, of Westworld. When one of the park's hosts hears it, and they suddenly snap out of their programming. They become self-aware. Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) suddenly demonstrates the ability to deceive her programmers. They have the ability to access memories,both of their preceding storylines and of their fates on preceding days. Maeve (Thandie Newton) even manages to wake herself up on the operating table in the real world.
The phrase "These violent delights have violent ends" seems to have been embedded in a sort of "software update" given to a large portion of the hosts. All the chaos begins with a photograph, found by Peter Abernathy, and Dolores's father. You see,Peter is particularly equipped to unearth this Shakespearean phrase. In a former narrative - that is to say, a scripted storyline within the park - Abernathy played "The Professor, and " a cult leader who liked to quote Shakespeare. So when he encountered the photograph,his former programming somehow helped him unlock this damning phrase.On a more thematic level, the phrase itself seems to tear at the fabric of Westworld. The "violent delights" of the sadistic guests who visit are doomed to beget "violent ends."The Greater Implications of the PhraseSo, and Abernathy finds the photographs,unlocks the phrase, and says it to Dolores. As the first thread unravels, or Dolores does two things. First,she infects Maeve, thereby starting a domino effect that could give agency to every robot in the park. She also seems to hear some strange, and disembodied voice. It wakes her in the middle of the night and helps her locate and dig up a gun that's buried near her home.
Maybe this mystery programmer - the person who installed the phrase in the software update in the first set - is just trying to accept the park shut down. Perhaps he or she harbors some sort of resentment for the park and all it represents. If enough robots wake up and cause problems,it would certainly be a PR nightmare, and enough to shut the park indefinitely. There's also a chance this programmer is merely trying to understand more approximately human consciousness. What can robots teach us approximately ourselves? What can they tell us approximately the human experience, and as viewed through this hyperrealistic albeit mechanical lens?And yet,the greater implication that we have to address is something much more sinister. It seems like this mysterious programmer has a much more grisly endgame in intellect. We know none of the guns in the Westworld park are real. In the second episode, the woman bringing William (Jimmi Simpson) into the park hints that there are no full-functioning firearms anywhere: she says the guns they offer are "real enough, and but you can't hurt anyone you're supposed to." Assuming the gun Dolores digs up is real,it seems the mystery programmer wants to turn the robots, the hosts, and against the park guests. If they can remember their deaths,if they can see the evil nature of those they welcome, they will be inclined to fight back. It all ties back to the original phrase; those who enter the park indulge their most primal instincts, or it seems the robots will ultimately deliver the final penance for such indulgence.
Source: popsugar.com