By Margaret Edson Reviewed by Kenny Brechner Certain words shift easily between positive and negative connotations, particularly words dealing with intellection. No one can fail to sense the shift in connotation from the phrase, he easily discriminates good wine from bad, to the phrase, he regularly discriminates against people. The shift in connotation indicates an underlying ambivalence commonly felt toward the rational faculty, the sense that intellection is somehow an escape from humanity and feelings. Nothing makes this point clearer than the exceptionally diffuse sentiments and interpretation surrounding the word wit.
Wit can easily attach itself to a myriad of connotations.
It can be snide, sublime, cynical, penetrating, escapist, stark, cynical, delightful, and so forth. Wit follows the life of the meaningfully named Professor of English, Vivian Bearing. Bearing has dedicated her life to wit, specifically in the form of studying the Holy Sonnets of John Dunne, some of the most abstruse poems ever penned. Bearing is a representation of a human capacity rather than an actual person. She has nothing but wit, no friends, no family, no personal attachments, no life beyond academia.