An interview to Oscar Wilde, Alexandre Dumas and William Shakespeare

Interviewer: Good evening to our dear audience. Today, in our first program of “What do you think about…?” We have Oscar Wilde, Alexandre Dumas and William Shakespeare as guests. Today’s program theme is “Interpersonal Relationships in Modern Times”. Turning now to our guests, tell me, what do you think of today’s society in contrast to the last century?

William Shakespeare: Today, “life is a tale told by an idiot; full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Interviewer: Nothing? And why is that?

Oscar Wilde: I will be able to give you an answer. You see, the point is that “to live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.“
Interviewer: What you are saying, Mr. Wilde, is true. It can be seen in the fact that human relationships have become superfluous.

Alexandre Dumas: It is an unfortunate thing. “When you compare the sorrows of real life with the pleasures of the imagination, you never want to live again, but to dream forever.”

Interviewer: What do you think about the friendship bond, as such, that unites people today?

William Shakespeare: “In friendship, as in love, we are often happier through our ignorance than our knowledge.”
Interviewer: Does everyone think the same? Do you think it is necessary to live deceived about the essence of the other person for a relationship to work?

Alexandre Dumas: “All human wisdom is contained in these two words; wait and hope.”

Interviewer: So you disagree with Mr. Shakespeare.
Alexander Dumas: I never said that people should be trusted.

Interviewer: I understand. But there are treu friendships that last a lifetime. They are few, but they exist. Friendship is as rare as romantic love. What do you think about the latter? What happens when intense love comes into a person’s life?

Alexandre Dumas: “When unbridled love enters the heart, it gnaws away at all other feelings; it lives at the expense of honour, faith and the word given.”

Interviewer: And that generates suffering.

William Shakespeare: Sure, but it is not love’s fault, but of our choice of the loved object. Often, when we have someone who makes us happy, we are the ones who cause the evil. “People often screw things up trying to make them better.”

Oscar Wilde: Exactly. And that is our punishment. “Man can bear misfortunes that are accidental and come from outside But suffer from his own faults, that is the nightmare of life.”

Alexandre Dumas: “Moral wounds have this peculiarity, they may be hidden, but they never close. Always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart“

William Shakespeare: I agree. “Anyone can master suffering, except the one who feels it.”

Interviewer: And what can be done to avoid making such mistakes?

Oscar Wilde: First of all, “be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

William Shakespeare: And for that, “to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Oscar Wilde: Second, “never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.”

Alexandre Dumas: We must not forget this other point as well. “If you give the impression of needing anything, you will get nothing; to make a fortune you must appear to be rich.”

Interviewer: Which would translate into not being desperate to get someone’s affection. And how not to be corroded by pain? What do you think about the revenge of those who have suffered for love?

Alexandre Dumas: “When a man decides to take revenge, he must first rip the heart out of his chest.” ” Hatred is blind, rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught.”

Oscar Wilde: There is no point in taking revenge.

William Shakespeare: I don’t know if you’re right, Wilde. “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

Interviewer: In case of infidelities, do you think, Mr. Shakespeare, that they should be forgiven?

William Shakespeare: Not at all. “Nothing emboldens sin as much as mercy“. I would give my life to defend this truth.

Oscar Wilde: Dear William, “A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.”

William Shakespeare: I’ll die anyway!

Oscar Wilde: In the same way that Juliet died?

William Shakespeare: Yes! In the same way that Juliet died!

Interviewer: Men today are hesitant when it comes to courting a woman. What do you think about it?

Alexandre Dumas: That is pure insecurity. “A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.” Or perhaps it is ignorance, which is the same thing.“Life is so uncertain, that happiness must be seized the moment it presents itself.”

William Shakespeare: Exactly, you have to take risks to get what you want. “Fate is the one that shuffles the cards, but we are the ones we play.”

Interviewer: Do you have anything to add, Mr. Wilde?

Oscar Wilde: “I am convinced that in the beginning God made a different world for each man, and that it is in that world, which is within ourselves, where we should try to live.”

Interviewer: Thank you all three for your presence.

William Shakespeare: You’re welcome.

Oscar Wilde: You’re welcome.

Alexandre Dumas: You’re welcome.

Interviewer (To the public): We will meet again when we manage to fix an appointment with our next guests. Enjoy the rest of the evening.