While watching "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK", there are moments when I sense a certain lack of patience in Yoda's tutoring of Luke, especially in scenes featuring the cave and the lifting the X-wing fighter from the swamp. Mind you, it's just a feeling.
YOU CAUGHT HIM! Good job, Rush. You finally got your man. But of course there's a lack of patience, Yoda has twenty years of training to teach in, what, half an hour of running time? No, seriously you totally pointed out Yoda's hypocrisy. High five.
It seemed like Yoda was bent on trying to convince Ben that Luke wasn't fit to be a Jedi, and outed him at every opportunity he failed a test. I guess to me, it wasn't really a matter of patience, but more of him lacking faith in Luke.
You have to remember that this is a different experience for Yoda. For eight hundred years, he has trained Jedi and has done so in the traditional manner. That being that they raise young children to become Jedi and have a lifetime of training to go off of. Yoda is having to work with someone who has had only one point of view in his life, which is a life without the Force. Luke is limited by what he knows and this knowledge is what hampers him. This is why Yoda says that Luke must unlearn what he has learned. He must stop thinking as a normal person and start believing he is a Jedi. When it is Luke's turn, he will have had a different point of view by which he would train Leia and any future Jedi. Thus he can better articulate what he went through based on his own experiences and what Yoda said.
I don't see either impatience or a lack of faith in Yoda's approach to Luke - he's simply not coddling him. Students need to be slapped down now & then for being impatient themselves, not listening properly, etc. As for Yoda trying to convince Ben that Luke isn't ready, I've always taken that more as reverse psychology than anything else, to make sure Luke knew what he was in for, and to determine whether or not he really wanted to be a Jedi. There was never any question that Yoda would take him on as a student.
It would be ironic, since Yoda's biggest concern about training Luke is his lack of patience. I counted once how many times Yoda says the word "patience" to Luke leading up to his reveal; "Patience, for the Jedi it is time to eat as well." "Patience, soon you will be with him." "The boy has no patience." etc.
Good point. If Yoda was opposed to the training in the first place then I doubt his patience would be at its highest. Even with commitment there would be a degree of impatience since, as you said, he had to cram twenty years of training into a few months or whatnot.
From what we see, Luke fails every single test, so to me, it makes sense that Yoda's patience is tested. I mean, he's been waiting there for twenty years, and then, when his next apprentice arrives, he must be like: "This guy is supposed to our new hope!? Let's dump this guy and bring in his sister..."
And he's the son of Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi Yoda never trusted, and whom helped to bring Yoda (and the entire rest of the Jedi order) to near total extinction. He probably saw a bit of Anakin in Luke and was very wary because of that. I would in his...er...I would say shoes, but Yoda doesn't wear shoes.
I would be impatient too if I lived in the swamp waiting twenty years for a guy who isn't a good Jedi.
I know, the savior of the galaxy is this random kid, who doesn't have patience and isn't a particularly good at using the force.
Luke was the guy who got his ass handed to him by Vader, and needed Leia, Chewie, and Lando to turn their ship around and head straight back into danger to save him. Quite the reversal, considering he originally came to save THEM. Granted this was before he got wiser by ROTJ, but still...
I agree, there is a hint of impatience there. He gets pretty ratty with him pretty quickly considering the circumstances. I've always found it a bit odd how Yoda and Obiwan sit around and watch Luke grow up for 20 years and then have a barney about whether or not to train him or not and then Yoda seeming to be doing it somewhat under sufferance at times.
This is a very good explanation about the limits of Yoda's patience. But I cannot see it as an excuse.
Could you image if Luke got all" hell bent" once he found out Vader was his father? How about if in RotJ he came back to hunt Yoda down for his "certain point of view" ramblings?