How to get to the heart of Shakespeare’s language
MACBETH * Create a 140-character TWEET: 801-205-0135
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes.
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Keys to Performing Shakespeare
Know WHAT you are saying
 Know WHY you are saying it
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If you do the above in detail then...
 The HOW will care of itself
The focus in text analysis is
knowing:

The meaning of the words individually
and together (including definitions, historical allusions,
poetic language, imagery, etc.)
The overall dramatic context for what is
spoken
 The specific dramatic circumstances
that result in the words
 The inflection and use of the words and
punctuation

Let’s practice together!
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O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! ah, fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead! Nay, not so much, not two.
So excellent a king, that was to this
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember?
Here’s your reminder of the steps
you take in textual analysis:
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Know the chronology of the play and what
leads up to your piece
Look up the meanings of unfamiliar words
Examine language for repetition, opposites,
lists, etc.
Use the punctuation and identify the
operative words
Divide the piece into idea beats or phrases
Consider acting transitions between
beats/phrases
What do I do with my text?
Go through the exact same process we
just did together as a class – follow the
steps to translate and score your piece.
 Use your notecards to write your text
beat/phrase by beat/phrase.
 Write the beat/phrase translation on the
back of the card.
 Go through the text and begin to mark
punctuation, operative words, etc.
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