O this learning, what a thing it is!
-William Shakespeare
Well-known Facts about Will
• Born April, 1564 in Stratford on Avon
• Parents John & Mary Shakespeare
• Grammar school education
• Married Anne Hathaway Nov. 28, 1582
• had three children- Susanna, 1583 and
twins Hamnet & Judith, 1585
• The Lost Years, 1585-1592: There is no
record of Shakespeare’s activities between
these years.
Well-known Facts about Will
• Shakespeare relocates to London sometime after
the birth of the twins.
• 1592-94 theaters closed due to the Black Plague
Shakespeare used this time to write
sonnets which were published in 1609
• Bought a share of the company Lord
Chamberlain’s Men- a good investment
Lesser-known Facts
•
•
-Plays not published until 7 years after his death
•
-Plagiarist
•
-2nd most quoted (huge body of work!), after the Bible
Sound familiar?
“Eaten out of house and home”
“Cruel to be kind”
“Knock,/knock! Who’s there?”
“Too much of a good thing”
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be”
“Something wicked this way comes”
“To thine own self be true”
“ A tower of strength”
“tongue-tied”
“seen better days”
“that is the long and short of it”
“a sorry sight”
“method in the madness”
“it smells to heaven”
“flesh and blood”
“dead as a door-nail”
“a laughing stock”
“neither rhyme nor reason”
“suspect foul play”
“vanished into thin air”
“slept not one wink”
“be that as it may”
“It’s Greek to me”
“live in a fool’s paradise”
“it is high time”
“one fell swoop”
“full circle”
“the world is your oyster”
Will
• Shakespeare’s language
– Beautiful lines and phrases
– Contribution to English language
• Shakespeare’s understanding of the human
condition
– We still relate to his characters
– To understand his plays is to understand what is
most important about human beings and life
Will
• Bawdy humor- sexual innuendo and potty jokes
• The supernatural- ghosts, demons, witches
• Intense action & violence- sword fights, blood and
gore, stabbings, poisonings, strangulation,
beheadings, dismemberment. . .
• Powerful emotion-Anger, vengeance, greed, jealousy,
ambition, love, romance, fears, hopes, sorrow,
laughter . . .
...
The Globe Theatre
•
•
•
•
•
Built in 1599
The most magnificent theater in London
Shakespeare was 1/5 owner
He earned 10% of the total profit
The Bard retired to Stratford around 1613 and lived on
the profits he earned from the Globe
Elizabethan Theatre
Spectators
Shakespearean Drama
• All three share the following:
– Written in blank verse
– Contain soliloquies, asides, rhetorical devices, and dramatic
irony
Shakespearean Drama
a play that chronicles the life
of an English monarch.
often regarded as Tudor propaganda
biased criticism of their own country
Earl career
Shakespearean Drama
– a play that ends happily and that usually contains
humorous elements
 struggles of young lovers
separation and re-unification
mistaken identities
clever servants
family tensions
multiple, intertwining plots
end with a wedding
Early career/late career shifts back to romance
Shakespearean Drama
• Drama where the central
character, the
, suffers
disaster/great misfortune
– In many tragedies, downfall results
from
• Fate
• Character flaw/Fatal flaw/
• Combination of the two
Shakespearean Drama
Qualities of the
:
• Possess importance or high
rank
• Exhibits extraordinary
talents
• Displays a
:
an error in judgment or defect in
character that contributes to
downfall
Monologue
• A speech given by one character on stage,
usually spoken to another character
Soliloquy
• a long speech given by a character alone
on stage to reveal his or her private
thoughts.
"Alas, poor Yorick!”
Aside
• a quiet remark to the audience or
another character that no one else on
stage is supposed to hear.
Will says . . .
Our doubts are traitors, and make
us lose the good we oft might win
by fearing to attempt.
~ William Shakespeare
But, for my
own part, it
was Greek to
me!
Reading Shakespeare
What the heck is this guy talking about?!
ShakeSpeare’S Language
Why is it so hard to understand?
• We speak Modern English
• Elizabethan’s spoke Early Modern English
• Many words have changed or been lost
Elizabethan Words to Know
•
An, And
If
•
Hie
Hurry
•
Anon
Soon
•
Hither
Here
•
Aye
Yes
•
Marry
Indeed
•
But
Except for
•
Whence
When
•
Haply
Perhaps
•
Wilt
Will, will you
•
Happy
Fortunate
•
Withal
In addition to
•
Hence
Away, from here •
Would
Wish
ShakeSpeare’S Language
Why is it so hard to understand?
• Shakespeare had an extensive
vocabulary (about 30,000 words!)
and even created words (about
2,000!) that we still use today.
Shakes. Wordsto name a few!
critical
aggravate
reliance
countless
monumental
obscene
forefathers
frugal
hurry majestic
homicide
summit
bedroom
fashionable
lackluster
moonbeam
outbreak
puking
zany
worthless
varied
undress
skim milk
submerge
eyeball
laughable
luggage mimic
assassination
Poetry vs. Prose
• Dialogue in Shakespeare’s plays is presented
in either poetry or prose form.
– Pay attention to the form of characters’ speech,
because it can give you information about that
character’s importance or rank.
• Important or noble characters tend to speak in poetry.
• Less-important or lower-ranking characters tend to
speak in prose.
• In special situations, a high-ranking character may
speak in prose or a low-ranking character may speak in
poetry.
ShakeSpeare’S Language
Why is it so hard to understand?
Poetry
• We speak in prose (language without
metrical structure).
• Shakespeare wrote both prose and
verse (poetic language and style).
• So, it is important that you
understand these and the following
terms:
ShakeSpeare’S poetry
Why is it so hard to understand?
• Iambic pentameter- 70%!
a pattern of rhythm (meter) of five beats of
alternating unstressed and stressed syllables; ten
syllables per line.
• 'So fair / and foul / a day / I have / not seen'
• 'The course / of true / love nev/er did / run
smooth'
ShakeSpeare’S poetry
Why is it so hard to understand?
Poetic dialogue may be either blank verse or rhymed
verse.
*Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Brabantio: This accident is not unlike my dream.
Sometimes, a line of blank verse is divided between
two or more characters.
Iago: Are your doors locked?
Brabantio:
this?
Why? Wherefore ask you
Shakespeare’s Use of Poetry
Rhymed dialogue is usually written in iambic
pentameter. Rhymes may occur at the ends of
alternating lines, or at the ends of two lines next to
each other (called a couplet).
• Rhymed dialogue may focus on love or other
strong feelings.
• A rhymed couplet may summarize, foreshadow,
or dramatically close a scene.
ˇ ´ ˇ ´ ˇ ´ ˇ ´ˇ ´
ˇ face´mustˇhide´ whatˇthe´falseˇ heart´ dothˇknow.´
False
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
Shakespeare’s Use of Prose
• Prose lacks a consistent rhythm and sounds
like ordinary speech.
– Shakespeare usually used prose for common
characters. Notice the lack of consistent
rhythm in the porter’s speech from Macbeth.
• Porter. Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were
porter of hell gate, he should have old° turning the
key. (Knock.) Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’
th’ name of Beelzebub? ° Here’s a farmer, that
hanged himself on th’ expectation of plenty. . . .
(Knock.) Knock, Knock! Who’s there, in th’ other
devils name? . . . (Knock.) Anon, anon! (Opens an
entrance.) I pray you, remember the porter.
– °have old: grown old
°Beelzebub: the Devil.
Shakespeare’s Use of Prose
– Noble characters who usually speak in poetry may
lapse into prose to signal a change in tone, attitude,
or emotion.
• In Act V of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, overwhelmed
by guilt and madness, speaks in prose.
• Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One:
two: why, then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie,
my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our pow’r
to accompt?° Yet who would have thought the old
man to have had so much blood in him?
• °to accompt: into account.
ShakeSpeare’S poetry
Why is it so hard to understand?
• Unusual word order
I ate the sandwich.
Ate I the sandwich.
I the sandwich ate.
The sandwich I ate.
Ate the sandwich I.
The sandwich ate I.
• Did people actually talk this way?!
• Why can’t he just say it the
normal way?!
Unusual Word Order
Shakespeare uses
to create a specific poetic rhythm or rhyme
to give a character a specific speech pattern
to emphasize a certain word, action, emotion
Tips for deciphering
unusual word order
• Find the
sentence
• Find the
sentence
of the
Subject/Verb/Object
=
Doer/Action/Receiver =
of the
• Find the
sentence
rearrange the
sentence to make it
easier to understand
Who/Did What/To Whom?
Ate I the sandwich.
of the
I the sandwich ate.
The sandwich I ate.
Ate the sandwich I.
The sandwich ate I.
I ate the sandwich.
ShakeSpeare’S poetry
Why is it so hard to understand?
• Omissions/Contractions
Again, for the sake of his poetry,
Shakespeare often left out letters,
syllables, and whole words.
These omissions really aren't that
much different from the way we speak
today.
• Let’s take a
Omissions/Contractions
A few examples of Shakespearean
omissions/contractions:
'tis
~ it is
i'
~ in
ope ~ open
e'er ~ ever
o'er ~ over
oft
~ often
gi'
a'
~ he
~ give
ne'er ~ never
e'en ~ even
Omissions/Contractions
• We say:
"Been to class yet?"
"No. Heard Maczuga's givin' a pop quiz."
"Wha'sup wi'that?"
• We leave out words and parts of words to speed
up our speech. If we were speaking in complete
sentences, we would say:
"Have you been to class yet?"
"No, I have not been to class. I have heard that
Miss Maczuga is giving a pop quiz today."
"What is up with that?"
What else will
can be
you
do to
Shakespeare
some
of “decode”
the most difficult
Shakespeare’s language?
reading you will ever attempt.
BE PATIENT!
HERE ARE SOME OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO
TO BETTER UNDERSTAND. . .
What else can you do to “decode” Shakespeare’s
language?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Read the introduction
Read everything at least twice
Try reading aloud
Imagine that you are acting the part: what are
you telling the audience?
5. Keep a list of characters
6. Let the punctuation guide your reading.
– Do not pause or stop at the end of a line
unless
you see punctuation there.
– Do pause or stop for punctuation that
occurs in the
middle of a line.
7. Read the footnotes!!!
What else can you do to “decode” Shakespeare’s language?
8. Watch for archaic words—words that are no longer commonly
used in modern English.
Hither, thither, whither mean “to here,” “to there,” and “to
where.”
9. Note how Shakespeare uses the pronouns thou and thee, and
ye and you.
Th– forms were used in talking to one person who was an
intimate friend or to a person of a lower of rank.
Y– forms were used in talking to several persons, to one
person who was a social equal but not an intimate friend, or
to a person of higher rank.
10. Paraphrase Shakespeare’s language using your own words.
What else can you do to “decode”
Shakespeare’s language?
*If you can’t understand a
particular passage, it’s probably
about sex.
*Always remember you are reading
play scripts that are intended to be
spoken, not read silently. Imagine
how the scene would look and what
the actors would be doing!
ShakeSpeare’S poetry
Why is it so hard to understand?
• What else can you do to “decode”
Shakespeare’s language?
Reading Journals
I wonder,
why did she
say that?
What the
heck
does that
mean?
OK! Now
I get it!
Meet Othello (1.2.)
in
We see Othello for the first time
this scene:
• Is he what you thought he would be?
• Is he respected by his associates?
• How do you know?
• What contrasts are there between the way
Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio have described
Othello and the way he looks and behaves
when he actually appears?
Meet Othello (1.2)
• Do you notice basic differences in attitude
between Cassio and Iago in their short
conversation following Othello’s exit (lines 50-54)?
• Why is Brabantio convinced that
Othello must have used witchcraft
on his daughter? Why does he
have difficulty believing his
daughter could run to Othello’s
“sooty bosom”?