Why Is Shakespeare Important?

https://youtu.be/nIZ_eq0vLfc

 Poetry & Rhythm

o Teaches us how to find the poetry and rhythm in our natural speech and

more contemporary scripts.

o Rhythm makes your acting more exciting.

 Importance of Language

o How language can tell a story and express the things that are hard to say.

 Understanding People

o Shakespeare shows us their inner thoughts and feelings.

o Understanding people and their feelings makes us better actors.

 Performing Shakespeare

o Many professional theatres, community theatres, and even high schools

produce Shakespeare’s plays. Learning it now will prepare you for those

opportunities.

o Acting in Shakespearean plays teaches the kind of imagination an actor

needs both on stage or on a film set.

 How do we do it?
The Basics:
 Iambic Pentameter and Notations
o Iambic Pentameter sounds scary, but it’s just a fancy way of saying that
there is a rhythm in the lines.
o There are five iambs of two-syllable beats with the second beat stressed.

But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

o Notating can be helpful not only to understanding meaning, but also to
find the iambs and scan for where Shakespeare breaks his own rules.
 Punctuation
o Even contemporary playwrights use punctuation to help the actor. Keep an
eye out for these clues from Shakespeare.
Elision: When Shakespeare cuts out letters from words or smushes them together,
this is called elision. Ex: o’erstep, as ‘twere, broach’d. If you scan the line, you’ll often
find that these elisions help keep the rhythm.
Period:  Generally, in Shakespeare, you can deliver the thought of a sentence in one
breath. At the end of a sentence pause, breathe, and let the next thought come up
naturally.
Comma:  Sometimes a comma is a place to pause or breathe, but not always. It
shows a change in thought, and it depends on what is going on whether that’s a
breath, a long pause, a short pause, or no pause at all.
Colon: Think of a colon as a gateway into a new thought. Whatever came before was
meant to point us in a new direction. Same as the comma, this does not need to be
a pause, but try it with or without and see what feels right.
Semicolon:  A semicolon is to show that the next clause will be an explanation of the
thought before it. When you see a semicolon, make sure you understand how the
two thoughts on either side of it are connected.
 https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/conquer-shakespeare-4378/#section1
o
King John: Blanch (Act III, Scene I)

Upon thy wedding-day?

Against the blood that thou hast married?

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men?

Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,

Clamors of hell, be measures to our pomp?

O husband, hear me! Ay, alack, how new

Is “husband” in my mouth! Even for that name,

Which till this time my tongue did ne’er pronounce,

Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms

Against mine uncle.

Two Gentlemen of Verona: Julia (Act 4 Scene 4)

Here is her picture: let me see; I think,

If I had such a tire, this face of mine

Were full as lovely as is this of hers:

And yet the painter flatter'd her a little,

Unless I flatter with myself too much.

Her hair is auburn, mine is perfect yellow:

If that be all the difference in his love,

I'll get me such a colour'd periwig.

Her eyes are grey as glass, and so are mine:

Ay, but her forehead's low, and mine's as high.

What should it be that he respects in her

But I can make respective in myself,

If this fond Love were not a blinded god?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Helena (Act I Scene I)

Call you me “fair”? That “fair” again unsay.

Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair!

Your eyes are lodestars, and your tongue’s sweet air

More tunable than lark to shepherd’s ear

When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.

Sickness is catching. Oh, were favor so,

Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go.

My ear should catch your voice. My eye, your eye.

My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody.

Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,

The rest I’d give to be to you translated.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Lysander (Act I Scene I)

You have her father's love, Demetrius,

Let me have Hermia's. Do you marry him.

I am, my lord, as well derived as he,

As well possessed. My love is more than his,

My fortunes every way as fairly ranked,

If not with vantage, as Demetrius'.

And — which is more than all these boasts can be —

I am beloved of beauteous Hermia.

Why should not I then prosecute my right?

Demetrius — I'll avouch it to his head —

Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,

And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,

Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry

Upon this spotted and inconstant man.

Henry VI Part 1: Pucelle/Joan of Arc (Act 5 Scene 4)

First, let me tell you whom you have condemned:

Not one begotten of a shepherd swain,

But issued from the progeny of kings,

Virtuous and holy, chosen from above

By inspiration of celestial grace

To work exceeding miracles on earth.

I never had to do with wicked spirits.

But you, that are polluted with your lusts,

Stained with the guiltless blood of innocents,

Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,

Because you want the grace that others have,

You judge it straight a thing impossible

To compass wonders but by help of devils.

No, misconceivèd! Joan of Arc hath been

A virgin from her tender infancy,

Chaste and immaculate in very thought,

Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused,

Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Puck (Act 2 Scene 2)

Through the forest have I gone.

But Athenian found I none,

On whose eyes I might approve

This flower's force in stirring love.

Night and silence.—Who is here?

Weeds of Athens he doth wear:

This is he, my master said,

Despised the Athenian maid;

And here the maiden, sleeping sound,

On the dank and dirty ground.

Pretty soul! she durst not lie

Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

All the power this charm doth owe.

When thou wakest, let love forbid

Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:

So awake when I am gone;

For I must now to Oberon.

Romeo & Juliet: Juliet (Act 2 Scene 2)

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself