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Marc2b -> RE: Prehistoric lovers found locked in eternal embrace (2/8/2007 8:10:01 AM)
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quote:
If Big Bill Shakespeare is so great why is he so difficult to understand.
This may sound like I am being condescending – that is not my intent. I seek only to enlighten.
You have to put some effort into Shakespeare before he pays off. Most people don’t get Shakespeare because of three reasons.
First, the language problem. Language changes over time and Shakespeare is using words that we don’t normally use anymore. How many people today know what "alarum" or "gleek" mean? Also, some words stay within a language but gradually change their meaning over time. In Shakespeare’s day to "break" with someone could mean to speak with them. The word "should" was often used where today we would use "would." Of course the word "gay" certainly doesn’t mean today what it did back then. When we hear the word "traffic" we think of automobiles on the road but to Shakespeare it simply meant a large group of people moving around (if you think about it, you can see how the word evolved to mean automobiles – large groups of people moving around). On top of all this add the fact that Shakespeare loved to pun and it is understandable why some people find him incomprehensible.
Problem two. The highschool seventh grade English teacher. While I don’t doubt that there are some real good ones out there, most don’t have a clue as to what they are doing. They should give an basic overview of Shakespeare’s works and the context of his times. Instead they usually focus all their efforts on one play. Almost always Romeo and Juliette because they think the kids will somehow "relate" to the main characters. The irony is that those who know Shakespeare well consider Romeo and Juliette to be one of his lesser plays. It is not without it’s charms but it is far from his best effort.
Most kids leave their Shakespeare studies more confused about his works than they were before. I know I did. I remember myself and others laughing over some lines in Romeo and Juliette (what else?):
"Do you bite your thumb at me sir?"
"I bite my thumb."
We didn’t get it. Neither did our English teacher. It wasn’t until years later that I learned that biting your thumb was a Elizabethan equivalent of flipping someone the bird.
Problem three. The Shakespeare snob. Just as there are wine snobs and art snobs who take all the fun out of wine and art by being overly serious about wine and art (usually in an effort to show everybody how cultured and sophisticated they are) there are Shakespeare snobs. These people take all the fun out of Shakespeare by treating every line of dialogue as if it must be uttered seriously and with profundity. Yet Shakespeare at times is bawdy or even silly.
For example, the play Macbeth is a dark and gloomy play but Shakespeare, like any good author, knew that sometimes you have to lighten things up a little. There is a scene in the play where a porter (today we would call him a doorman) is standing watch by the castle's door. He is drunk out of his gourd. He talks about the effects of alcohol of the male sex drive – how it increases desire while, at the same time, decreases performance. He also talks about how men are ruled by their penises, and how the penis is the master of the man. At this point some people arrive at the door and ask the porter: "is your master stirring?"
I’ve seen this scene done both ways. The Shakespeare snob way is boring and makes no sense. When played for laughs, as the scene is clearly meant to be, it’s hilarious.
Well, I don’t know if this will get you interested in Shakespeare but if you do try to get into it I recommend the Folger Library texts of his plays. They are very good at explaining the language. But that’s just to get started. You have to actually see the plays as they were meant to be seen – on stage.
Now, to get back to the original topic: Awwwwwwww. Isn’t that sweet? Seriously, this is just proof that love and sentiment are as old as humanity itself.
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