Monday, 30 April 2007

 

English 3K06: Shakespeare

 

Course Introduction

 

1. Syllabus
2. Brief discussion of readings on the course
3. Communication: lecture format, tutorial, reaching me, course website
4. WHO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE? (Reception of Shakespeare)
5. HOW TO READ SHAKESPEARE (Shakespeare without tears; theorizing Shakespeare)
6. Hamlet 1.1

 

Syllabus

Addenda:

Note my office hours are only Wednesday 5-7pm. I am not available Mondays prior to class. If you wish to make an appointment to meet during the day, Wednesday afternoons are optimal for me. I am always available to discuss the course materials with you via email; I tend to check email at least once per day.

 

Assignment notes:

I am happy to consult with you about your essays prior to the essay due dates. Please do approach me to discuss your ideas in development, outlines, drafts, or the nuts and bolts of academic writing. Good writing is a matter of practice. It's better to work on your paper prior to the essay due date rather than after it has been graded.

 

Your play choices for the scene performance are due Wednesday, May 16. Prior to or on that date, please send me the following information via email:

1.  The names of THREE plays you would like to work on for the scene performance. These should be ranked in terms of your preference.
2. The names of any classmates with whom you would like to be grouped. (NOTE: if you would like to work with a specific person or people, it helps if your other chosen group members want to work on the same plays that you do.)

It's generally speaking possible for me to give most people their first or second play choices. If you do not send me play choices by May 16, I will assign a play choice for you.

Once everyone has been assigned to a group, then you can begin to work with your group on choosing a scene from your play--advice and further instructions to follow.

 

Plays and Poems

v           A brief rationale for the course reading list

 

Communication

v           Lecture format: historical and theoretical contexts, discussion, close reading, film clips

v           Tutorial: performance exercises, academic writing, less formal discussion and feedback

v           Reaching me: smithmk2@gmail.com, CNH 212, Wed. 5-7pm, before class, during breaks, after class, via course website

v           Course website:

http://summershakespeare2007.vox.com/

v           Just read, or join Vox to participate in comments

v           Click on “join Vox” tab in upper right corner of this page

v           OR go to www.vox.com and click on the “Get a free account” tab

v           Lecture notes posted Tuesdays and Thursdays after lecture; plus pictures shown in class, links to helpful websites, and bonus information

 

 

 

 

WHO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?

Biographical details:

v           Years: 1564-1616

v           Born to a glovemaker, John Shakespeare, and Mary (Arden) in Stratford, England

v           Grammar school education, classical education, Latin texts

v           Married at 18 to Anne Hathaway (who was 26 and pregnant with their first daughter, Susanna

v           Twins Hamnet and Judith followed (Hamnet d. 1596, age 11)

v           1585-1592 “lost years”

v           Moved to London early 1590s (?), where he probably acted with the Queen’s Men, a theatre troup who worked and toured the provinces (plays included Famous Victories of Henry V and King Leir)

v           Definitely there in 1592, when someone, probably fellow playwright Robert Greene, wrote a pamphlet that included an attack on Shakespeare:

 

 

“for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tyger’s hart wrapped in a Player’s hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and beeing an absolute Iohannes fac totum [Jack-of-all-trades, Master of none], is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey. O that I might entreate your rare wits to be employed in more profitable courses: & let these Apes imitate your past excellence, and never more acquaint them with your admired inventions.”   ~Greene's Groats-worth of Witte, 1592

A good e-text of Greene's Groats-worth of Wit is available here.

 

v           1590s made the transition to the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (founded 1594), as part-owner, actor, and playwright—this troup became The King’s Men when James I took the throne (1603)

v           1613 retires to Stratford

v           dies 1616, famously leaving his wife the “second-best bed”

 

A Few Important Contexts:

v           the company system of playwriting [read more]

v           the status of the actor [a traditional view of the Elizabethan actor: here and here]

v           the “all-male” stage [information on some of Shakespeare's actors; note recent work has been done that interrogates the idea of the all-male stage. See Pamela Allen Brown's Better a Shrew than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest (Cornell UP, 2003) and Pamela Allen Brown and Peter Parolin (eds), Women Players in England, 1500-1660 (Ashgate, 2005).

v           The Protestant Reformation [A Whirlwind Tour of the Protestant Reformation, courtesy of Michael Bryson] 

v           Elizabeth (reg. 1558-1603) and James I (1603-1625)

v           Elizabeth inspired some of Shakespeare’s thoughts on beauty. From Twelfth Night 1.5:

'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white

Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

v           Some critics argue James I is reflected in the Duke of Measure for Measure, and was the inspiration for Macbeth (the Scottish play)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shakespeare Now

v           Stephen Greenblatt: “How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare?” (see Will in the World, New York: Norton, 2004, pg. 11) 

v           One answer: 1623 folio, collected by John Heminge and Henry Condell, two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men/ King’s Men

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v  Shakespearean symbiosis: one question to ask at the beginning of a course like this one is why Shakespeare has the place that he does in our culture.

       What is often described as the timelessness of Shakespeare, the transcendent qualities for which his plays have been praised around the world and across the centuries, is perhaps better understood as an uncanny timeliness, a capacity to speak directly to circumstances the playwright could not have anticipated or foreseen. Like a portrait whose eyes seem to follow you around the room, engaging your glance from every angle, the plays and their characters seem always to be "modern," always to be "us."  ~Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare After All, New York: Anchor Books, 2004.

 

 

Shakespeare in Reverse 

*Quote by Dickens from Shakespeare After All, pg. 21. By Pope, Oldmixon, Gildon, and Rymer from Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage. Volume 2: 1693-1733. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974.  By Dryden, from Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage. Volume 1: 1623-1692. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974. Page numbers noted below.

 

v           Charles Dickens (letter to William Sandys, June 13, 1847):

 

“The life of Shakespeare is a fine mystery, and I tremble every day lest something should turn up!”

 

v           Alexander Pope (1725):

 

“If ever any Author deserved the name of an Original, it was Shakespeare. Homer himself drew not his art so immediately from the fountains of Nature…The Poetry of Shakespeare was Inspiration indeed: he is not so much an Imitator as an Instrument of Nature; and ‘tis not so just to say that he speaks from her as that she speaks thro’ him.” (403-4)

 

v           John Oldmixon, on the habit of revising Shakespeare: an epilogue he wrote for the end of a performance of Measure for Measure (1700):

The Epilogue

Spoken by Shakespeare’s Ghost

Enough! Your Cruelty Alive I knew,

And must I Dead be Persecuted too?

Injur’d so much of late upon the Stage,

My Ghost can beear no more, but comes to Rage.

My Plays by Scriblers mangl’d I have Seen;

By Lifeless Actors Murder’d on the Scene.

                                                                                                  (145)

v           Charles Gildon, on the failure of Shakespeare to follow the unities (time, place, action) (1694):

[Gildon’s Question:]

Shall we therefore still admire Shakespeare, with these Learned and Ingenious Gentlemen…because he has not come close to the Rules Aristotle drew from the Practice of the Greek Poets…?

[His answer:]

The Vice of the Age it was that perverted many of his Characters in his other Plays. Nor cou’d it be avoided if he would have his Audience sit the Play out, and receivbe that Profit that is the chief end of all Poets.   (67-8)

 

v           Thomas Rymer, from A Short View of Tragedy (1693), on the importance of Shakespeare’s language:

 

Many, peradventure, of the Tragical Scenes in Shakespeare cry’d up for the Action, might do yet better without words. Words are a sort of heavy baggage, that were better out of the way at the push of Action; especially in his bombast Circumstance, where the Words and Action are seldom akin, generally are inconsistent, at cross purposes, embarrass or destroy each other. Yet to those who take not the words distinctly there may be something in the buz [sic.] and sound that, like a drone to a Bagpipe, may serve to set off the Action.  (25)

 

v           John Dryden, An Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668):

 

To begin then with Shakespeare; he was the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the Images of Nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too.  (138)

 

 

WHO IS SHAKESPEARE TO YOU?

 I asked you in class to write a brief thought or two about your impressions of Shakespeare as you begin the course. These were your responses (I'm posting these anonymously to preserve your right to change your minds--apologies for any mistranscriptions):

 

"I think Shakespeare was someone that inherently loved to write and wrote pieces he would enjoy reading himself, but probably did not think much or think there was much value to his work."

 

"dead, white, male

BRILLIANT"

 

"Playwright. A mastermind. A little odd."

 

"Shakespeare is the reason that the English language has...boldly sailed on for 300 years."

 

"Shakespeare=facing my greatest literary fear to complete the final required area of my B.A. English."

 

"A smart, funny looking man with an overflow of creative ideas."

 

"Shakespeare is a very imaginative and creative story teller."

 

"I believe that Shakespeare was a man who taught us how to love, hate, show compassion through his writings."

 

"Someone who I want to know better.  I hear he has 'dreamed' up some pretty complex and amazing characters. Interesting goatee and bald spot. Probably a mentor to everyone who writes."

 

"Shakespeare is a talented writer."

 

"I believe Shakespeare to be one of the most famous authors of all time. But also one of the most widely read Western authors."

 

"Shakespeare is a less talented Christopher Marlowe."

 

"Literary genius, as yet unequalled in his own time, and in ours."

 

"I don't know much about Shakespeare, 'the man', but I like how his plays allow actors to be incredibly dramatic at times."

 

"Shakespeare...I understand that he is a hugely important figure in literature, although I don't really understand why?  This is what I hope to achieve. I respect his work, but do not revere it."

 

"I think Shakespeare has amazing plots and characters within his plays!"

 

"16th century poet...but perhaps I should write something more philosophical and witty like...who wasn't Shakespeare?"

 

"He is THE BARD. The epitome of English dramatic writing; who has stood the test of time. He is immortal and has written in such a way that all of his plays have such a basic core of human psychology that we can recognize modern action and interpretation in what he writes."

 

"Shakespeare is the guy that can take words and dance with them across the page. There is a rhythmic language to his work, a type of symphony."

 

"Who is Shakespeare?  A creative and brilliant individual; a trailblazer."

 

"Shakespeare is a witty, rather confusing, and intimidatingly important playwright...to me."

 

"Shakespeare is the one author everybody knows, but that nobody (perhaps with the exception of university profs) knows in detail."

 

"I believe Shakespeare was a student of human nature. His plays persevere and are of continuing interest because of his ability to portray those things which are of universal interest and relevance. His talent is exceptional with respect to insight!"

 

"Shakespeare? 16th century playwright that for some reason is studied and remembered more than anyone else from his time."

 

"I know Shakespeare as I've probably studied his work more than any other Author in high school."

 

 

 

HOW TO READ SHAKESPEARE

The Act of Reading (Shakespeare without tears)

v           Read more than once

v           Read the first time without trying to understand each and every line

v           Read the second time more slowly, noting plot points and phrases that don’t make sense even on a second reading

v           Turn to your glossary and notes on the second reading

v           Consult plot summaries for help if you lose your way

v           SparkNotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/

v           Click on play titles, then act and scene numbers for detailed plot summaries of each scene

v           Avoid the interpretive dimension of SparkNotes and CliffNotes like the plague!-work through your own interpretation 

v           Have confidence! Your Shakespearean reading skills will improve with practice

v           Practice, practice, practice

 

Shakespeare and Theory

v           Difficulty of interpretation:

 “The very centrality of Shakespeare to modern culture has led to a desire to identify and fix the “real” Shakespeare, both the man and the play-text. But the very nature of plays written for performance as well as the conditions of early modern printing and publication, at a time when the modern concept of copy-right was in its nascent form, work against this understandable wish for authenticity.” Garber, Shakespeare After All, 11.

 

v           Contrapuntal Shakespeare: “Shakespeare always presents both his ideas and his character types contrapuntally, offering a response and a qualification, another way of looking at things, within the play itself. Despite a concerted attempt to find it, there is no “Shakespearean” point of view, so that claims like “Shakespeare said” or “Shakespeare believed” or “Shakespeare tells us”—claims that sometimes seem to imply an authoritative and consistent philosophical consciousness—can always be exposed by looking at the context of the quotation.” (Garber, Shakespeare After All, 7-8)

 

v           Multiplicity of possible readings (historicist, deconstructionist, feminist, queer, postcolonial, psychoanalytic, and Marxist readings are among some that we’ll discuss in class)

 

v           A useful way to approach your reading is via a mode that Jonathan Gil Harris calls “historical formalist”—a mode of reading that considers a text in light of Fredric Jameson’s notion of “form”.  In The Political Unconscious (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1981), Jameson notes that

 

“form, secreted like a shell or exoskeleton, continues to emit its ideological message long after the extinction of its host.” (151)

 

v           Any given work can have many exoskeletal layers and modes—a Shakespeare play exploits various sources (usually also textual, sometimes theatrical), which combine in layers that emit different (contrapuntal, heterogeneous) ideological messages

 

v           To read form in this way is to read it historically—taking into account the numerous moments, acts, beliefs, scripts, or texts from which the layers of form that make up a work derive. For more detail on how a historical formalist reading works, see Jonathan Gil Harris, "(Po)X Marks the Spot: How to 'Read' 'Early Modern' 'Syphilis' in The Three Ladies of London."  Sins of the Flesh: Responses to Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Renaissance Europe. Toronto: Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, 2005. 109-132.

 

v           E.g., King Lear refers to the historical English King, The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande by Raphael Holinshed, published in 1587, which itself refers to Geoffrey Monmouth’s twelfth century Historia Regum Britanniae, a variety of other chronicles and historical poems, and the Queen’s Men’s King Leir, which was a comedy, not to mention the imp of the perverse which made Shakespeare want to experiment with the staging of total devastation.

 

v           King Lear by William Shakespeare therefore contains substantial resonances with other texts, not to mention with our ideas of aging, tragedy, and family dynamics (which it has in part shaped)

 

v           Texts can (only?) be read in terms of the way they resonate with things we are aware of now

 

v           Especially true of drama, which is highly adaptable to new performance contexts, and therefore open to a wide variety of interpretation

 

v           Two useful questions to ask when trying to locate a text are: “where is this play locating itself?” (Hamilton, Ontario? Renaissance London?  Stratford-upon-Avon? The Scottish Heath? Vienna? Verona? Right here?)  AND “When is this play locating itelf?” (“Ancient times”?  The sixteenth century? 1596? Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away? Right now?)  To ask these questions is to think about a play’s chronotope (chronos=time; topos=place). 

 

v           Chronotope: Mikhail Bakhtin’s term for a distinctive organization of space and time.  Note that different ways of reading a text produce different chronotopes. (A postcolonial reading of The Tempest might produce a reading of that text that locates it at the moment of the colonial encounter between settler and native, circa 1562; a biographical reading of that play might produce a reading of the play that locates its chronotope as London, 1612, near the end of Shakespeare’s career.)  For a smidge of text from Bakhtin's The Dialogic Imagination on chronotope, go here.

 

v           Thinking in terms of chronotope can help you to access some of the various layers of a play