The View From Sari's World

What plays would you use to introduce a neophyte to Shakespeare?

One of my favorite readers and someone I call friend, asked the questions “what are the best plays to use to introduce a neophyte to Shakespeare? Or someone turned off by bad experiences in high school or college?” It is a question I am asked a lot but one that I always struggle to answer. Literature, like all art is subjective. What speaks to me may turn you off. It’s hard to tell what will move someone else. Given that disclaimer, let’s go ahead and look at some of Shakespeare’s plays that may be the best way to introduce someone to his world.

Let’s start with reading. As I said yesterday, it’s okay to read Shakespeare and though you may not get a sense of how beautiful his words sound, you certainly will get a sense of how beautifully they flow. Whenever I recommend reading Shakespeare, I always suggest that the reader take a few passages and read them out loud. It’s something we learned to do in college; it helped the students get a sense of the poetry and word play that Shakespeare is so famous for.

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar is one of the easiest plays to read. I read it (thought admittedly did not fully understand it) when I was 10. Antony’s “lend me your ears” speech moved my young soul and thrilled me to no end. I memorized the speech and was an annoyance to friends, family, and my teacher for months. I would stop and recite the speech at the drop of a hat. As I write this, a memory of me jumping on a playground bench comes to mind. I belted out the speech just to see if I could get the other kids to lend me their ears. But I am no actor. I am sure if they had tomatoes, I would have been human ketchup in no time.

JC is easy to follow as it has the simplest plot of all of the plays. A group of Roman senators are afraid the Caesar is becoming too powerful and will tip the balance of the Republic by becoming the ultimate authority over Rome. This plot allows the reader to contemplate the true meaning of justice and authority. While Shakespeare could have easily given us a play in terms of black and white/ good and bad, he instead offers us Brutes, one of the most conflicted characters of his cannon. Most of us live our lives trying to do the right thing, but with JC Shakespeare asks us to consider how we determine what the right thing is.

Macbeth

I’ve talked in the past about how Lady Macbeth’s hand washing led me to reconsider how I conducted myself in high school and beyond. As a young person who was unsure of who I wanted to be, her actions gave me pause; never would I do something that would stain my soul.

Reading Macbeth in high school reminded me that free will at times is an illusion. I think everyone in my English class instinctively understood that Shakespeare was showing us that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The language was a little daunting but nothing a young person couldn’t get through. Yes, when we first started reading it many students felt intimidated but by the time we were done I don’t remember anyone regretting having read it.

Hamlet

This is the first on my list that could be equally a great reading or viewing introduction. I included it here because I read it after I saw the play. Having watched Hamlet I still wondered what all of the fuss was about. It wasn’t my favorite of Shakespeare’s play until I read it. There are so many great lines, so many great moments that only a slow careful read gives us the full picture and you come to understand why this is Shakespeare’s masterpiece. But once you read it, seeing it performed is a must. It was chilling to hear Cumberbatch rebuke his former friend Guildenstern, as Hamlet realizes his “friend” is now Claudius’ spy.

Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me. You would seem to know my stops. You would pluck out the heart of my mystery. You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass. And there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak? ‘Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.

Henry V

I first read Henry V as part of my master’s program. This happened to coincide with the BBC series “The Hollow Crown”, so we eagerly studied it in preparation of the show. It is very easy to understand, notes help with the historical facts behind the argument over Henry’s legitimacy but over all a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare. It has many over lapping messages and lessons. We looked at it as an allegory for the way in which politicians use the power of words as calls to action. We compared Henry’s speeches to modern leaders and found some things never change. Kennedy asked us to do more as if he was calling us to the breaches in order to get to the moon. Bush’s “you’re either with us or against us” speech could have been director to the governor of Harfleur. It’s the second play that I would suggest could also be used visually to introduce someone to Shakespeare. Though beware, most adaptations skip the awful scene of the dead boys killed by the French as they stayed in the camp. Any sympathy we may have had with the French King dies with the young men. Yes, Shakespeare tells us, war is hell.

Viewing Shakespeare can be a thrilling way to be introduced to his work, if and only if, the production is worthy of his words. A great actor can breathe life into Shakespeare’s poetry, bombast, and bawdy word play. Seeing Shakespeare for the first time is a thrilling event and can leave an audience member wanting more.

Much ado about nothing

This one is for the ladies. Any time a woman tells me she can’t get into Shakespeare a smirk appears up on my face. I ask her to watch Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing. Oh to see him and Emma Thompson fall in love despite their shared distain of such emotion is pure perfection. And then there is Michael Keaton as Dogberry. Is there anything left to say?

Hamlet

For all of the reasons I noted above, Hamlet is a must for any introduction to Shakespeare. If you can’t see it live, I suggest starting with Mel Gibson in the Zeffirelli film. I really wanted to like David Tennant as Hamlet, but I don’t think he was able to capture the agony and frustration as well as Gibson did. A really fun treat is to find Mystery Science Theater 3000’s riff on an old black and white German adaptation on Hamlet. But don’t let this be your introduction to Shakespeare.

As you like it

This is a very fun play and one that seems to be produced often enough that it should be easy to find locally. Rosalind is a strong female character and is arguably one of Shakespeare’s strongest characters. She takes charge of her circumstance as best she can while trying to navigate her way through the unknown. She is banished to the forest of Arden just as she is coming of age. College students can identify with her plight and marvel at her hesitation to fall for the first man who shows her some interest.

The play contains some of Shakespeare’s most well known quotes included the”7 ages of man” speech. Yes, all the world’s a stage, and in this play Shakespeare shows us how at times we all play different parts. It’s a feel good play that ends as we like it; with love and laughter.

A midsummer’s night dream

I’ve seen good productions and bad productions, but yet even the bad productions can be a life-changing event. This play like no other invites the audience to enter into a fantasy world in which fairies meddle in the affairs of men. Love and lust, we learn can and often overlap. We are forced to ask ourselves if we can really tell the difference between the two.

One of the best things about a live production of AMSND is the ending, when Puck makes the final speech

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Works Cited
William Shakespeare Hamlet, Folger edition
William Shakespeare A Midsummer’s Night Dream Folger edition

It’s okay to read Shakespeare

One of the wonderful things about becoming interested in Shakespeare is that there are countless “intro to Shakespeare” books to choose from. Some better than others, yet they all seem to have one running theme; if you truly want to learn to enjoy Shakespeare, it’s best to see a live performance. But is it really?

One argument says, the way to enjoy Shakespeare is through his use of language. Hearing a performer utter his immortal words breaths life into them and we instantly understand why he has remained the world’s most beloved poet/playwright. Another argument says we should trust that the actors have done the hard work for us. It is only through their understanding of the words and the meaning of them that we can come to appreciate what Shakespeare was trying to convey. We are also reminded that Shakespeare wrote for the theater, not for a reading audience.

While both arguments on the surface appear to be sound, they don’t always hold up. I would argue that this approach could actually turn someone off to Shakespeare and give the impression that Shakespeare might not be for everyone. It is a disservice to the reader of these intro books to insist they run out and view a live production, when these very authors themselves learned to appreciate Shakespeare by reading and attending plays. Not one of these authors has ever admitted to never having picked up a play to read, so why do they insist we skip this so obvious a step?

One of the main problems I have with this advice is that I’ve seen first hand what happens when someone sees a play for the very first time and becomes disengaged. Oh they may enjoy bits and pieces of the play, but over all, most first time audiences admit feeling a little lost or frustrated and instinctively know they’ve missed something important. This is doubly the case when the production in question is fraught with problems and actors who rush through the lines as if they are getting paid by the word; some of Shakespeare’s greats lines can be lost when poorly delivered. A poor production or bad acting is a missed opportunity to introduce Shakespeare to a new audience.

I may have mentioned this before so forgive me for repeating myself but one of the best examples of a missed opportunity happened a few years ago. I attended a production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream with some friends who were new to Shakespeare’s world. The actors spoke with such rapid speed that even I had a hard time keeping up. A friend turned to me and asked, “what the heck are they talking about?” As I leaned in to answer, the woman sitting in front of me turned and said she wanted to know too. This was no way to introduce newbies to Shakespeare!

There is no shame in admitting that some of what you are seeing is confusing, but it is a shame that much of the confusion could have been minimized had you read the play first. Oh I admit, reading Shakespeare can be confusing too, but at least with a book it is possible to do a second read or look at the notes for clarification. This is a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare as reading allows us to take our time and savor the words and become fully engaged with the lines. Once you have seen what Shakespeare wrote, it’s much easier to spot when hearing come out of an actor’s mouth. And let’s be honest, because some of the language is outdated it can be damn near impossible at times to enjoy Shakespeare’s word play without some kind of guide. Editor notes become the door in which to enter Shakespeare’s world. Not some actor who just uttered something incomprehensible.

Love’s Labour’s Lost is a perfect example of this. This is one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known and produced plays, yet it’s also some of his best work. We don’t usually associate Shakespeare with satire, but LLL shows us that if he wanted to, he could have been just as famous for his satire as he is a dramatist. Shakespeare makes fun of higher education, the arts, love, lust, and social status. He even makes fun of poets who spend hours agonizing over penning the perfect sonnet.

The premise of this comedy is fairly straightforward and surprisingly simple compared to the other convoluted plots he concocted. A king and three of his friends decide to make a pact and give up on women for three years in order to devote all of their time to studying.

Navarre shall be the wonder of the world
Our court shall be a little academe
Still and contemplative in living art

Of course this doesn’t work out. The King of Navarre has forgotten that he is to host the French princess, who is on her way to Navarre to talk about the surrender of Aquitaine. And of course, accompanying her are three French ladies. Obviously the men don’t keep their pact and spend most of the play trying to find ways to woe their chosen lady without the other men knowing about it. And as with all of Shakespeare’s comedies there is a proper fool (Costard), and a Spanish nobleman (Armado) who is the unintentional fool. Some of my favorite lines are delivered between the two.

Armado: Villian, thou shalt fast for they offenses ere thou be pardoned.

Costard: Well sir, I hope when I do it, I shall do it on a full stomach.

I hadn’t read the play in years and forgot how much fun it is. As I got more and more involved I found myself laughing out loud and could easily “hear” the character’s individual tones and inflections. I wondered why this play fell out of favor; its modern screen adaptation is Kenneth Branagh’s only major flop. But soon it became very apparent why we rarely see it, and why notes are all but mandatory with this play.

Shakespeare’s contemporary audience (and possible some modern U.K. audiences) would have been familiar with rudimentary Latin. For some, it may have been a second language. Shakespeare was all too familiar with Latin, as he makes fun of Latin lessons in The Merry Wives of Windsor. But unfortunately, most modern audience members would quickly loose interest and wonder, “what the heck are they talking about?” when Costard and Armado begin to spar in Latin or at least they think they are speaking Latin, which only makes matters worse for the reader; this is the play in which Shakespeare famously uses the very long word; honorificabilitudinitatibus.

I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon.

According to the OED “flap-dragon” was a game in which players “catch raisins out of burning brandy and, extinguishing them by closing the mouth to eat them”. Costard is telling Armado’s page, Moth, that he so small he’d be easier to eat than a flaming raisin. He uses honorificabilitudinitatibus (a state to be able to receive honors) in an absurd manner and shows us that despite his over confidence in his ability to get one over Armado and his page, he has no idea what he is talking about, and neither would a modern audience.

Now could you imagine what you would be thinking if this was your introduction to Shakespeare? You might feel the urge to run out of the theater or at least throw your hands up in desperation. “Good god, old English is hard enough, but Latin, Latin??!”

In order to fully learn to enjoy Shakespeare it’s wise to keep in mind that while he wrote specifically for the theater, he wrote for a specific theater audience. The language has changed since his days at the Globe and we cannot always fully grasp his words, no matter how good an actor is or how long he has studied Shakespeare. Sometimes stage directions or bad acting distracts the audience. Once this happens you’ve lost them, and they in turn have lost any interest in Shakespeare.

Thankfully when reading a play we can pause and look at the editor’s explanation or make a few notes, like I did, to look up some terms. Then, once familiar with the words or terms, go back and re-read the exchange in order to fully appreciate what Shakespeare is doing. It’s usually quite amazing.

So as we celebrate Shakespeare week with theater, movies, games, parades and parties, remember, its okay to pick up a play and read it. And it would be wonderful if you used it to introduce someone to Shakespeare.

Works Cited

William Shakespeare Love’s Labour’s Lost. Signet Classics edition

Oxford English Dictionary online edition

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