Bardisms Read Online Free
Author: Barry Edelstein
the air as a living being of some sort, complete with a mouth and teeth. This biting air is tactical, strategic: it bites in a shrewd manner, that is, cannily, subtly, with an ulterior motive. The adverb shrewdly acquires its meaning from the shrew, a tiny rodent with a long snout that allows it to insinuate itself into even tightly closed places. A literal translation of Hamlet’s first sentence, then, might read, “The air is a shrew biting my skin.” This vividly metaphorical expression of coldness could be rendered in an even simpler paraphrase: “It’s very cold.” Put that paraphrase next to the second sentence, and you’ll find that Hamlet is saying, essentially, “It’s very cold. It’s very cold.”
Why does Hamlet say “It’s cold” twice? The answer is about the changing height of his language. Hamlet, educated at Germany’s Wittenberg University, is comfortable with heightened language and complex thought. Perhaps he says the first sentence to Horatio, also a distinguished WU alumnus (“ Knock wurst, Brat wurst, go, Vit, go !”), but says the second, simpler half to the lumpen soldier Marcellus. Perhaps he says the first sentence to Marcellus, who doesn’t get it, forcing Hamlet to clarify with the second sentence. Perhaps Hamlet says the first sentence aloud to everyone, and then turns aside and says the second sentence to himself. Or vice versa.
We can’t know what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote these words. All we can do is interpret them and use our best efforts to bring them to life in a truthful way. In this sense, there’s never any correct or incorrect way to say the lines. None of the four interpretations I posited above is right, nor is any wrong. They’re just ideas for actor and director to try in rehearsal. The key point about all of them is that they arise from a close reading of the text that reveals that one half of the line is heightened, and the other is not. Anyone trying to communicate its underlying ideas must first recognize the change that happens halfway through it, think about why that change is there, and then say the line in a manner that uses its change of height to make both parts of it sharp, lifelike, and clear.
STEP 4: Verbs: Special Heightening Agents
Verbs are specially charged by definition, because they are words whose syntactical job—to cause action—requires of them a greater energy than that called for from the other parts of speech. Hamlet says that the reason the fear of death is so powerful is that it “ puzzles the will” and “ makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.” The italics are mine, of course, and they indicate the verbs (or verb phrases), which happen to be the words that any speaker of English will naturally stress as they try to make Hamlet’s ideas clear. Try to say these phrases sans emphasis on the verbs, and all you’ll have is mush.
One of the most effective ways to bring Shakespeare alive in your mouth or in your mind is to underline the verbs as you work through the text. Their communicative vigor is so copious, potent, and expressive that they will actually haul you right through a speech’s thoughts from start to finish…if you let them. Always, always hit the verbs. And use them in whatever form they appear: participial or gerundial verbs used as adjectives or other parts of speech (“the pangs of disprized love”; “there’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”) carry great energy and are indispensable.
I will flag useful verbs, verb forms, and verb phrases throughout this book.
STEP 5: Scansion and Meter: The Time Signature Behind the Lines
The majority of Shakespeare’s work, and the majority of the excerpts quoted in this book, is written in verse . As distinct from its antithesis, prose (of which there’s plenty in Shakespeare, some of which we’ll see as well), verse is language that’s composed in individual lines that conform to
Why does Hamlet say “It’s cold” twice? The answer is about the changing height of his language. Hamlet, educated at Germany’s Wittenberg University, is comfortable with heightened language and complex thought. Perhaps he says the first sentence to Horatio, also a distinguished WU alumnus (“ Knock wurst, Brat wurst, go, Vit, go !”), but says the second, simpler half to the lumpen soldier Marcellus. Perhaps he says the first sentence to Marcellus, who doesn’t get it, forcing Hamlet to clarify with the second sentence. Perhaps Hamlet says the first sentence aloud to everyone, and then turns aside and says the second sentence to himself. Or vice versa.
We can’t know what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote these words. All we can do is interpret them and use our best efforts to bring them to life in a truthful way. In this sense, there’s never any correct or incorrect way to say the lines. None of the four interpretations I posited above is right, nor is any wrong. They’re just ideas for actor and director to try in rehearsal. The key point about all of them is that they arise from a close reading of the text that reveals that one half of the line is heightened, and the other is not. Anyone trying to communicate its underlying ideas must first recognize the change that happens halfway through it, think about why that change is there, and then say the line in a manner that uses its change of height to make both parts of it sharp, lifelike, and clear.
STEP 4: Verbs: Special Heightening Agents
Verbs are specially charged by definition, because they are words whose syntactical job—to cause action—requires of them a greater energy than that called for from the other parts of speech. Hamlet says that the reason the fear of death is so powerful is that it “ puzzles the will” and “ makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.” The italics are mine, of course, and they indicate the verbs (or verb phrases), which happen to be the words that any speaker of English will naturally stress as they try to make Hamlet’s ideas clear. Try to say these phrases sans emphasis on the verbs, and all you’ll have is mush.
One of the most effective ways to bring Shakespeare alive in your mouth or in your mind is to underline the verbs as you work through the text. Their communicative vigor is so copious, potent, and expressive that they will actually haul you right through a speech’s thoughts from start to finish…if you let them. Always, always hit the verbs. And use them in whatever form they appear: participial or gerundial verbs used as adjectives or other parts of speech (“the pangs of disprized love”; “there’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”) carry great energy and are indispensable.
I will flag useful verbs, verb forms, and verb phrases throughout this book.
STEP 5: Scansion and Meter: The Time Signature Behind the Lines
The majority of Shakespeare’s work, and the majority of the excerpts quoted in this book, is written in verse . As distinct from its antithesis, prose (of which there’s plenty in Shakespeare, some of which we’ll see as well), verse is language that’s composed in individual lines that conform to
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