How to get to the heart of Shakespeare’s language

MACBETH * Create a 140-character TWEET: Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw. Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There's no such thing: It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Keys to Performing Shakespeare  Know WHAT you are saying  Know WHY you are saying it If you do the above in detail then...  The HOW will care of itself

The focus in text analysis is knowing:  The meaning of the words individually and together (including definitions, historical allusions, poetic language, imagery, etc.)  The overall dramatic context for what is spoken  The specific dramatic circumstances that result in the words  The inflection and use of the words and punctuation

Let’s practice together!  O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! ah, fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead! Nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember?

Here’s your reminder of the steps you take in textual analysis:  Know the chronology of the play and what leads up to your piece  Look up the meanings of unfamiliar words  Examine language for repetition, opposites, lists, etc.  Use the punctuation and identify the operative words  Divide the piece into idea beats or phrases  Consider acting transitions between beats/phrases

What do I do with my text?  Go through the exact same process we just did together as a class – follow the steps to translate and score your piece.  Use your notecards to write your text beat/phrase by beat/phrase.  Write the beat/phrase translation on the back of the card.  Go through the text and begin to mark punctuation, operative words, etc.