One of my regrets as my 40th birthday nears nigh is that I’ve never read–and I mean really read–Shakespeare. Truth is, I find his prose rather indecipherable and don’t have the discipline to wade through what strikes my ears as archaic prose, even if I know he was one of literature’s grand masters.
So here’s the rub: I’m sitting in an audience at a Shakespeare comedy, and everyone is laughing uproariously while I JUST DON’T GET IT. Hell, I’m having trouble not only with the meaning, but also with trying to understand the actual words the actors are speaking through their (feigned) British accents.
I suppose it doesn’t help that I haven’t read the comedy, but it makes me feel like a GD moron that everybody is really connecting with the play and there I am, Mr. Clueless.
Anybody else have this experience, or am I the lone barbarian?
Get the Cliff’s Notes. Seriously. I’ve got a book shelf full of 'em. Everyone always thinks they’re for cheating, but I’ve always found them to be a tremendous study aid, even for stuff I’m just reading on my own.
A good annotated version of the play is also quite helpful. And when all else fails, start a CS thread about the play. There’s no end of people here who would be falling all over themselves to sound smart about Shakespeare.
Many people have no idea that Isaac Asimov was anything other than a science fiction author. On the contrary, the man wrote about well nigh everything under the sun, and Shakespeare is among them.
I have to recommend Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. It’s a very personable, interesting take on the plays and, I believe, the poetry as well. (It’s been years since I read it, so I can’t guarantee that last…)
I’m beginning to wonder if people talk themselves into not getting Shakespeare. Case in point: I was talking to my mother about a month ago about the number of Shakespeare movies my brother and I (both former English majors) have, and she said " Oh, I hate Shakespeare, I can never understand what they’re saying."
Because I like a challenge, and I’m not above using people for minor psychology experiments, I suggested we watch Much Ado About Nothing a couple of weeks later, without pointing out that it’s by Shakespeare. I believe she figured it was something by Jane Austin or whoever, (I didn’t so much ask " Do you want to watch Much Ado About Nothing?" as " I bought a old-fashioned romantic comedy I really like, would you like to watch the DVD with me?") and I didn’t tell her otherwise until after we’d watched the movie. She thought it was funny in all the same places I did, and afterwards I asked her if she thought the dialogue was difficult to understand. She said “no,” so she was surprised when I told her who wrote the play.
Had she known that it was by Shakespeare, I think she probably would have been convinced that the language was incomprehensible, and liked it less. Makes me glad I didn’t tell her before hand
Couple things. First, don’t be afraid to look words up. Read with a dictionary beside you, if that’s what it takes. Second, find yourself a good, well-annotated version. Third, don’t be intimidated by the name “Shakespeare”. A lot of people psyche themselves out. Or let horrible high school experiences scare them. Fourth, do not be afraid to Watch the Movie! Watching The Movie may not get you the credit in high school, but Shakespeare wrote PLAYS. They’re MEANT to be performed. If you read the screenplay for Pulp Fiction, it probably wouldn’t have the same impact as the movie. Kenneth Branagh has made some pretty good, pretty long movies. Fifth, don’t worry about understanding every little word. Worry about the story. One of the things I love about the movie adaptations (at least the better ones) is everyone may be running around saying “Yon! Forsooth ye varlet! Hence we to yon castle!,” but you can still follow the story. Don’t worry about the words, worry about what’s going on.
When I was in high school we used the Folgers Shakespeare Library paperbacks, which had the obscure words explained on the page facing the text.
However, the best way of doing it is to just do it. I fulfilled my life goal of reading all of Shakespeare a few years ago. The first time I tried I started with his first play, Henry VI Part 1, which is not that great. Then I started with a different one, and had a wonderful time. I was dreaming in blank verse by the time I was through, and reading the plays as fast as I read novels.
People have made some good suggestions. The thing that finally unlocked Shakespeare for me were the Kenneth Branagh films of Much Ado about Nothing and Henry V.
Now, the first time I saw these I definitely didn’t get all the dialogue, but I understood generally what was going on. But, there are parts that make a lot of sense and are very clear. The scene (in the film) in Much Ado when Branagh is futzing with the lawn chair and trying to decide what the story is with the woman he’s in love with is pretty funny, and the comedy comes through, as does the meaning. In Henry V the St. Crispin’s day speach is eminently clear, and delivered in a very accessible way.
I guess my point is that the first time I watched these I didn’t get all that was going on, just specific spots that really stood out. But I liked it enough to give them a second and third go, and then, all of a sudden, it all made sense (though there always are specific lines that seem kind of ambiguous to me) and I was able to go out and read and watch Shakespeare without much trouble at all.
Heck not even those of us who ‘get’ Shakespeare understand him all the time.
I remember I never got this one part of Romeo and Juliet until someone explained it to me.
For those curious it’s the part where Juliet’s mother is telling her that Paris is asking her father about her. The Nurse goes off on a tangent about how she is growing up and remembering when her husband was still alive Juliet once fell down at his feet and he picked her up, brushed her off and laughingly told her one day she would fall on her back, not her face*.
I had NO CLUE what that meant until we went over it in high school, but when I got it it was great.
I suppose it doesn’t help that I haven’t read the comedy, but it makes me feel like a GD moron that everybody is really connecting with the play and there I am, Mr. Clueless.
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You’re not a moron. If you’re not used to the language it can be a bit difficult to follow. I had the same problem when I read the Illiad a few months ago. I kept thinking “Who the hell are the Acheans?” and “Pallas Athena? Since when did she have a first name?” When I came across a word I didn’t understand I’d look it up. It was well worth the effort.
I still have a hard time listening to Shakespear. If I have any distractions it becomes easy for me to lose my place.
Go to a play or watch a movie. Shakespeare was meant to be performed, and an actor can make the meaning more understandable than just reading the text.
Don’t try to catch every sentence, especially in the beginning. It’s unlikely you’ll miss anything important (the actors will see to that). Just go with it. After a little while, you’ll get used to the cadences and you’ll miss less and less.
Genrally, if the actor is doing a good enough job, you shouldn’t need to fully undestand the dialogue. (It’s liking watching West Wing really) I find the dialogue only become fully incomprehensible when you get oblique references to culture and events from the 1600. For example, Midsummer contains references to a celebration in honour of queen elizabeth, that are difficult to understand without that context. The Closet scene from Hamlet contains a reference to the “famous ape”, which even after 5 years of searching, no one has given a good enough explination for -
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.
I second cainxinth’s suggestion. Those books with the original on the left page and the modern translation on the right are excellent. Cap it off by watching the movie/play to get a sense of the dialogue in an emotional context.
I agree that it’s worth starting with the well-made film adaptations. Don’t feel like you’re cheating – the language, while often beautiful, is also centuries out of date, so as an initial matter you shouldn’t be ashamed that you need help. U.S. high schools think that we can all read Shakespeare right out of the gate through a mere exercise of will, and that’s simply incorrect. I can do it now, but only because of lots of practice.
Good recent film versions, IMO: Branagh’s Henry V, Much Ado, and Hamlet (looong), Nunn’s excellent Twelfth Night, and Luhrman’s “William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet.” Yes, the last is controversial, and it really is pretty outré, but there’s nothing courtly or staid about it, and the actors don’t fall into the sing-song artifical rhythms trap that some people think is necessary for appreciation of the Bard.
When you do start reading on your own, read aloud. I can’t emphasize enough how helpful this is to understand the meaning.
I also heartily recommend the movie Richard III, starring Ian Mckellan, as an aid to understanding Shakespeare. Mr. Pug (who usually detests the Bard) watched this and was fully involved and understood every bit. Sir Ian really aced the character, too. Very well-done movie.
I want to second what GMRyujin and RealityChuck have said. Shakespeare isn’t meant to be read, it’s meant to be watched.
This might be part of the problem. Bad Shakespeare perfomances can be really, really bad. Shakespeare done in false British accents drives me particularly crazy, especially if the play is something like Hamlet (set in Denmark), Much Ado About Nothing (Italy), or Midsummer Night’s Dream (Greece). I promise you that the Italian Juliet did not have an Oxbridge accent.
A friend of mine is a Shakespearean actor, and he always stressed the importance of the actors knowing exactly what they’re saying, not just the actual words, but the meaning and the (as mentioned, often dirty) subtext. After all, if the actors don’t understand their lines, how can you? We’ve also talked about how the actors themselves have to be completely comfortable with the language for it to be a successful production. The lines have to come easily and naturally, not as though they’re performing, well, Shakespeare.
I also heartily recommend Richard III with Ian McKellen and Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. The latter is especially great for showing that Shakespeare doesn’t have to be done with a remotely British accent.
Let’s also not forget the wonders of modern technology. When you watch a Shakepeare film, turn on the subtitles. I’ve caught new layers of meaning in scenes I thought I knew well by doing just that.
Branagh’s Henry V is so good. I wasn’t into Shakespeare much at the time, I was just flipping channels, and came right into the “Saint Crispin’s Day” speech and was just awed. Such a good flick. The “Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Kevin Kline is really, really good, too.
I agree totally with reading it aloud. And if something sounds like it’s a raunchy pun, it probably is.
Well, here I wandered into this thread thinking I had all this good adivce, only to find that you clever dopers had beaten me to it!
So, all I can do is reiterate that you need to watch–not read–Shakespeare. And watch a good performance. Again, the Henry V and Richard III recommendations are great ones.
And again with the reiterations, don’t be so worried about getting everything that you miss out on the story. If you don’t get something, just move on.
