Understanding Shakespeare

[Music] if I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy Shrine the gentler sin is this my lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss good Pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much which manly devotion shows in this for Saints have hands that Pilgrim's hands do touch and palm to Palm is the holy Palmer's kiss have not Saints lips and holy Palmer too I Pilgrim lips that they must use in prayer oh then dear Saint let lips do what hands do they pray Grant thou lest Faith turn to despair Saints do not move though grant for prayer sake then move not while my prayers effect I take through childhood past schooling and into adulthood we've been told time and time again that William Shakespeare is perhaps the greatest English-speaking writer to ever live after all his admirers and peers would refer to him as The Bard Bard meaning poet and that's Bard with a capital B implying Authority and headship similar to the way presidents of clubs or universities are lower case compared to the president of the United States or how Norse and Greek gods are lower case compared to the judeo Christian God Shakespeare was so highly regarded in his time that he was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth the to write plays that honored her family's lineage including the famous histories of Richard III and Henry V it's even rumored that he was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth's successor King James I 6 during production of the King James Bible to reconstruct and lyze the Psalms so we've seen Shakespeare's continued influence throughout history but when we sit down to pour over the text ourselves it feels almost impenetrable like it was written in another language in order for us to better understand the nuances of Shakespeare's complex writing styles we must first acknowledge the context in which these Works were created in the late 16th century Shakespeare wrote and performed as a part of the Lord Chamberlain's men a troop of actors that established the famous Globe Theater on the outskirts of London and it's when we examine how the globe practically functioned as a theater that we begin to understand Shakespeare's writing style and the reasoning behind it the Globe Theater was one of the first playhouses constructed in London it consisted of three tiers of galleries overlooking the stage below and a standing area on the ground surrounding the stage called the pit or yard nobility sat in the galleries which consisted of wooden benches and roofs to protect from inclement weather while the commoners would occupy the pit below that was the hardest task for playwrights at the time you had to entertain a single room consisting of vastly different ends on the social status Spectrum there was always the fear that either nobility wouldn't endorse the play or the commoners would openly Mock and Heckle a play during the live show that's where Shakespeare's Brilliance begins to show he knew how to effectively alter his writing style from character to character and scene to scene in order to resonate with the diverse audience he would accomplish this by fluctuating between pros and verse Pros is what we would consider normal writing today made up of sentences and paragraphs without any rhyming structure whereas verse is poetry Pros was usually attributed to the comedic relief characters as well as characters of lower stature this allowed the audience specifically the Groundlings in front of the stage to be quickly entertained in such a way that they could understand what was being said by the actors on stage that way they were invested in the story throughout which kept them from growing restless and bored and actively booing and throwing food on the stage verse was usually attributed to the characters of higher class which would entertain the audience members of higher stature due to the greater working vocabulary and complex character development and themes they would enjoy seeing characters on stage that resembled themselves ultimately Shakespeare understood that he had to please the miners in the immediate for the individual performance but he also knew that without the approval and finances from nobility the entire play itself would collapse and fail that's why a vast majority of his best lines are written in a form of verse now is the winter of our discontent to be or not to be that is the question oh Romeo Romeo with four of the room you you won't find a constant standard for when Shakespeare switches between pros and verse in his works because we're now reading a format that varies from book to book based on that particular book's editor but in every book there's usually a visual cue for the audience telling them when the style of writing is Shifting since Pros is plain speaking it's common for those lines to run continuously from margin to margin while verse is usually made up of narrower lines all aligned on the left creating Jagged right- hand edges determined by the end Rhyme or rhythm depending on the editor they might also indent every other line of poetry to align the end Rhyme now verse encompasses many sub genres of poetry but the main genre that Shakespeare utilized is sonnets sonnets can be identified by three attributes rhyme scheme Rhythm and structure this 14line rhyme scheme is broken down into three quatrains followed by a coulet here the couplet serves a vital role usually arriving in the form of a grand conclusion to the theme or idea explored in the quatrains in this example Romeo and Juliet build a flirtation towards the couet conclusion of their first kiss the rhythm of these sonnets are predominantly written in I Amic pentameter in this style each sonnet line consists of 10 syllables divided into five pairs referred to as I AMS or I Amic feet an AM is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stress syllable an example of this unique Rhythm would be a heartbeat beat and that Rhythm sounds like this if I profane with my unworthiest hand now Shakespeare isn't only using sonnets to appeal to the higher class audience members he's also establishing character and story elements the use of poetry between Romeo and Juliet tells the audience that this isn't a childish lusting but true love this is a higher faded love and what's unique about this particular Sonet in the long list of Shakespearean sonnets is that it's spoken by two people there's a call and response pattern that signifies that this romance is an equal partnership notice the spiritual imagery Shakespeare uses throughout the sonnet words like holy Saint prey sin and Faith are contrasted with the imagery of Sensual Body Parts such as hands and lips which can be used for both praying and kissing if we look at the next quatrain immediately following this sonnet and their first kiss the word sin is used four times in immediate succession perhaps foreshadowing that this romance is doomed from the very beginning Shakespeare's writing is dense and multi-layered which can make it extremely difficult but it helps to know what to expect and look for when reading however remember that Shakespeare's words were never meant to be read on the page they're to be experienced through performance good Pilgrim you to wrong your hand too much which manly devotion shows in this for Saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch and palm to Palm is Holy Palmer's kiss have not Saints lips and holy Palmer too I Pilgrim lips that they must use in prayer well then dear Saint let lips do what hands do I pray Grant thou lest Faith turn to despair Saints do not move go grant for prayer sake then move not while my prayers affect I tank hey everyone thanks for watching my latest essay I definitely stepped outside my comfort zone on this one but I knew from the very beginning of launching entertain the elk that I didn't just want to pinge and hole myself into exploring TV and film but I wanted to explore all things art and entertainment so I hope you're walking away having a little more respect for Shakespeare than you already did and are maybe even inspired to pick up some Shakespeare and read it again or for the very first time I wanted to recommend the Norton anthology of Shakespeare's complete works I referenced this countless times when making this essay if you go to the link below in the description it'll take you right there you can pick it up it's great everything is format Ed very clearly there's history and information in here and it's just a really great read to see everything poems and plays wise of Shakespeare so I can't recommend it enough and if there was any footage or music featured in this video that you would like to see more please check the description box below I'll have everything laid out there for you thanks again everyone for watching and I will see you next time thanks

Channel: Entertain The Elk

Views: 295,175

Keywords: Understanding Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Entertain the Elk, How to Read Shakespeare, Reading Shakespeare, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Video Essay, Shakespearean Sonnet, Iambic Pentameter, Renaissance Literature, Poetry, Reading Poetry, Richard III, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night's Dream, Globe Theatre, Greatest Playwrites, The Day the Simpsons Died, No Fear Shakespeare, Laurence Olivier, Kenneth Branagh, Literature Essay, Close Reading, Sonnet

Id: 6gTBdSyqzMI

Length: 9min 24sec (564 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2017