Enjoying Shakespeare
Canon
You know why? He had to keep the attention of his
rowdy, noisy, restless audience.
1. Because they tell us how to live
Scheherazade, the narrator of 1001 Arabian nights
guess–that we will always learn more about human life and personality from
novels than from scientific psychology” ― Noam Chomsky(Born in 1928), father of modern linguistics, a major figure in analytic philosophy.
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Students say
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My Comment
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3. To get to know of people in other countries, their cultures,
their lives |
Brilliant
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4. To enjoy, for fun
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Absolutely
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5. To learn English
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Indeed
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6. To learn the values of the people in other countries.
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Lovely
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7.
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8.
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the boxes.
Then complete each of following sentences with the words given.
Venice”]
spectrum of _____________, treated impersonally, but with _______________ & understanding. We
seldom meet in Shakespeare a weeping philosopher: he may criticize, but he
criticizes both sides. After he has done so, he gives the impression of saying,
Well, that’s the way life is; people will always be like that-don’t get ___________
about it.
“Shakespeare not only invented the English ______________ , but also
created human __________ as we know it
today” Harold Bloom(
does this mean? For the explanation, see the next question. [*1]
simple yet profoundly _______________
verse is the greatest reason for his enduring popularity.
feel about love or music or ________________
older, Shakespeare can speak for you. No author in the Western world has
penned more beloved passages.
language: he himself “the show and the gaze o’ the time.”
1. ” ____________ in a man.”
Elizabethan Poet& playwright
Michael Drayton (1563 – 1631)
______________that “neither Man nor
Muse” could offer it sufficient praise”
3. “He was not of an age, for
___________ ”
Jonson
(1572–1637) Shakespeare’s friend & rival.
______________ ”
Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett (1900 – 1997),
a British writerand critic
Don’t become a cry baby rushing to a dictionary of Shakespearean (or rather,
Elizabethan) English whenever you come across a new word. Make no stone
unturned to arrive at the meaning of the new word by viewing it in the backdrop
of the text [current, preceding & succeeding lines], context [general roll
of the events] & perspective. Do not become a slave of the language of the
Master writer.
Master the Master’s language: master the master.
AO1 Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts
AO2 Understand the ways literary texts can be interpreted from surface level to
deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes and their contexts.
UNQUOTE SYLLABUS
purposes: to enjoy the story.
Get to the meaning of the literary work, in your case, “Merchant Of Venice”
What was the author’s idea behind the work?
Why did he write it?
What was he trying to say?
Identifying & explaining themes: what really, aside from questions of plot
or story
is the work about?
What is the central, the major idea or ideas?
Under the guise of the story, what messages are we meant to receive?
QUOTE SYLLABUS
AO4 Recognize and appreciate ways in which writers achieve their effects (e.g.
structure, plot, characterization, dramatic tension, imagery, rhythm, setting
and mood)
Breaking the code of Shakespeare
QUOTE SYLLABUS
AO3 Recognize and appreciate ways in which writers use language
UNQUOTE SYLLABUS
[We don’t go deep into this matter, as it isn’t required at your level of
learning: however to make you relaxed with the language of Shakespeare, now
& then, as we come across in the drama, we will be discussing the matter
with a light touch, though not all of them]
Marner. Therein in George Eliot judges
Godfrey.
of self-reproach at this undeserved praise. He walked up & down,
unconscious that he was plunging ankle-deep in snow, , unconscious of
everything but trembling suspense about what was going on in the cottage, and
the effect of each alternative on his future lot. No, not quite unconscious of
everything else. Deeper down, and half-smothered by passionate desire and
dread, there was the sense that he ought
not to be waiting on these alternatives; that he ought to accept the
consequences of his deeds, own the miserable wife, and fulfil the claims of the
helpless child. But he had not moral courage enough to contemplate that active
renunciation of Nancy as possible for him: he had only conscience and heart
enough to make him forever uneasy under the weakness that forbade the
renunciation. And at this moment his mind leaped away from all restraint toward
the sudden prospect of deliverance from his long bondage.
