Enjoying Shakespeare
Canon
You know why? He had to keep the attention of his
rowdy, noisy, restless audience.
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.
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(born in 1930)
What does this mean? For the explanation, see the next question. [*1]
Shakespeare’s ability to ___________ the range of ______________ emotions in
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 ___________ “Ben Jonson (1572–1637) Shakespeare’s friend & rival.
______________ ”
Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett (1900 – 1997),a British writer and critic Soul, Perfection, all time, quality
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.
QUOTE SYLLABUS
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]
How does Shakespeare set about delineating his chief characters as compared with other authors? Importance of his secondary personages in this particular?
Answer:
The distinguishing feature of Shakespeare’s delineation of character is the utter absence of all formal and deliberate effort to assist us in gaining an insight into the minds of his creatures. Little by little the whole tissue of their minds is revealed to a carefully observant eye; but it is all done in the natural course of conversation and events, and without the slightest consciousness on the part of the reader of an intentional discussion of character by Shakespeare.
With most other authors the case is different.
Her character-portrayals are marvellously powerful, but her method is the exactopposite of Shakespeare’s. After every trifling incident she dissects andanalyzes each sensation and emotion of her characters with a carefulness andminuteness of detail due to her very excess of mental grasp; and so far as the characters themselves are concerned, she requires little mental action on thepart of her readers save the following out of her own train of thought.
It is easy to see, in pursuing his method, of what great value Shakespeare’s secondary characters would be to him.By means of casual remarks or involuntary displays of emotion on the part ofchance-acquaintances or of more intimate friends, many of the finer touches are added, almost without our being conscious of it, to the images which shape themselves in our minds as we read, but which would have instantly jarred uponus had they come to us from the lips of the chief characters themselves.