How to Read Shakespeare
Hamilton Drama Society’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Pictured Shannon O’Dwyer (laying down) Aaron Below (sitting right) with Keeara Mullenbach (left), Autumn Walentoski (middle), and Lea Bucksch (sitting left) in the background. Photo provided by Terri Mitchell.
Shakespeare: the man whose name has gone down in history as one of the world’s greatest dramatists. Consequently, his works have become some of the most dreaded in any given English class. This can be attributed to his language and style being so far removed from the colloquialisms of today. Even so, it's unlikely Shakespeare is going anywhere. As the Hamilton Drama Society finished performing A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare came to the limelight here at Hamilton High School. Without further ado, here is a quick guide to getting the most out of reading the great Bard’s works.
(From left to right) Weston Sprinkel as Oberon, Nick Mitchell as Demetrius, Hayden Hotchkiss as Lysander, and Dorie Palmer as Robin Goodfellow. Photo provided by Terri Mitchell.
Punctuation Hints
While Shakespeare didn't leave many acting cues, he did leave clues for the actors through his punctuation. When reading Shakespeare, pay attention to periods, commas, semicolons, and colons and ignore all of the line breaks of his poetic form. Generally:
Period: The complete end of a thought.
Comma: A shift in thought, new emotion or meaning explored.
Semi-colon: The start of an explanation for the thought that is before the semi-colon.
Colon: A new thought is coming into play, or there is a change in intention to what has previously been said.
While there are exceptions to every rule, if you start to feel confused about the intentions of a line, you can ignore the line breaks and focus on the punctuation to help guide your understanding.
Use your resources
Shakespeare has been around and quite popular for hundreds of years. For generations, humanity has reproduced and analyzed his work. Don't be afraid to pull out a dictionary, or even No Fear Shakespeare or Sparknotes, to get more comfortable with the concepts and features of his work. In the words of Shakespeare fanatic and Hamilton Communication Arts teacher, Mr. Ben Nysse, “It’s written in English. You know all the words on the page--at least most of them. The only thing messed up is the sentence structure!” So take the words you know and use them to derive the meaning. Don't be afraid to slow down and figure out the plot before you try to dissect the details.
Shannon O’Dwyer (sitting left) plays a confused Bottom who’s head has been transformed to that of a donkey. Brooke Brandtjen (sitting right) as the fairy queen Titania is a concerned and enchanted lover. Grace Losey (left) and Lilly Zellner (right) play curious fairies to the strange creature. Photo provided by Terri Mitchell.
Take your time
“I read [Shakespeare] really, really slowly. I interact with the words and I try to take it all in so I truly understand what is being said,” says senior Brooke Brandtjen who played Titania in Hamilton’s production A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “You have to understand there is a language barrier and it is difficult, but the questions [Shakespeare] brings up are still relevant today and that they’re still a big part of the human experience.”
Shakespeare writes plays
“No duh,” The exasperated student thinks. But wait! This is a really important note to make. Shakespeare didn't write for someone to sit alone in a room, plow through his work, and come to a complete understanding of the show. Shakespeare created plays. He created them to be performed and watched, adapted and interpreted. He has created works that have stood the test of time because every single time they are performed, there are different lines emphasized, different jokes made, and new understandings created of the characters and the situation. “The thing to understand is it’s all collaborative,” explains Mr. Nysse. Shakespeare worked with actors, costumes, set, and crew, to come to a play that had meaning; a play that an audience would enjoy.
So read it out loud! Gather with some friends and read together. Make up silly jokes and actions: There is a version online of Romeo and Juliet in Act 1 Scene 5---the dance scene where the lovers meet-- that’s simply a medley of TikTok dances. What's more, people weren’t immune to immature jokes even in Shakespeares’ time, so if it sounds even vaguely like it could be a dirty joke, it probably is.
Try It for Yourself!
Here is one of Shakespeare’s most famous monologues, “All the World’s a Stage” from the comedy As You Like It. It is spoken by a character named Jaques, or Mr. Melancholy. Throughout the play, Jaques philosophizes and takes particular joy in being sad. “All the World’s a Stage” is one of these moments. Follow the advice and notice the punctuation, and while some words are defined here, look up the ones you don't know. Take your time and read it aloud--notice the way the words sound in your mouth.
Here is a reading of the monologue published by TED-Ed and directed by Jeffig Le Bars and Jérémie Balais.
As You Like It: Act 2 Scene 7. “All the world’s a stage”
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players(1);
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages(2). At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard(3),
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth(4). And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans(5) teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
(Left to right) Elena Bertoncini, Sophie Greenwood, Dorie Palmer, Aaron Below, Lucy Grimm, and Lilly Zellner. Photo provided by Terri Mitchell.
1 semi-colon! Until there is a period, Jaques is explaining how the world is like a stage!
2 PERIOD! He is going to start listing his points
3 “Pard” is an abbreviation for “leopard”
4 “Bubble reputation” -- a reputation that’s as fleeting and temporary as a soap bubble. Then “Even in the cannon’s mouth” -- looking down the barrel of a cannon. In today’s terms, he is describing a man who looks down the barrel of a gun in hopes of fame that has about the same lifespan as a bubble.
5 “Sans” means without.
Do you agree with Jaques? Are there only seven stages of human life? What stage do you believe you are in now? Notice how every stage is described somewhat negatively, and no stage is given positive attributes. Are the commonalities of these stages within humanity simply the negatives, with our originality deriving from our good characteristics? These are only a few of the questions that Shakespeare prompts in this monologue alone. And while these lines are somewhat somber, As You Like It is a comedy that I highly recommend--especially for those who don’t know where to start when it comes to reading Shakespeare.
I hope this article helped you to understand the basics of reading Shakespeare and guides you to a better understanding of his work.
