HOW TO READ A SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY
Who else gets a cold feet while reading a Shakespearean tragedy?
The thing about Shakespeare is that it is so strongly expressive that the tiny sweat bullets on Macbeth’s eyelashes is imaginably closer to your vision than a possible future with your crush.
Let’s get it straight, the Shakespearean penmanship is NOT easy. It’s tricky, and the structure is layered with language hitting dense punches.
Although Shakespearean play is categorized as Comedy, Tragedy, Roman and History, the most popular ones of Shakespeare’s plays belong to tragedy genre with Hamlet leading the list.
If deconstructing a Shakespearean play would be an art, it can only be mastered playing by the rules of Aristotelian module.
Found in Poetics, the Aristotle’s module emphasizes on the character development, especially with a central plot directed to the protagonist, classified in Five-Act structure.
Now, there are conflicting conclusions for Shakespeare having an almost converging inspiration from Aristotle. And, it goes down to Aristotle vs Shakespeare, Aristotle being the founder and Shakespeare — the creative breaker of foundations. (Keep in mind that, according to literary analysis, only the tragedies of Shakespeare establish itself on Aristotle’s principles.)
Call it the setting of Shakespearean tragedy or the glorifying fall of his protagonist, it’s a flipping rendezvous pick-up spot for literature lovers to hang out and be the Feste or Portia (go on, choose your type!)
In order to not let the dilemma of too many disseminations overwhelm you, a simple way out is going by the Five Acts structure— the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.
Whether Shakespeare finds confluence within Aristotle’s formula or leads his own road, a reader can make the most out of a Romeo and Juliet and Othello by finding the space between divergence of Catharsis.
1. ELIMINATE THE SEMANTICS’ BOUNDARIES
The first task on Shakespearean to-do list is resetting your language preference. Over the course of time, since The Bard of Avon was active in writing the greatest works of literature, the language has taken immense turns of changes and the common vocabulary is not the same as it used to be.
To consume a Shakespearean play, you are ought to get giddy with “Shakespearisms” i.e, usage of “thee” and “thou”. But, this is just a beginners’ level.
As Shakespearean themes are layered and interwoven with many subplots, the real playing field is of being familiar with his wordplays.
He is all about that pun.
Among all the dramatists that I have read as being a literature student, Shakespeare, probably, has the most winning comic timing and playtime with words. Hamlet’s famous line, “not where he eats, but where he is eaten.” can easily surpass any dark comedy of contemporary world.
Not just that, Shakespearisms takes it up a notch with The Bard’s own set of “mockery dictionary”- the kind of insults that our moms would appreciate or even proud to keep handy to use on us! :
“Not so much brain as earwax” (Troilus and Cressida)
Be prepared with a notepad and curiosity goggles to explore the creative production of language!
2. RECONSTRUCT YOUR OWN ORDER
As much of Shakespearean aficionados would offer you a list of how you should go down that “drama” road, don’t shy away from flaunting your own roadmap!
There’s one peculiar thing about literature. It interprets for every person in one unique way. What it would mean reading Beckett’s Waiting For Godot for someone with an apt for history plays can mean totally different for the same person while reading Marlowe’s Edward III or Shakespeare’s Henry IV.
The idea is simple we are ought to narrate our own type of understanding to an author’s work of what seems relevant to us. Nevertheless, here’s a quick hack : grab a notepad, dig in and read the gist or blurb for the plays (even a random search list could do!); and choose the one you found the most intriguing. It’s absolutely fine if you divert from the popularity list. It’s okay if you didn’t choose Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth as your first Shakespearean date!
Either pick a category or chronological order to follow. The most efficient way to go with is starting with Shakespearean comedy. A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be an ideal work to begin with!
Note that, to keep in mind that you have the liberty to play with your thought process or critical interpretation, you will need to discipline your reading sessions.
3. FINDING RESOURCES
Let’s say you have got your head in the literary game and created yourself a playlist. You would follow your instincts and interests, and go with the thematic flow.
Uhhmm…..
Right where you assume that now, you’ve unlocked the Shakespearean intellectual level, you are back to Mad-Libs and Crossword puzzles!
As a literature graduate, reminiscing of the first classic encounter I had with Fitzgerald and Faulkner, my first thought was feeling stupidly out of place! But, in a more inherent way, evolving my way through more literary hangouts, I started catching up. You just got to trust the process.
You may ask, Literary Hangouts?!?
Participating in discussions, either impromptu or planned, getting into conversations with classmates and friends and organizing useful collectibles from online sources has been a bliss.
On one hand, YouTube’s study channels like The StudyTube Project to podcasts like Shakespeare For All and Shakespeare Anyone? has backed up my curiosity with pecks of knowledge that makes Literature more of a comfort zone. While, on the other hand, indulging into online events or casual offline discussions about the topics hanging into the middle of my learning atmosphere makes it an effective process altogether.
