Enjoying Shakespeare

Reading & Enjoying Shakespeare, the supreme center of the Western
Canon
Compiled by bunpeiris
 
 
Of all the images of Shakespeare, I like this most: the image with a ring in the ear. Of course, Shakespeare had no pretensions. An interesting idea by some punk [eh!] painter. I love that ring, a glorious diamond in the ear like that of our cricketer Tilakarathne Dilshan could be even better. In spite of his profound insights into the humanity, as I see, Will was a bit of a punk: he played to the gallery now & then with ultimate kinky, sexy double entrende.
You know why?  
He had to keep the attention of his
rowdy, noisy, restless audience. 
 
Why should we read stories?

1. Because they tell us how to live

   Street story teller to
Scheherazade, the narrator of 1001 Arabian nights
2.“It is quite possible–overwhelmingly probable, one might
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
 My Comment
3. To get to know of people in other countries, their cultures,
their lives
Brilliant
4. To enjoy, for fun
Absolutely
5. To learn English
Indeed
6. To learn the values of the people in other countries.
Lovely
7.
8.
Now write your own answers to above question in the space given in
the boxes.

Then complete each of following sentences with the words given.

Why should we read Shakespeare? [We will be enjoying The Merchant of
Venice”]
“In the literary works of Shakespeare, we see the whole
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.
Kindness, humanity, upset
What did Shakespeare do?

“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]

Language, nature
What makes Shakespeare so popular? [*1]

Shakespeare’s ability to ___________  the range of ______________ emotions in
simple yet profoundly _______________
verse is the greatest reason for his enduring popularity.

If you cannot find words to _____________ how you
feel about love or music or ________________
older, Shakespeare can speak for you. No author in the Western world has
penned more beloved passages.
Eloquent, summarize, express, human, growing
What makes Shakespeare’s art so great?
His ability to say so much to so many people in such memorable
language: he himself “the show and the gaze o’ the time.”
How do others see Shakespeare (1564-1616)?

1.  ” ____________ in a man.”

    Elizabethan Poet
&
playwright
Michael Drayton (1563 – 1631)

2.  “The writing of Shakespeare was of such
______________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.

4.  “Comprehensive
______________ ”

Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett (1900 – 1997),a British writer
and critic

Soul, Perfection, all time, quality
____________________________________________________________________
 
How do you read Shakespeare?

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.

Primary objective of Cambridge O/L LITERATURE IN ENGLISH [2010] YEAR 2016

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

We learn Shakespeare basically for the literary
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?

Secondary objective

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)

UNQUOTE SYLLABUS
Tertiary objective:
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]

Like no other: Shakespeare was the one & only Master.
Following is an extract from Silas
Marner. Therein in George Eliot judges
Godfrey.
Godfrey was too painfully preoccupied to feel a twinge
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.