July
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1717 Sunday, 8 July 2001 From: Thomas Larque <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Saturday, 7 Jul 2001 08:46:08 +0100 Subject: Joy Leslie Gibson's "Squeaking Cleopatras" I have just purchased and read through a copy of Joy Leslie Gibson's "Squeaking Cleopatras : The Elizabethan Boy Player" (published 2000). I have to say that I was rather disappointed. Although Gibson gives a very interesting account of the Boy companies that operated in Shakespeare's time, her evidence for the use of adolescent "boy" actors to play the female parts in adult companies seems rather incomplete and unsatisfactory. I realise that SHAKSPEReans have discussed the likely age of the actors of "female" parts in the Renaissance theatre on many occasions, but would be interested to hear how SHAKSPEReans react specifically to Gibson's arguments. The single most important piece of evidence that Gibson seems to supply for "boy" actors playing Shakespeare's female characters is the suggestion that Shakespeare wrote these parts in a very different way in order to take into account the "boys" smaller lung capacity - allowing for more frequent and regular breaths in parts written for "boys" than in parts written for adult "men". The examples that Gibson gives seem to me (unconsciously, I'm sure) to have been interpreted in a suspiciously partisan manner. Gibson seems to follow different "rules" as to when a breath would be taken, depending on whether the part is a female character (in which case Gibson hopes to see more breaths) or a male one (in which case she expects fewer). For example here are extracts from one female speech and one male one from "Twelfth Night", with all punctuation removed by Gibson and likely breaths (represented by asterisks) indicated by her. Viola * A blank my lord * she never told her love But let concealment like a worm i'th' blood Feed on her damask cheek * she pined in thought * And with a green and yellow melancholy She sat like patience on a monument Smiling at grief * was not this love indeed We men may say more swear more but indeed Our shows are more than will * for still we prove Much in our vows but little in our love Antonio * Orsino noble sir Be pleased that I shake off these names you give me Antonio never yet was thief or pirate Though I confess on base and ground enough Orsino's enemy * a witchcraft drew me hither That most ingrateful boy there by your side >From the rude sea's enraged and foamy mouth I did redeem a wreck past hope he was His life I gave him and did thereto add My love without retention * for his sake Did I expose myself pure for his love Into the danger of this adverse town Drew to defend him when he was beset Where being apprehended his false cunning Not meaning to partake with me in danger * Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance And grew a twenty years' removed thing While one would wink denied me my own purse Which I had recommended to his use Not half an hour before. I was only ever a semi-professional actor (I did some professional Theatre-in-Education work, but was not trained or qualified), but it seems to me that Gibson's punctuation of Antonio's speech passes over rather obvious breaks in the sense and flow of the words that would almost certainly be used by most actors as breathing spaces. Gibson's argument is that the "boy" actors were never required to continue speaking without breath for more than two and a half verse lines. It is rather easy to break Antonio's speech down to fit this pattern, without having to put in breaths that are unjustified by the flow of the speech. For example: Antonio * Orsino noble sir Be pleased that I shake off these names you give me * Antonio never yet was thief or pirate Though I confess on base and ground enough Orsino's enemy * a witchcraft drew me hither * That most ingrateful boy there by your side From the rude sea's enraged and foamy mouth I did redeem * a wreck past hope he was * His life I gave him and did thereto add My love without retention * for his sake Did I expose myself pure for his love Into the danger of this adverse town * Drew to defend him when he was beset * Where being apprehended his false cunning Not meaning to partake with me in danger * Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance And grew a twenty years' removed thing While one would wink * denied me my own purse Which I had recommended to his use Not half an hour before. Punctuated in this way, Antonio's speech seems to offer just as many opportunities for breathing as Viola's. The same can be said for almost every example of adult male speech that Gibson provides. Her punctuation of these speeches seems designed, however unconsciously, to prove what she had already decided to be the case. Since the two examples that I have given are equally biased - Gibson's by a desire to prove that adult male speeches have few breaths, mine by an intention to show that Gibson is wrong - it seems worthwhile to refer to unbiased renditions of the same speech by real actors. Consequently I have tried to note the breathing spaces used in this speech during three film versions of "Twelfth Night" - the BBC television production, Branagh's Renaissance Theatre production and Trevor Nunn's Renaissance Films version. Gibson accepts that "Different actors breathe at different places, of course", but these genuine examples of actors performing the parts are obviously of some relevance compared to Gibson and my own academic and perhaps impractical attempts to guess where breaths would be taken. Nicholas Farrell as Antonio (Trevor Nunn / Renaissance Films) - [This is a rather heavily abridged version of the speech but is included for completeness]. * Orsino * noble sir * Antonio never yet was thief or pirate * Though I confess * on base and ground enough Orsino's enemy * a witchcraft drew me hither That * most * ingrateful boy there by your side * His life I gave him for his sake * Faced the danger of this adverse town Tim Barker as Antonio (Kenneth Branagh / Renaissance Theatre) * Orsino * noble sir * Be pleased that I shake off these names you give me * Antonio never yet was thief or pirate * Though I confess on base and ground enough Orsino's enemy * a witchcraft drew me hither * That most ingrateful boy there by your side * From the rude sea enraged and foamy mouthed Did I redeem * a wrack past hope he was His life I gave him * and did thereto add My love without retention or restraint * All his in dedication * for his sake Did I expose myself * pure for his love Into the danger of this adverse town * Drew to defend him when he was beset * Where being apprehended his false cunning Not meaning to partake with me in danger * Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance * And grew a twenty years' removed thing Whiles one would wink * denied me mine own purse * Which I recommended to his use Not half an hour before. Maurice Ro
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1716 Sunday, 8 July 2001 From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 6 Jul 2001 21:15:09 -0400 Subject: 12.1709 Re: All may be well. Comment: Re: SHK 12.1709 Re: All may be well. Claudius, like Laertes and Fortinbras, as a foil, is given qualities that contrast with Hamlet's self defeating character. His ability to rise optimistic, from despair and self-abnegation and get back to work, contrasts with Hamlet's miring himself in self-doubt and self-sabotage, and but for Gertrude's drinking problem, he would have succeeded. It's a Renaissance version of Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. Clifford _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Webpage <http://ws.bowiestate.edu>
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1715 Sunday, 8 July 2001 From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 6 Jul 2001 21:13:24 -0400 Subject: 12.1681 Re: To be or not to be Comment: Re: SHK 12.1681 Re: To be or not to be >From The Author's Abstract of Melancholy I'll not change life with any king, I ravisht am: can the world bring More joy, than still to laugh and smile, In pleasant toys time to beguile? Do not, O do not trouble me, So sweet content I feel and see. All my joys to this are folly, None so divine as melancholy. I'll change my state with any wretch Thou canst from gaol or dunhill fetch; My pain's past cure, another hell, I may not in this torment dwell! Now desperate I hate my life, Lend me a halter or a knife; All my griefs to this are jolly, Naught so damn'd as melancholy. Richard Burton. Anatomy of Melancholy 1621 > Excuse me, but what is the understanding of Melancholy here? Melancholy > does not mean 'sad' and cannot be oversimplified as 'suicidal,' although > feelings of that sort do seem to be a part of the picture. If we read > all of Hamlet's words and actions through this over-simplistic > framework, we do damage to the character and his creator. There are > moments of high clarity in his thinking, moments of passionate > engagement with the here-and-now, and yes moments of despair _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Webpage <http://ws.bowiestate.edu>
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1714 Sunday, 8 July 2001 [1] From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 6 Jul 2001 14:14:53 -0400 Subj: Re: SHK 12.1707 Re: Shakespeare.Papers.com [2] From: Eric I. Salehi <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Saturday, 07 Jul 2001 13:39:33 +0100 Subj: Re: SHK 12.1690 Re: ShakespearePapers.com [1]----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Clifford Stetner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 6 Jul 2001 14:14:53 -0400 Subject: 12.1707 Re: Shakespeare.Papers.com Comment: Re: SHK 12.1707 Re: Shakespeare.Papers.com Last semester I used Google with some success, but Reuters had an article last week that identified http://www.schoolsucks.com as a major paper mill. They also directed teachers to: http://www.turnitin.com which "takes a digital fingerprint of the student's paper, then scans the Internet and the group's own database looking for matches, highlighting passages that match and providing links to the online source" and http://www.findsame.com "a search engine that scans the Web for matching sentences or whole documents, instead of just keywords." I also came upon: http://www.cheathouse.com/uk/peek/list/ham.html "the evil house of cheat" that lists about a thousand essays for free download on Shakespeare alone. It makes for fun reading. Here's a sample: Oedipus: The Natures of Man, grade: 98%, authors comments: "Much BS", teacher comments "Excellent Work, Very Informative" Clifford [2]------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric I. Salehi <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Saturday, 07 Jul 2001 13:39:33 +0100 Subject: 12.1690 Re: ShakespearePapers.com Comment: Re: SHK 12.1690 Re: ShakespearePapers.com > I cannot give you an URL because I am away from my office, but there is > at least one site that offers the service of searching the web for > possibly plagiarised work. You type in a few lines of text and their > search engine looks to see if the paper appears anywhere online. Two of the sources listed in The Paper Store's network of term paper sites are http://www.ethicspapers.com and http://www.academicintegrity.com. I don't recommend going to these guys for a paper on irony. -- EIS _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Webpage <http://ws.bowiestate.edu>
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1713 Sunday, 8 July 2001 From: Marcia Eppich <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 6 Jul 2001 12:27:49 -0500 Subject: Macbett Hello all, I just finished reading Eugene Ionesco's Macbett, and I thought it was great. Does anyone know of any video productions that may be available. Yes, I have checked Poor Yorick's catalog, but to no avail. I'll be checking with some local universities too, but was just wondering if anyone had seen it. I'm sure that it is probably funnier in a live audience, but I laughed outright several times when I read it. I thought that one of the most wonderful parts of Macbett was the witch/Lady Duncan/Lady Macbett doubling. What a great concept. When writing a paper about Macbeth, I had contended that in Macbeth that Lady Macbeth was, herself, a great witch, but my thesis advisor dismissed this idea as somewhat childish, since women of nobility would not have been accused of witchcraft during the Renaissance. But when I first read Macbeth, Lady Macbeth immediately reminded me of the bad queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Again, a childish reminder, but the conjuring scenes in Snow White and in Lady Macbeth's "come spirits of the night" certainly seem similar to me. Also of interest in Ionesco's play are the small references to other Shakespeare works. "Brave new world" appears in there, as well as, I think, a reference or two to other plays. Very interesting read. Ciao, Marcia. _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Webpage <http://ws.bowiestate.edu>