Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 7, No. 0457. Tuesday, 18 June 1996.
(1) From: Milla Riggio <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 18 Jun 1996 04:01:57 -0500 (EST)
Subj: Re: SHK 7.0440 Re: Shylock
(2) From: Lisa Hopkins <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 18 Jun 96 10:36:00 0BS
Subj: Wriothesley
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Milla Riggio <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 18 Jun 1996 04:01:57 -0500 (EST)
Subject: 7.0440 Re: Shylock
Comment: Re: SHK 7.0440 Re: Shylock
Regarding the query and conversation about what Shylock "means" when he says
"If I can catch him once upon the hip/ I will feed fat the ancient grudge Ibear
him.": In the upcoming MLA book on Teaching Shakespeare through Performance
(which I'm editing), Michael Kahn in the Preface says something to the effect
that in directing Shakespeare one of the hardest lessons he has to teach actors
is that they character means what s/he says. It's difficult for actors trained
to be always asking about the latent "subtext" of a speech to mean just and
only what the lines SAY, says Michael. As a character, he says, one has a
life, a past, and so forth, but when the character speaks in Shakespeare, s/he
MEANS JUST WHAT THE LINES SAY. You MUST mean that and nothing else, says this
one director, who goes on to suggest that if the plays had "subtexts," they
would be much shorter!
Milla Riggio
(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Lisa Hopkins <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 18 Jun 96 10:36:00 0BS
Subject: Wriothesley
To the best of my knowledge 'Wriothesley' is pronounced 'Risley', and is a
shibboleth-type name not uncommon amongst prominent Elizabethans and Jacobeans
- cf Sir William Cecil being 'Sisil' and Lady Mary Wroth being 'Worth'.
