The Sunday News
Charles Dube
OUR key objective these days is to give direction to learners who are sitting or are about to sit for their public examinations. Remember here we give the other side of issues. We get this from Shakespeare’s plays where we are encouraged to respond to the text with insight and imagination; select detail to support interpretations. O-level learners are going to answer a question or questions from Shakespeare in their final examinations.
I have alluded to the fact that many learners are uncomfortable when reading Shakespeare’s language. It takes time for learners to really follow the plays because of the old-fashioned language and many wonder why Shakespeare is still studied today. It is a known fact that Shakespeare lived and wrote some centuries ago, his plays are still performed and studied around the world. Why? There are about four suggested reasons:
He wrote exciting plays with great plots and memorable characters. He is the greatest writer of all time. Everyone should be familiar with at least one of his plays. (This is debatable though.) Shakespeare’s plays deal with universal themes like love, death, friendship and revenge. His plays are challenging, so it is an accomplishment if you understand them. Learners need to understand what interpretation is. Interpretation is a point of view about the meaning and intention of a text.
How to analyse a play? It is important to remember that plays are set out differently from other texts and are written to be performed before an audience. The key features of a play are: characters. The main character is the protagonist. Then there is the dialogue: These are the words that the characters speak to each other. If a character is speaking alone on stage, it is called a soliloquy. Learners should be aware that Shakespeare’s plays are usually divided into two main categories: comedies and tragedies.
Having said that, there are a number of specific features, besides being funny or sad. Normally, when we hear of a comedy we think of being funny, on the other hand, when we hear of tragedy we settle on being sad. Yet, there are more specific features which we might expect to find in a Shakespearean comedy or tragedy. We find moments of disguise or mistaken identity in Shakespeare’s comedies. In the same token we find unusual or exotic locations, humorous characters and endings which feature marriage and a sense of reconciliation.
On the other hand, in Shakespeare’s tragedies, we find that the main character is the tragic hero who has a high status. The tragic hero usually has a flaw such as ambition or jealousy. The tragic hero experiences a reversal of fortune or the play ends with the death of the tragic hero and others.
Characterisation is also key in the study of drama just like the other forms of literature. Learners have to read and come up with clear understanding of characters if the story is to be understood.
Shakespeare has written about many interesting characters in his plays. For example, Lady Macbeth, is regarded as one of the most intriguing who can be interpreted in many different ways. Some see her as evil and ambitious; and others view her as fragile and disturbed. When Macbeth tells her of Duncan’s visit to their house, she asks about when he would leave. She has evil intentions upon her sleeves. Learning Duncan purports to depart the following day she says:
“O never Shall sun that morrow see, Your face my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue, look like th’innocent flower But be the serpent under’t . . .”
Shylock is viewed as one of Shakespeare’s most controversial characters. Is he sympathetic, frightening or amusing? Remember he is infamous for demanding a pound of flesh from Antonio who served as Bassanio’s guarantor when he needed a loan from him.
Responding to Shakespeare’s text, just like other texts, you consider themes. A theme is a significant topic or idea that is developed in a text. Learners should study plays beyond the basic plot and try to discover the recurring ideas that the playwright is exploring. Consider what role the main characters play in the development of the theme. Through this learners might connect the theme of the play with what they believe is its message. For example, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contains a number of themes, such as revenge, violence, family and friendship. The most apparent theme is love.
Many types of love are explored, such as, unrequited love (Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline), love of family (the love of parents for their children), first love (Romeo and Juliet’s love at first sight), romantic love (the deepening love between Romeo and Juliet), and fatal love (obsessive love that leads to death).
It is interesting that some of the themes highlighted here continue to appear in many of Shakespeare’s plays, not necessarily the one stated here.
Ambition in Macbeth — In the tragedy Macbeth, Macbeth, the character, his tragic flaw is his ambition. Although he is successful and honoured by his king, he is dissatisfied and, despite his doubts and fears, feels compelled to commits acts which are against his morality. He says: “I have nor spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but/Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself . . .”
For example, Macbeth pays a heavy price for his ambition. He suffers guilt, madness, and, above all he dies. In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the play currently studied by O-level learners, Mark Antony, Caesar’s best friend, calls him “the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times”, and Brutus, one of the conspirators, acknowledges that he has killed “the foremost man of all this world”.
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