Wednesday, April 30, 2014

"But Soft!", a Tribute

This day, April 23, 2014, marks 150 years since the birth of William Shakespeare, the English playwright whose works are considered a masterpiece in the canon of English writings.

Throughout my years in school, I spent time with various Shakespearean play texts, and I enjoyed reading the stories of times gone by, learning about the cultural context, and having fun with the language.  I like the elegant nature of the language, especially all those "But soft" phrases.  And I still have fun when it comes to Shakespearean insult generators, because those insults are much more sophisticated than the string of profanity and other blandities uttered by most people in this present era.  (Try it for yourself.  Just google "Shakespearean insult generator".  And yes, I just wrote "blandities", making up the word to suit my purposes here, just as William himself would make up words to fit his purposes in writing.)

It all started for me in 5th grade, when we as a class read Romeo and Juliet as we finished up the year.  I remember that the last official day of school in District 97 during my years there was one-hour long, and I spent that last hour of 5th grade, my last as a student at Washington Irving Elementary School, reading the entirety of Act 5 of the woeful tale of two lovers.

Just before, or around this time, VeggieTales's version of Hamlet came out, "Omelet", which seemed to capture some elements of the original story in a clever way for the message it was trying to get across about sharing.

Then, starting in 7th grade, I read one play every school year until my freshman year of college, with the exception of my junior year of high school.  My 7th grade language arts teacher, Mr. Gates, was a big fan of Shakespeare, and we read The Tempest.  A memorable collection of lines was recited dramatically at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, speaking of not fearing the isles with its noises and its delights and dream.

In 8th grade, in language arts class, the class divided into small groups, with each student having chose one of two plays to read.  I chose A Midsummer Night's Dream, which had some good humor, like the part when the man turns into a donkey.  The other choice was Julius Caesar, a video version of which I watched later so I could have the experience of it, with all its ancient Roman pageantry.

During 8th grade, we also went to Navy Pier's Chicago Shakespeare Theater, a fabulous institution we have in town, for A Comedy of Errors, which is certainly a humorous story of twin brothers stumbling over each other.  There was also the twist of its backdrop being a staging by a theater company during the Great Depression, with its more simplistic props and costumes.  I saw the same play staging again just last summer outdoors on a stifling August day in the grassy area by the Garfield Park Conservatory, as part of the theater company's tour of staging the play at various city parks in Chicago.

I re-visited Romeo and Juliet freshman year of high school.  My teacher, Ms. Kinnan, had us memorize the opening lines, and on the day we had our quiz on them, as my fellow classmates were reciting them to make sure they had them down, she remarked how wonderful it was to have a room full of students reciting Shakespeare, which was an overall part of our "frolicking in the garden of language".  Two memorable scenes I remember from that time where the monolgue on Queen Mab, and the line about drawing Dun from the mire, which I guess was some kind of game.  (Ms. Kinnan also pointed out the masterpiece of a metaphor: Juliet in that night was like a jewel in an Ethiopian's ear.)

We did a pretty good study of Macbeth during my sophomore year in Ms. Kaufman's class.  Beforehand, we went to a theater in Lakeview to see a production of it, which was a pretty good outing.  During our time with it, we acted out the scenes in class, which climaxed in a dramatic "duel", during which two students had the idea to be stunt doubles while two others read the dialogue.  After our study of it, I remember writing a fantastic essay, which was a pretend report of my investigations into the events that occurred.  (One part I found interesting was the litany of items put into the witches' cauldron, including the newt's eye and especially the bat's wool.)

Despite the hiatus my junior year, I made a point to listen to The Merchant of Venice on tape as a summer read, as I was supposed to have read that in an earlier school year.  It's interesting to note that despite its sobering aspects, like taking the pound of flesh, it is considered a comedy because the ending is good for its protagonist.

Senior year of high school, we did King Lear.  We watched pieces of a video version in class, with some props that my teacher, Mr. Heidkamp, described as very bare bones, especially the scene with the map at the beginning, which is rolled out in front of the king.

We did a quick run through Antony and Cleopatra my freshman year of college in the Christ College freshman program.  It was mentioned that the play has complex staging with all its scenes, especially in the battling toward the end.  We also had a very memorable plenary lecture, in which English professor and Assistant Provost Renu Juneja gave a talk in which she tried to convince us that Marc Antony and Cleopatra were not conceited, but instead were passionate lovers.  When some students tried to suggest otherwise, she got kind of incensed while openly expressed her disagreement.

So yes, it has been a marvelous run enjoying some Shakespeare works all these years, full of variety, disorder, and other charms.  Here's to the master playwright who made it all possible.

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