Shakespearean Characterization: A Guide for Actors and Students

309 Pages·2001·2.78 MB·English

by  Leslie O’Dell

SHAKESPEAREAN
CHARACTERIZATION

SHAKESPEAREAN
CHARACTERIZATION
2 4
A Guide for Actors and Students
LeslieO’Dell
Greenwood Press
Westport, Connecticut•London
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
O’Dell,Leslie.
Shakespeareancharacterization:aguideforactorsandstudents/byLeslieO’Dell.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–313–31144–7(alk.paper)
1. Shakespeare,William,1564–1616—Dramaticproduction. 2. Shakespeare,William,
1564–1616—Characters. 3. Acting. I. Title.
PR3091.O44 2002
792.9'5—dc21 2001016106
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:2)2002byLeslieO’Dell
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2001016106
ISBN:0–313–31144–7
Firstpublishedin2002
GreenwoodPress,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.greenwood.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
TM
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
1 Bringing Shakespeare to the Modern Stage 1
2 The Conditions of Rehearsal and Performance 13
3 Theatrical Conventions 43
4 The Theatrical Traditions of Personification 81
5 A Character’s Language 115
6 Moving Metaphors 151
7 The Power of the Word 175
8 The Fallacy of Universality 205
Bibliography 277
General Index 281
Index of Plays and Characters 291

Preface
AN ACTOR’S GUIDE TO SHAKESPEARE’S CHARACTERS
In developing my strategies for exploring Shakespeare’s characterswithactors
and students, I have taken insights gleaned from scholarly examinations of
these topics and tested them in rehearsal halls, tutorials, and classrooms. My
goal, throughout this process, has been to find a way of endowing a modern
actor with the tools necessary to bridge the gap between the conventions of
Shakespeare’s theatre and the acting strategies which dominate our theatre
practice today. Because of my interest in Shakespeare’s language, I have
grounded all of my strategies in the words on the page, in the hopes that my
insights will result in vigorous, thrilling performances that are beautifullyspo-
ken as well as emotionally rich.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Theworkslistedattheendofthisbookrepresentthosewriterswhoseideas
have most influenced my approach in the classroom and rehearsal hall and
that I recommend to the modern actor. For a more extensive exploration of
the riches to be found in libraries, I refer the reader to ShakespeareanScholarship
and Shakespearean Language, companion books to this.
CITATIONS
I often quote from Shakespeare’s plays and notetheact,scene,andnumber
of the first line in parentheses immediately following the quotation; I have
used the line numbers found in The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blake-
viii Preface
more Evans. I include the title of the play if that has not yet been indicated.
For convenience, I have used a shortened version of many of the play titles,
as follows:
12th Night Twelfth Night
1HIV The first part of HenryIV
2HIV The secondpart of HenryIV
1HVI The first part of HenryVI
2HVI The secondpart of HenryVI
3HVI The third partof HenryVI
A&C Antony and Cleopatra
All’s Well All’s Well That Ends Well
AYLI As You Like It
Dream A MidsummerNight’s Dream
Errors The Comedyof Errors
HV HenryV
HVIII HenryVIII
JC Julius Caesar
John King John
Lear King Lear
LLL Love’sLabour’sLost
Measure Measurefor Measure
Merchant The Merchantof Venice
Much Ado Much Ado about Nothing
R&J Romeo and Juliet
RII Richardthe Second
RIII Richardthe Third
Shrew The Taming of the Shrew
T&C Troilus and Cressida
Timon Timon of Athens
Titus Titus Andronicus
Two Gents The Two Gentlemenof Verona
Wives The MerryWivesof Windsor
WT The Winter’sTale
IhavealsousedthecharacternamesastheyappearinTheRiversideShakespeare
so that, for example, the heroine of Cymbeline is Imogen, not Innogen, andthe
man who eventually becomes King Henry IV is known as Bolingbroke, not
Bollingbrook or Bullingbrooke.
Preface ix
IhaveassumedafamiliaritywithShakespeare’splays,andsohaveexplained
thecontext ofthe quotations onlyif thatissignificanttowhatIamdiscussing.
It is very difficult to avoid interpretation in these discussions; I cannot help
but envision the scene in performance, the product of innumerable decisions
every one of which can only be right for that one performance (imaginary or
remembered),andnoneofwhichshouldbeviewedasanymoreorlesscorrect
or valid than the decisions you might make in your productions.
QUOTATIONS
Although I have made use of The Riverside Shakespeare for line numbers, I
have reproduced the quotations from Shakespeare based upon the 1623 folio
edition, with some modifications. I have modernized most spellings, for ease
of reading aloud. I have also, on occasion, adjusted the punctuation when it
might completely mislead the modern reader. When the First Folio is clearly
incorrect, or when I wish to quote lines only found ina quartoedition,Ihave
made use of whichever alternative text is best regarded by experts in early
modern printing practices.
There are a few significant differences, therefore, between the quotationsin
thisbookandthosefoundinmosteditionsofShakespeare’splays.Closecom-
parison between modern practices and those of Shakespeare’s contemporaries
reveal the following patterns:
• The early texts use far more capitalized words, usually nouns which we consider
general and which they make proper, with some adjectives, and fewer verbs alsoso
modified.
• The early texts usecommas tomark placesfortheactortobreathe.Moderneditors
regularlymodifythesein accordancewith rules of grammar.
• The early texts use other punctuation marks quite differently than we do today.
Modern editors regularly “normalize” these, privileging grammar and correct usage
over an evocationof the flow of ideas in spokencommunication.
• The early texts seldom made a clear differentiation between the plural and the pos-
sessive,anothergrammatical“error”correctedbymoderneditors.Unfortunately,this
requiresthemtochoosebetweenoneofthetwofollowinginterpretationsofOphelia’s
famous line, as in The Riverside Shakespeare where it appears as: “The courtier’s, sol-
dier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword” [Hamlet 3.1.151], when the folio reads: “The
Courtiers, Soldiers, Scholars: Eye, tongue, sword,” leaving it open whether theeye,
tongue,and swordin questionbelongto one or all courtiers,soldiers,and scholars.
• The early texts create compound words, or present as two separate words some
common compoundwords,such as “myself”or “tomorrow.”
• The early texts sometimes breakupthelinesofpoetrydifferentlythaniscustomary
in modern texts. In extreme cases, they present as prose entire passages which are
reproduced as poetry by modern editors. In Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse’s long me-
ander down memory lane, in which a toddling Juliet gets a bump on her forehead,
x Preface
appears as prose in all three early editions. Mercutio’s famous evocation of Queen
Mab appears aspoetryonlyin thefirst(1603)quarto;thesecond(1604)quartoand
the First Folioboth presentthis as prose.
Because I have recreated the choices made by the first editors, the quotations
in this book might strike the modern reader as unexpected or even incorrect.
CAPITALIZATIONS
The First Folio presents no coherent pattern of making proper nouns of
various objects and concepts, tempting modern editors to conclude that the
practice was influenced as much by the availability of upper and lower case
letters in the typesetter’s box as it was by anything in the originalmanuscript.
By including the First Folio capitals in this book, I have made it possible for
you to judge for yourself, and glean what information you wish from these
markers.
Inmakingacomparisonbetweenmodernpunctuationandthatfoundinthe
earlytexts,Ihaveobservedthatmoderneditorsquiteoftenaddanexclamation
mark to reflect the strong emotion clearly expressedin thesituation,whenthe
first editor loaded on the capital letters and used a humble period. Consider,
for example, that most famous of lines, “A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a
horse!” [RIII 5.4.7] which in the First Folio appears as, “A Horse, a Horse,
my Kingdom for a Horse.” The four capital letters in that line evoke, for me,
the shouting of a desperate man, a tidy equivalent to the three exclamation
marks in the modern version.
Another speech from this play reminds us of the effect of linkingindividual
andspecificwordstouniversalconcepts.HereistheDuchessofYork,mother
of the title character, describing his childhood:
No by the holyRood, thouknow’stit well,
Thou camest on earth,to make the earthmy Hell.
A grievousburthenwas thy Birth to me,
Tetchy and waywardwas thy Infancy.
Thy School-daysfrightful,desp’rate,wild, and furious,
Thy prime of Manhood,daring, bold, and venturous:
Thy Age confirmed,proud,subtle,sly, and bloody,
More mild, but yet more harmful;Kind in hatred:
What comfortablehour canst thou name,
That evergraced me with thy company?[RIII4.4.166]
The capitalization in this speech transforms her memories intoanother“seven
agesofman”speech,markingforustheuniversalityofthestagesofRichard’s
life, from his birth and infancy, through school days, to manhood and finally
maturity, marked by theword“Age.”WhenJaqueshasagoatthesameidea,
his version makes use of similar capitalizations, describing “the Infant, /