TURN words into drama - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

TURN words into drama

How to get to the heart of Shakespeare’s languageSlide2

MACBETH

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Is

this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand?

Art

thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou

marshall'st

me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,

Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There's no such thing:

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes.

I

go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell. Slide3

Keys to Performing Shakespeare

Know

WHAT you are saying

Know WHY you are saying it

If

you do the above in detail then...

The

HOW will care of itselfSlide4

The focus in text analysis is knowing:

The

meaning of the words individually and together

(including definitions, historical allusions, poetic language, imagery, etc.)

The overall dramatic context for what is spoken

The specific dramatic circumstances that result in the words

The inflection and use of the words and punctuationSlide5

Let’s practice together!

O that this too

too

solid flesh would melt,

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!

Or that the Everlasting had not

fix'd

His canon '

gainst

self-slaughter! O God! God!

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable

Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Fie

on't

! ah, fie!

'Tis

an

unweeded

garden

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

But two months dead! Nay, not so much, not two.

So excellent a king, that was to this

Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother

That he might not

beteem

the winds of heaven

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!

Must I remember

?Slide6

Here’s your reminder of the steps you take in textual analysis:

Know the

chronology

of the play

and what leads up to your piece

L

ook

up the meanings

of unfamiliar words

Examine language

for repetition, opposites, lists, etc.

Use the

punctuation

and

identify

the

operative

words

Divide

the piece into idea

beats or

phrases

Consider

acting transitions

between beats/phrasesSlide7

What do I do with my text?

Go through the exact same process we just did together as a class – follow the steps to translate and score your piece.

Use your notecards to write your text beat/phrase by beat/phrase.

Write the beat/phrase translation on the back of the card.

Go through the text and begin to mark punctuation, operative words, etc.