Poetry vs. Storytelling

I have a theory: we enjoy a Shakespeare production more when there is a balance between poetry and storytelling. I feel that Shakespeare's poetry should support the story, and that Shakespeare isn't really Shakespeare without the poetry. It's becoming very popular to rid Shakespeare's plays of poetry (or to "translate" them to contemporary English altogether), in an attempt to make them more accessible. While accessibility is certainly important, I feel that by utilizing the poetry in Shakespeare's text effectively, we can provide the audience with a more rich experience, while still telling the story. It's all about balance.

Too much emphasis on the poetry makes for more of a recitation than a play. 'cause WHEN you SEE a PLAY where ALL the AC-tors SPEAK like THIS, it ALL gets VE-ry TIRE-some AF-ter ON-ly SEC-onds, SEE? These tools should be to assist in telling the story, not distracting from it. In Much Ado About Nothing, the play is very much in prose until Claudio and Don Pedro begin to speak of love. The shift to verse when matters of the heart are being discussed doesn't need to be overwrought for the audience to feel the new groove. The rhythms support the text; characters in love often speak in verse because these feelings are too big for the everyday prose they may otherwise use. Likewise, if a character starts rhyming, they may be doing so to impress another character or the audience with their wit, or even to annoy another character. 

Image: Tee Public

Neglecting poetry in favor of the plot negates the whole reason the play was written in this beautiful language and rhythms and rhymes in the first place. There are countless ways to make a love-sick teen named Romeo fall for a headstrong girl named Juliet. The fact that their first lines to each other form a sonnet is simply divine! Why? Because NO ONE SPEAKS IN SONNETS SPONTANEOUSLY IN REAL LIFE. That's a big part of what makes it magical. If you take the poetry out of the equation, then what is truly special to show the audience that these two are meant to be? "Hey, girl" doesn't cut it.

The goal is to give the story the spotlight and to use the poetry as the structure to tell this tale. Here are some questions to help you determine your path through the poetry:

Do the characters know they are speaking in verse?

If they are rhyming?

If they are using a lot of metaphors?

Are the words they're speaking spontaneous, or have they been well-rehearsed for this much-anticipated moment?

Is their alliteration proving their intellect, or is it a fun coincidence that they realize after the fact, or are they oblivious? 

These are just some of the ways we can use the poetry of Shakespeare to help support the story. What ways do you use Shakespeare's poetry to help tell the story? Let me know in the comments!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Soft

Romeo

He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Olivia

Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit

Do give thee fivefold blazon. Not too fast! Soft, soft!

Unless the master were the man. How now?

Even so quickly may one catch the plague?

Gloucester

And thus I clothe my naked villainy,

With odd old ends stol'n forth of holy writ,

And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

But soft, here come my executioners.

How now, my hardy, stout, resolved mates,

Are you now going to dispatch this thing?

The word "soft" is already in your vocabulary as the antonym of "hard", and the opposite of "loud". But when you run across this word in Shakespeare's text used as you see in the examples above, it doesn't really seem to mean "cushy" or "quiet". Sometimes, words that used to have several definitions have only maintained a few of them as time passed and language has evolved, so we need to dig a little deeper to understand the true meaning of a seemingly familiar word in its 400-year-old context.

This is an instance where Alexander Schmidt's Lexicon doesn't offer a lot of help:

However, a father and son pair of Shakespeare scholars, David Crystal and Ben Crystal, explore the possible meanings a bit further in their glossary, Shakespeare's Words. (Their website is a phenomenal resource, and can be found here.) Check out the fourth "soft" down:

In the above instances (and many more), the word "soft" is spoken as a sort of interjection. It interrupts the action, and shows a shift in the direction that the scene is about to go. 

In Act II, Scene 2 of Romeo & Juliet, Romeo is hiding from his friends, Benvolio and Mercutio, who were loudly searching for him and mocking him. The appearance of Juliet surprises him. Whether he anticipated her arrival or he just lucked out, this is an exciting change of events, so Romeo's "But soft" is basically another way to say "hold up", or "hang on"!

Olivia is having an exciting moment for her "Soft, soft!" in Twelfth Night's Act I, Scene 5. Although she has sworn off courtship to mourn her father and brother, when she meets the Viola (in disguise as "Cesario"), she is smitten. Alone onstage, she recalls portions of their previous conversation and then lists several of Cesario's best attributes before saying "Not too fast! Soft, soft!" She may be sprung, but she's practically saying "slow your roll!" She hardly knows the guy, but she can't deny her feelings, which propels a lot of action in this play .

Finally, in Richard III, Act I, Scene 3, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is bragging about how well he is fooling everyone into thinking that he's a good guy in one of his several soliloquies. Then, the two murderers he has hired to kill his brother arrive, and he shifts back into the scene with "But soft, here come my executioners." He might as well say, "wait a moment" as he turns the focus to these new characters.

When you see "soft" used in this way, especially in a soliloquy or aside, be on the lookout for a change in the energy and direction of the scene. Think of it as "hold up", "wait", "just a sec", or even "slow your roll, girlfriend", and you'll help the audience follow your character's journey!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Fair

Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

How happy some o'er othersome can be!

Through Athens, I am thought as fair as she.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so...

Audrey (As You Like It)

Well, I am not fair, and therefore I pray the gods make me honest.

Chorus (Romeo & Juliet)

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

You may have guessed that the word "fair" is ALL OVER THE PLACE in Shakespeare's plays. It's a word that we, in the 21st century, primarily use to mean "just, in accordance with the rules or standards; legitimate." And sure, it often means that in Shakespeare's text, too, but it also has a few other definitions, most notably "beautiful", "of a white complexion", and "clear, unspotted, pure." Sometimes, it even means "kind", "good", or even "honorable." 

(Side note: Alexander Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary is a great resource - and here's how to use it.)

One thing that we have to be aware of when we approach Shakespeare's plays 400+ years after they were written is the ideals of the people presenting the plays and the intended audience. Shakespeare's audience seemed to enjoy, appreciate, and idealize their definition of beauty. This type of "fair" includes people of a pale complexion (particularly ladies), and people with blonde hair.

This is especially apparent in a play like A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the two young ladies, Hermia and Helena, are rivals. Helena mentions in her soliloquy at the beginning of the play that "through Athens, I am thought as fair as she". As the play progresses, we see numerous references to Hermia being darker in color (in hair or skin, it isn't specified): "Not Hermia, but Helena I love./ Who will not change a raven for a dove?" is Lysander's love declaration to Helena. As the "dove" in this metaphor, she would be more "fair" (light in color) than a "raven", and therefore more beautiful to Elizabethans than the darker Hermia.

In As You Like It, Audrey says that she is "not fair", which probably means "not beautiful", but also likely means "not pale." Many characters we meet in the Forest of Arden are shepherds and goatherds, and they would spend a great deal of time in the sun. To many Elizabethans, being pale was part of being ideally beautiful, so the idea of Audrey using "fair" in the "pale/beautiful" context holds up. In the same play, Phebe is insulted when her features are described as dark: "He said mine eyes were black and my hair black..." The amazing thing about Shakespeare's writing is that even though his characters' ideals of beauty may be different from what ours currently are, he makes it abundantly clear that this is what matters in this particular society of the play!

In these instances and many others, "fair" is a synonym for "beautiful." This can apply to objects as well as people:

Proteus (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)

But pearls are fair...

Sometimes, "fair" means "good":

Olivia (Twelfth Night)

Let thy fair wisdom, not thy passion, sway

In this uncivil and unjust extent

Against our peace.

Finally, let's look at the opening lines from Romeo & Juliet. "Fair Verona" could mean a great many things: a beautiful city, a just and lawful place, a place without blemish (i.e. nothing bad happens here), it's elegant, and even fortunate. Any and all of these choices are accurate descriptions of the Verona we see in the text - until things go horribly wrong! 

"Fair" is a very common word in Shakespeare's plays, and now you'll have a jumping off point for what it means in different contexts!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Asides

A couple of weeks ago, we covered the soliloquy, and what makes it different from a monologue (feel free to catch up here if you missed that post). Today, we're going to talk about another device that Shakespeare uses, the aside.

An aside is when a character onstage speaks to the audience or to one or more characters in the scene and is not heard by one or more other characters onstage. Anyone onstage who's not supposed to hear what's being said miraculously doesn't hear it! Shakespeare employs this device as a way for a character to comment on the action onstage, often with mockery or sarcasm. Like a soliloquy (which is basically a long aside), a character using an aside to break the fourth wall gets the opportunity to share more of themselves than the audience would otherwise see.

As we go through some examples, I want you to realize that Shakespeare doesn't write any stage direction indicating that this is an aside. Some modern editors will identify asides in printed editions, but this is often inconsistent, so it's a good idea to know how to find these (and play with them) on your own.

Here's a mocking aside, from Puck in Act III, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Bottom:

"Thisbe, the flowers of odious savors sweet" --

Quince:

Odorous, odorous.

Bottom:

-- "Odors savors sweet;

So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear.

But hark; a voice! Stay you but here a while,

And by and by I will to thee appear."

Exits 

Puck:

A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.

Exits

Flute:

Must I speak now?

Puck totally disses Bottom's acting to the audience (who can see and hear him), but none of the other characters onstage react, and just carry on with their rehearsal. In Midsummer, none of the human characters see or knowingly interact with Puck, so he maintains his otherworldliness as a powerful spirit.

Asides are at the heart of this hilarious scene from Twelfth Night (Act  II, Scene 5), where Malvolio fantasizes about his boss' affections, not realizing he has an audience of his enemies eavesdropping:

Malvolio:

Tis but fortune, all is fortune. Maria once told me she did affect me, and I have heard herself come thus near, that should she fancy, it should be one of my complexion. Besides, she uses me with a more exalted respect than anyone else that follows her. What should I think on't?

Sir Toby:

Here's to an overweening rogue!

Fabian:

O, peace! Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him. How he jets under his advanc'd plumes!

Sir Andrew:

'Slight, I could so beat the rogue!

Sir Toby:

Peace, I say!

Malvolio:

To be Count Malvolio!

From Malvolio's perspective, he is alone in the garden, so I think of his lines as a soliloquy with impeccably-timed pauses, where the other characters make their reactions. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian (and perhaps Maria, depending on the production), hide and take turns reacting to Malvolio's antics and shushing each other.

At the beginning of Romeo & Juliet, the Capulets (Gregory and Samson) and Montagues (Abraham and Balthazar) are having a confrontation and consulting their kinsmen as they go:

Abraham:
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Samson:
I do bite my thumb, sir.

Abraham:
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Samson:
Is the law on our side if I say "ay?"

Gregory:
No.

Samson:

No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir,

but I bite my thumb, sir.

Samson and Gregory need a second to discuss things privately before continuing to push the Montagues' buttons, so they take it. It also shows the audience that there are rules in this society that can and cannot be broken, and that some people, aka Samson, are afraid of the consequences.

This scene from Measure for Measure is FULL of asides: Lucio joins Isabella for moral support (and a little bit of coaching) as she pleads to Angelo to spare her condemned brother's life. 

Isabella:

We cannot weigh our brother with ourself.

Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them,

But in the less foul profanation.

Lucio:

Thou'rt i' th' right, girl, more o' that.

Isabella:

That in the captain's but a choleric word,

Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

Lucio:

Art avis'd o' that? More on't.

Angelo:

Why do you put these sayings upon me?

Isabella:

Because authority, though it err like others,

Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That skins the vice o' th' top. Go to your bosom,

Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know

That's like my brother's fault. If it confess

A natural guiltiness such as is his,

Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue

Against my brother's life.

Angelo:

                  She speaks, and 'tis

Such sense that my sense breeds with it. --

Fare you well. 

In this short piece of Act II, Scene 2, we have Lucio cheering on Isabella (probably without Angelo hearing, because Angelo doesn't address Lucio or tell him to shut up), and Angelo taking a quick time out to let us know that Isabella might be persuading him.

Asides in Shakespeare are hidden gems for you to discover, and they give you opportunities for comedy or to create a relationship with the audience, so make sure you give them their due!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Lady Capulet

One of the things I love about Shakespeare is that he gave us such unique and individual characters in his plays. Some of them are so fleshed out that they seem to be real people; with histories, favorite things, enemies, habits, and speech patterns that make them who they are. Shakespeare doesn't always spell everything out for us, the way we might see in a modern play's character list. Instead, we have to mine the text for clues as to who these characters really are, so that when we present them onstage, we are showing them as multi-faceted, relatable, human beings. Today, I want to take a look at a character that I feel is performed a lot (although not yet by me), that many people don't give a lot of attention to, but who I still find wildly fascinating: Lady Capulet from Romeo & Juliet.

I feel like Lady C is overlooked, and I want to shine a little light on her, because this chick is so interesting! First of all, she's in ten scenes in the play (a few she just kind of makes an appearance and isn't the focus), but only speaks 114 lines of verse, which is not a lot. The Nurse speaks about twice as much, and even Benvolio and Mercutio each speak more than Lady Capulet - and Mercutio dies halfway through the play! She's a major presence, but we don't hear all that much from her, so we need to follow the clues to understand her as much as we can as a character, then use our own imaginations as actors to fill in the blanks. Shakespeare gave us more info than you might expect, though, so let's play text detectives and see what we can learn about this Real Housewife of Verona!

Lady Capulet is YOUNG. I would say she's probably about 26. 

How did I come up with that number? We hear from the Nurse in Act I, scene 3 that Juliet is 13, about two weeks away from turning 14. Then Lady Capulet chimes in:

I was your mother much upon these years

That you are now a maid.

Time for some basic math, right? If Juliet is 13, and Lady Capulet was around that same age when Juliet was born, that would make her right around 26. Her husband is significantly older, although we can't be sure of his age. In Act I, scene 1, when he wants to grab a sword and start fighting, Lady Capulet says:

A crutch! A crutch! Why call you for a sword?

And when Lord Capulet and his cousin, Old Capulet, are enjoying the party in Act I, scene 5, they're bickering over whether it was 25 or 30 years since they were in the "dancing days" of their youth. Bringing up Capulet's age so closely to when we discover Lady Capulet's age only highlights how young she is, and the age gap between them. 

Lady Capulet might be barren because she had Juliet when she was so young. This exchange in Act I, scene 2 makes me wonder if Capulet is speaking of his wife's experience:

Paris

Younger than she are happy mothers made.

Capulet

And too soon marr'd are those so early made.

The earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she...

Whoa whoa whoa... Hold the phone! This looks like a MAJOR piece of information! It seems like Capulet doesn't want Juliet to suffer the same fate as her mom, which we can pretty clearly interpret here as having a baby very young, and not being able to have any more healthy kids. "The earth hath swallowed all my hopes" might be a metaphor, but he might be talking about miscarriages or children that died in infancy. That's absolutely tragic for the Capulets. Lord Capulet makes it extra clear that Juliet is their only child later, in Act III, scene 5, in a heated moment:

Wife, we scarce thought us blest

That God had lent us but this only child...

So Lord and Lady Capulet wanted more kids, but couldn't have any. Maybe that's why Lady Capulet really loved Tybalt (or she's putting on a big show for some reason). Lady Capulet is outspoken about her affection for her nephew, Tybalt. She immediately seeks revenge after his death in Act III, scene 1:

I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give:

Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.

It's unclear if Tybalt was the son of Lord Capulet's brother or Lady Capulet's brother, as they both separately call him "my brother's son" after his passing (Lady Capulet in Act III, scene 1 and Lord Capulet in Act III, scene 5). It's common for Shakespeare's characters to leave out any "in law" clarification, so it's unlikely that Lord and Lady Capulet are brother and sister as well as husband and wife - but if someone stages that production, I want a ticket.

And in Act III, scene 2, the Nurse tells Juliet her parents are "Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse."

However, only hours later, in the early morning of the next day in Act III, scene 5, Lady Capulet tells Juliet not to cry for Tybalt any more:

Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?
What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?
And if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live;
Therefore have done. Some grief shows much of love,
But much of grief shows still some want of wit.

Well, she got over that quickly! Maybe she's putting on a brave face, knowing she's about to break the news of Juliet's arranged marriage to Paris, or maybe her wailing over Tybalt was an act, or perhaps she is just out of tears to cry. 

Lady Capulet may seem passive in some scenes, letting her husband lead the charge when Juliet objects to marrying Paris in Act III, scene 5:

Here comes your father, tell him so yourself;

And see how he will take it at your hands.

But she seems to at least think of herself as a woman of action, devising a plan to poison Romeo in Mantua, where he is banished, earlier in the same scene. How serious she is about that is entirely dependent upon the production and the actor cast as Lady Capulet, but maybe she has ties to dangerous people in Mantua... Or maybe she's all talk.

When Lord Capulet starts hurling insults at Juliet and things are getting heated in Act III, scene 5, she tries to diffuse the situation:

Fie, fie, what, are you mad?

But ultimately sides with her husband on the matter in that scene, and shuts Juliet down like this:

Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word.
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.

So, my big question here is whose side is she on? Does she really think Juliet is being unreasonable, or that her husband is being abusive, or is it something more nuanced? Does she want to be the peacemaker, or does she just want to go back to crying over Tybalt's death?

When Juliet asks for forgiveness, Lady Capulet doesn't say anything, and lets her husband do the talking. Instead, her next five lines (over three scenes) are entirely about wedding planning. Granted, this already rushed event got moved up a few days, so Lady Capulet has a lot to do, but it makes me wonder if she was ever really angry at Juliet, or if she forgives quickly, or is covering up her feelings by keeping busy.

And then, in Act IV, scene 5, when Juliet's sleeping potion has convinced everyone that she is dead, Lady Capulet grieves in the way you might expect from a woman who has lost her only child:

But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,
But one thing to rejoice and solace in,
And cruel Death hath catch'd it from my sight!

You may have noticed that most of what I've dissected hasn't shown a "right" or "wrong" way to play Lady Capulet - I've just uncovered some of the options that are available when tackling such a rich and interesting character! Shakespeare gives us so much juicy material to work with, and it's our job as actors to find what works for our interpretation in each individual production to really bring these characters to life!

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The 10 Most Gruesome Deaths in Shakespeare

Stabbed. Poisoned. Drowned. Hanged. Beheaded.

There are some gory ways to die in Shakespeare's plays. Even George R. R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones and the rest of the A Song of Ice and Fire series admits that Shakespeare's kill-count exceeds the bloody world of Westeros, and I would have to agree with him! Here are some of the Bard's most cringe-worthy deaths:

10 - George, Duke of Clarence (Richard III)
Drowned in Wine

"You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon."
- 2nd Murderer

George seemed like an obstacle to his brother Richard in his plans for becoming the King of England. After convincing their elder brother, King Edward IV, that George was a threat, Richard had two murderers visit George's cell in the Tower of London. The murderers stab George and finish the job by drowning him in the "malmsey-butt" (approximately 252 gallons of wine) in the next room.

9 - Joan la Pucelle (Henry VI Part 1)
Burned at the Stake

"Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes,
Thou foul accursed minister of hell!"
- York

Shakespeare's Joan of Arc was hardly a saint. She is a skilled but cocky warrior who claims to be aided by the Virgin Mary but is actually assisted by demons. She insists she was nobly born, calling her Shepherd father a liar to his face. When she is sentenced to burn, she tries to save herself by switching her story: the virgin is now pregnant, and the question of who the father is turns into a scene to rival an episode of Maury Povich. 

8 - Arcite (The Two Noble Kinsmen)
Crushed by his Horse

"Backward the jade comes o'er, and his full poise
Becomes the rider's load."
- Pirithous

Arcite and his cousin Palamon both love the noble Emilia (who can't choose between them), and since they are both technically prisoners of war, an agreement is made that they will have a fight. The winner lives and weds Emilia, and the loser will die. Arcite's victory over Palamon is short-lived, as his horse crushes him during his celebratory parade. Palamon is allowed to live and wed Emilia, since this seems to be the Gods' will.

7 - Desdemona (Othello)
Smothered 

"Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!"
- Desdemona

Othello mistakenly believes that his lovely and loyal wife, Desdemona has been cheating on him with his subordinate, Michael Cassio. Iago, the criminal mastermind, works Othello up to a murderous rage using nothing but a handkerchief and manipulation. The jealousy that consumes Othello leads him to smother Desdemona in their bed (though the text never mentions a pillow). With her dying words, she claims Othello was blameless in her murder. When Othello realizes he's been tricked, he stabs himself and dies.

6 - Julius Caesar and Coriolanus, respectively
Stabbed by Conspirators

"Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods..."
- Brutus


"Cut me to pieces, Volsces, men and lads,
Stain all your edges on me."
- Coriolanus


Since their deaths are remarkably similar, I've decided that this one's a tie!

In Julius Caesar, despite warnings from a soothsayer and his wife, Calpurnia, Caesar goes to the Capitol and is stabbed repeatedly by Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and the other conspirators who fear he has grown too powerful.

A decorated war hero and elected official, Coriolanus loses favor in Rome due to his arrogance, hot temper, and inability to flatter. Upon being banished, Coriolanus joins with his former enemy, Aufidius and the Volsces, seeking revenge on Rome and its people. Coriolanus decides to spare Rome instead of sacking it when he has the chance, and the envious Aufidius labels him a traitor and convinces the Volsces to join him in stabbing Coriolanus to death.

5 - Portia (Julius Caesar)
Swallowed Fire

"With this she fell distract,
And (her attendants absent) swallow'd fire."
- Brutus

Portia is probably at least a little unstable to begin with. In Act II, Scene 1, she shows her husband, Brutus, that she has voluntarily given herself a wound on her thigh to show how tough she is so that he'll share his secrets with her. After killing Julius Caesar and inciting a civil war, Brutus hasn't been home in a long time, and his absence, coupled with the news of the strength of his allies, pushes Portia over the edge.

4 - Cloten (Cymbeline)
Beheaded

"With his own sword,
Which he did wave against my throat, I have ta'en
His head from him."
- Guiderius

The term "asshat" was invented for people like Cloten (though not by Shakespeare). This stupid, stinky, spoiled brat can't understand why his stepsister Imogen, who is already married, wouldn't want to marry him. He threatens to kill Imogen's husband and rape her... the dude has it coming. When he picks a fight with Guiderius, his head is separated from his body pretty quickly. He certainly isn't the only Shakespearean character to be beheaded - far from it - but it's a memorable exit for such a loathsome character.

3 - Aaron the Moor (Titus Andronicus)
Buried Alive 

"Set him breast-deep in the earth and famish him,
There let him stand and rave and cry for food.
If any one relieves or pities him,
For the offense he dies."
- Lucius

Aaron the Moor is a wholly unrepentant criminal mastermind. He works with his lover, Tamora, to pick off members of Titus Andronicus' family one by one. This play is Shakespeare's most bloody, with murders, rape, mutilation, and people being baked into pies and fed to their mother at a dinner party. While most of the characters die by a blade, Aaron's anticipated slow death is unique.

2 - Antigonus (The Winter's Tale)
Eaten by a Bear

"I'll go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman and how much he hath eaten."
- Clown 

Antigonus got the unenviable job of taking the king's infant daughter to a deserted place and abandoning her to the elements. Of course, he doesn't want to leave a baby alone to die in a storm, but the other option was throwing her in the fire. He lays down the baby, and then is chased offstage with Shakespeare's most famous stage direction: Exit, pursued by a bear. In case we weren't sure of poor Antigonus' fate, the clown sees the bear enjoying his dinner, and comes in to tell his father (who found the baby) all about it.

1 - Cinna the Poet (Julius Caesar)
Torn Apart by an Angry Mob

"Tear him to pieces, he's a conspirator."
- 1st Plebeian 

Unfortunately, there were two men named Cinna in Rome. Cinna the Poet is questioned by a group of Roman citizens, and when they find out his name is Cinna, they tear him limb from limb. The misguided Plebeians think he is the same Cinna that helped to murder Julius Caesar, and the innocent poet meets a grisly end.

Did any of these deaths surprise you?

Who do you think should have made the list?

Let me know in the comments! 

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Breaking Down the Bard - Trochees

Now that you know what verse is, and what perfect iambic pentameter is (and if you don't, feel free to read my previous Breaking Down the Bard posts to catch up), we've been tackling what happens when the verse has variations that break the pattern of perfect iambic pentameter.

Say this line of verse, and try to make it perfectly iambic:

Beauty is bought with judgement of the eye

beau-TY is BOUGHT with JUDGE-meant OF the EYE

Sounds flippin' weird, right? It sounds strange because nobody says "beauty" like "beau-TY"... and if they did, you would probably laugh at them. 

The word "beauty" is spoken with the emphasis on the first syllable: "BEAU-ty". It breaks the mould of the style of verse that is prevalent in this play (Love's Labour's Lost), and grabs our attention; which is great for the actor playing the Princess, because she is sort of schooling Boyet with this line. It sounds better when it's spoken like this:

BEAU-ty is BOUGHT with JUDGE-ment OF the EYE

Wow. Like a normal human is talking.

As you probably guessed from the title of this post, this type of metric foot is called a trochee. A trochee is the opposite of an iamb; a trochee is a stressed syllable, followed by an unstressed syllable, and an iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. 

Side note: it's pronounced "TROH-key". And yes, the word trochee IS A TROCHEE. Boom. But when you say "iamb", that's a trochee, too, so don't get too excited... you didn't just crack the verse code.

Just like iambs, trochees can be a word all on their own, or they can overlap two words, or be part of a larger word with more syllables. Some words that are trochaic all by themselves are: rainbow, bowling, baseball, country, delta, never, and zero.

Often, trochees will appear at the beginning of a line of Shakespeare's verse, where there has been primarily iambic pentameter. It gets the listener's attention:

Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull.

Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead,

And I would have it suddenly perform'd.

COU-sin, thou WAST not WONT to BE so DULL.

shall I be PLAIN? i WISH the BAS-tards DEAD,

and I would HAVE it SUD-den-LY per-FORM'D.

There might be a trochee on a line with a feminine ending, and/or at the beginning of a line after a feminine ending:

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return. 

TWO of the FAIR-est STARS in ALL the HEAV-en*

HAV-ing some BUS-'ness, DO en-TREAT her EYES

to TWIN-kle IN their SPHERES till THEY re-TURN

*As per usual, I will remind you that there are many ways to scan a line of verse. For this particular example, I have chosen to trochee the first foot, and pronounce "heaven" with two syllables to demonstrate the feminine ending. You certainly could keep the line in perfect iambic pentameter (by eliding "heaven" to "heav'n"), or any number of other options!

It doesn't have to be at the beginning of a line of verse:

O, what authority and show of truth

Can cunning sin cover itself withal!

o, WHAT au-THOR-i-TY and SHOW of TRUTH

can CUN-ning SIN COV-er it-SELF with-AL!

And when something magical is happening, Shakespeare might decide to use a trochaic style of verse INSTEAD OF iambic pentameter:

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

DOU-ble, DOU-ble, TOIL and TROU-ble;

FI-re BURN and CAUL-dron BUB-ble.

Or

Shall we their fond pageant see?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

SHALL we THEIR fond PAG-eant SEE?

LORD, what FOOLS these MOR-tals BE!

Trochees are awesome, because they shake things up and keep the audience listening! It sends a new energy and says, "listen up!" at just the right moment, so be on the lookout for this exciting kind of verse!

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