Brush up your Shakespeare, start quoting him now

Life is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant taste of death but once

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[quote=The Merry Wives of Windsor]Let vultures gripe thy guts![/quote]

That's todays quote from my calendar of Shakespearean insults.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" - William Shakespeare

When I was a teenager, I memorized the entire Hamlet monologue, ("To Be or Not to Be"), and quoted it all the time. Here is an interesting take on it by the Sonnet Man:

Reply to swstephe Thanks for the rap Hamlet.

Reply to Wosret I've always been acquainted with the Latin phrase "Tanta stultitia mortalium est," but forgot Shakespeare used it too.

I took my son to a Shakespearean theater and got the cayenne flavored peanuts and a Guinness. There was this fat actor who played two roles, which speaks to possible budgetary issues. Some orthodox Jews sat beside us and they brought their own food due to their dietary restrictions. The seats to the extreme left and right were the cheapest, but they remained empty due to the difficulty one would have watching the play. The homeless man who blocked the outside entry way politely moved without incident.

Why just a father and son were there might have been contemplated by the father and daughter seated behind me.

All the world's a stage.

Reply to Hanover It sounds more like all the world is a lunch room. Did you happen to notice what play was being performed?

As you like it.

There is one monologue from Shakespeare that actually brings tears to my eyes when I read it. I really wish someone would do it in the voice I read. So far, every video I've seen, it is done very dispassionately and arrogantly, (and in RP English which sounds even more dispassionate and arrogant to my non-British ears). It is the "Mercy Speech" from the Merchant of Venice, (Act IV, Scene I, for those who care about those details):

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I:The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.

It should be read with passion and humiliation, in a moment when the "bad guy" has pretty much won. It should be more like Charlie Chaplin's final speech from The Great Emperor -- or even the "To Bait Fish Withal", which usually gets a much better dramatic read BBC Off By Heart or even Al Pacino.

Great passage. Thank you.

You might like "Original Pronunciation" more than "Received Pronunciation". I might prefer it too except that I have heard no more than a few phrases of OP Shakespeare. I took Chaucer in college using Chaucer's Middle English text and pronunciation. It's easier to read in modern English, of course, but its atmosphere is better in the OP. I would think learning OP for Shakespeare -- the text and the pronunciation at the same time --would be a bit daunting, especially early in its acquisition.

American college productions often follow American pronunciation; is that better? Can't decide. I'd like to see a play done in OP.

Here's a bit about OP: (I'd love to have the young guy's voice)

Reply to Bitter Crank

I've seen the video before, as I was researching some stories about the history of English, (kind of an interest in linguistics), and I've gone through Chaucer ... and don't forget Beowulf's language, (Beowulf=bee+wolf=bear). I think most Americans are under the impression that the English spoke like Prince Charles ever since the days of King Arthur, and Americans ended up speaking this way because we were lazy and uneducated. But I found out that actually the English and Americans spoke the same way, then England built up a new way of speaking to differentiate the classes, and it started catching on in Boston, (pahk the cah), when the Revolution came along. I've heard some people say that Shakespeare's Original Pronunciation sounds like a mix of American and Irish, with a bit of Aussie. I heard Liam Neeson started in the Dublin Shakespeare company. He should do a Shakespeare movie in his native accent.

Interesting thing about Boston -- some people from the north side of Boston (and some of the suburbs to the north) use a glottal stop when pronouncing a double t (tt) as in bottle or throttle. They might also use the soft r (the 'pahk the cah' example, though I associate that more with central or south Boston--it's a New England thing).

Appalachian American English certainly preserves some of the musical heritage of England from the 17th and 18th century, and likely preserves some features of pronunciation. I generally don't find Appalachian English especially pleasant to listen to, because many of the singers who I have heard are true folk singers -- as singers, not very good in many cases, though what they are singing is valuable heritage. It's definitely not a southern accent.

Did you see the movie Trainspotting? Not really that many trains in it; the directer added subtitles to some scenes, because, well, the Scots' English was just about as comprehendible as Shakespeare played backwards. (It had that memorable scene in "the filthiest toilet in Scotland" so the sign said.)

Reply to Bitter Crank
Here is some interesting trivia about Trainspotting -- the filmmakers initially considered subtitles, then decided to have all the actors dub in their lines with less of an accent for American audiences. So if the version you saw had subtitles, were they added to the original or Americanized version? My fiance. (originally from Indonesia), lived in Aberdeen, Scotland for a few years, (also college in Manchester and married to a New Zealander), so she has no problem with the thickest Scottish accent, but she is still struggling with American English. She has difficulty differentiating between when I say "can" and "can't". She also ended up feeling cheated when she ordered "chips" and didn't get what we call "french fries".

Quoting Hanover

As you like it.

Thanks, but what play was it?

To me it makes more sense to quote philosophers rather than a playwright.

Quoting YIOSTHEOY

To me it makes more sense to quote philosophers rather than a playwright.

And why is that?

Reply to Bitter Crank

There is no big deal about any screenwriter.

You might as well be quoting John Milius as Shakespeare.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Shakespeare wasn't a screen writer. He was a playwright. Died 400 years ago.

I think most people in the English speaking world know who Shakespeare was.