Shakespeare through the reflection of his plays
Aims;
- to raise awareness about poetic genious of William Shakespeare
- to raise interest in Shakespeare's plays
- to penetrate into the atmosphere of the theatre
- to train artistic skills and abilities to transform into medieval characters
- to comprehend English through drama
SCENARIO
Muse: Friends,
Romans, Countrymen!
Lend me your ears
We’ve all come here
To praise Shakespeare!
Elf : The
applause! Delight! The wonder of our stage!
Muse: Thou art a
monument without a tomb,
And art alive still while
thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read
and praise to give.
Muse: He was not of an age, but for all time!
( comes out Shakespeare with feather-pen and a paper)
Shakespeare: All the world’s a stage,
And all the men
and women merely players.
They have their exits and their
entrances,
And one man in
his time plays many parts,
His acts being
seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and
puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy
with his satchel
And shining
morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to
school. And then the lover,
Sighing like
furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his
mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange
oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in
honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble
reputation
Even in the cannon’s
mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with
good capon lined,
With eyes severe and
beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern
instances;
And so he plays his part.
The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and
slippered pantaloon
With spectacles on nose
and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well
saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and
his big manly voice,
Turning again toward
childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his
sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange
eventful history,
Is second childishness
and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes,
sans taste, sans everything.
( S.
takes his place at the back of the stage at the table and starts writing smth)
Muse: His drama is just the perfect mirror of life.
Muse: So let us try to ponder in that mirror and experience true love in its
best implication.
Muse: For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and
her Romeo.
Enter LADY CAPULET and NURSE
LADY CAPULET
Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.
NURSE
What, ladybird!
God forbid! Where’s this girl? What, Juliet!
Enter JULIET
JULIET
What is it? Who’s calling me?
NURSE
Your mother.
JULIET
Madam, I am here. What is your will?
LADY CAPULET
This is the matter.— Nurse,
You know that my daughter is of a
pretty age.
NURSE
Yes, I know her age down to the hour.
You were the prettiest baby I ever nursed.
If I live to see you get married someday,
I have my wish.
LADY CAPULET
Marry, that “marry” is the very theme
I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,
How stands your disposition to be married?
JULIET
It is an honor that I dream not of.
LADY CAPULET
Well, think of marriage now. Younger than you
Here in Verona, ladies of esteem
Are made already mothers.
Give us a quick answer.
JULIET
I’ll look to like if looking liking move.
NURSE
Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.
( they leave the stage, Juliet goes up the balcony on stage)
Muse: Both
bewitchèd by the charm of looks,
To breathe such vows as
lovers use to swear.
Muse: And she as
much in love, her means much less
To meet her new beloved
anywhere.
But passion lends them
power, time means, to meet,
Tempering extremities
with extreme sweet.
(
ROMEO and JULIET dancing )
ROMEO
Can I go forward when my heart is here?
Turn back to where my heart is.
But wait, what’s that light in the window over there?
It is the east, and Juliet is the
sun.
Rise up, beautiful sun, and kill the jealous moon.
It is my lady. Oh, it is my love.
Oh, that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
JULIET
Oh, my!
ROMEO
(aside) She
speaks.
O, speak
again, bright angel!
JULIET
(not knowing
ROMEO hears her) Oh, Romeo, Romeo,
why do you have to be Romeo?
Deny your father and
refuse your name.
ROMEO
(aside)
Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET
Romeo would
be just as perfect
even if he
wasn’t called Romeo.
Romeo, lose your name.
Trade in
your name
and take all
of me in exchange.
ROMEO
(to JULIET) I trust your words
Call me but
love,
and I will
take a new name.
From now on
I will never be Romeo again.
JULIET
Who are you?
Why do you
hide in the darkness
and listen
to my private thoughts?
Tell me, how
did you get in here?
And why did
you come?
ROMEO
I flew over
these walls with the light wings of love.
For stony limits
cannot hold love out,
And what
love can do, that dares love attempt.
JULIET
Who told you
how to get here?
ROMEO
Love showed
me the way
Love told me
what to do,
and I let love borrow my eyes.
JULIET
Do you love
me?
I know
you’ll say “yes,”
and I’ll
believe you. But if you swear you love me,
you might turn out to be lying.
ROMEO
Lady, I swear by the sacred moon above
JULIET
Don’t swear by the moon. The moon is always changing.
ROMEO
What should I swear by?
JULIET
Don’t swear at all.
And I’ll believe thee.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep. The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
(the NURSE calls from offstage)
I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu.—
Just a minute, good Nurse.
ROMEO
Oh, blessed, blessed night!
Because it’s dark out,
I’m afraid all this is just a dream,
too sweet to be real.
JULIET
Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow
where and when we’ll be married.
I’ll lay all my fortunes at your feet
And follow thee my lord throughout the world.
NURSE
(offstage) JULIET!
JULIET
(to the NURSE) I’ll be right there!
(to ROMEO) But if you don’t have honorable intentions, I beg you—
NURSE
(offstage) JULIET!
JULIET
Alright, I’m coming!—I beg you to stop trying for me and leave me to my
sadness. Tomorrow I’ll send the messenger.
ROMEO
My soul depends on it—
JULIET
A thousand times good night.
( JULIET leaves the balcony )
ROMEO
I hope you sleep peacefully.
I wish I were Sleep and Peace,
so I could spend the night with you.
A thousand times the worse to want the light.
Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
I doubt it not, and all these woes shall serve
For sweet discourses in our time to come.
Farewell! I won’t miss any chance to send my love to you.
( ROMEO exits.)
JULIET
It’s almost morning. I would have thee gone.
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night
until tonight becomes tomorrow.
Muse: A glooming peace this morning with it brings.
The sun, for sorrow,
will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more
talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardoned,
and some punishèd.
Shakespeare: For never was a story of more woe
Than
this of Juliet and her Romeo.
(song Someone like u / Can’t
help falling in love with u)
Muse: Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow,
A poor player
That struts and frets his
hour
Upon the stage,
And then is heard no more;
Full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Muse: There are, indeed, more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your
philosophy…
Elf: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!
HAMLET
To be, or not to be? That is the question—
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
But shh,
here comes the beautiful Ophelia.
—Soft you
now,
The fair
Ophelia!—Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my
sins remembered.
Oh! Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
OPHELIA
No, my lord
HAMLET:
I mean, my head upon your lap? Do u
think I meant country matters?
OPHELIA:
I think nothing, my lord.
HAMLET:
That’s a fair thought to lie between
maid’s legs.
OPHELIA
What is, my lord?
HAMLET
Nothing.
OPHELIA
U are merry, my lord.
HAMLET
Who, I? What should a man do but be
merry.
OPHELIA
Good, my lord. How does your honor
for this many a day?
HAMLET
I humbly thank u, well, well, well.
OPHELIA
My, lord, I have rememberances
of yours
That I have longed to deliver
I pray u now receive them.
HAMLET
No, not I, I never gave u
ought.
OPHELIA
My lord, u know right well u
did.
And with them words of so sweet
breath composed
As made these things more rich.
Their perfume lost,
Take these again, for to the
noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
There, my lord.
HAMLET
Ha, ha! Are u honest?
OPHELIA
My lord!
HAMLET
Are u fair?
OPHELIA
What means your lordship?
HAMLET
That if you be honest and fair, your honesty
should admit no discourse to your beauty.
OPHELIA
Could beauty, my Lord, have better commerce
than with honesty ?
HAMLET
This was sometime a paradox,
but now the time gives it proof.
I did love u once.
OPHELIA
Indeed, my lord, u made me believe
so.
HAMLET
U should not have believed me. I
loved u not.
OPHELIA:
I was the more deceived.
HAMLET
Get thee to a nunnery! I am
myself indifferent, honest,
But yet I could accuse me of
such things that it were better
My mother had not borne me.
I am very proud, revengeful,
ambitious. What should
Such fellows as I do crawling
between earth and heaven?
Believe none of us!
OPHELIA
O, help him, YOU sweet heavens!
HAMLET
If thou need marry, marry a fool,
for wise men know well enough what monsters u make of them.
OPHELIA
Heavenly powers, restore him!
HAMLET
Go to, I’ll no more on it.
It has made me mad.
I say we will have no more
marriages!
Those that are married already.
Shall live, the rest shall keep as they are.
To a nunnery, go!
OPHELIA
Oh,what a noble mind is here overthrown!
He used to have his grace, soldier’s, scholars, eye, tongue, sword…
The glass of fashion the mould of
form
The one admired and observed
Quite , quite down !
And I of ladies most dejected and wretched,
Now see that noble…
That unmatched form and feature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy.
Oh how miserable I am to have seen what I have seen,
see what I see!
(Ophelia exits)
Muse: Of that I
shall have also cause to speak,
But let this same be presently
performed
Even when men’s minds are
wild,
Lest more mischance
On plots and errors happen.
We know what we are, but we
know not what we may be…
A man bearing a crown enters, followed by KINGLEAR, then GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA
LEAR
Meantime we
shall express our darker purpose.—
Give me the
map there.—Know that we have divided
In three our
kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent
To shake all
cares and business from our age,
Conferring
them on younger strengths while we
Unburdened
crawl toward death.—Our son of Cornwall,
And you, our
no less loving son of Albany,
We have this
hour a constant will to publish.
My daughters, since I’m about to give up my throne
and the worries that go along with
it,
tell me which one of you loves me most,
so that I can give my largest gift to the one
who deserves it most.
—Goneril, my oldest daughter, you speak first.
GONERIL
Sir, I love you more than words can say.
I love you more than eyesight, space, and freedom,
beyond wealth or anything of value.
I love you as much as life itself,
and as much as status, health, beauty, or honor.
I love you as much as any child
has ever loved her father,
with a love too deep to be spoken of.
I love you more than any answer to
the question “How much?”
CORDELIA
(to herself) What will I say? I can only love and be silent.
LEAR
I give you all this land, from this line to that one
—dense forests, fertile fields, rivers rich with fish, wide meadows.
This land will belong to your and Albany’s children forever.
—And now what does my second daughter Regan,
the wife of Cornwall, have to say? Tell me.
REGAN
Sir, I’m made of the same stuff as my sister
and consider myself just as good as she is.
She’s described my feelings of love for you precisely,
but her description falls a little
short of the truth.
I reject completely any joy except my love for you,
and I find
that only your majesty’s love makes me happy.
CORDELIA
(aside)Then poor
Cordelia!
And yet not
so, since I am sure my love’s
More
ponderous than my tongue.
LEAR
You and your
heirs hereby receive this large third of our lovely kingdom,
no smaller in area or value than what I gave
Goneril.
—Now, you,
my youngest daughter, my joy,
courted by
the rich rulers of France and Burgundy,
what can you
tell me
that will
make me give you a bigger part of my kingdom
than I gave your sisters? Speak.
CORDELIA
Nothing, my
lord.
LEAR
Nothing?
CORDELIA
Nothing.
LEAR
How? Nothing
will come of nothing. Speak again.
CORDELIA
I’m unlucky.
I don’t have a talent for putting my heart’s feelings into words.
I love you
as a child should love her father,
neither more
nor less.
LEAR
What are you
saying, Cordelia?
Revise your
statement, or you may damage your inheritance.
CORDELIA
My lord, you
brought me up and loved me,
and I’m
giving back just as I should:
I obey you,
love you, and honor you.
How can my sisters speak the truth
when they
say they love only you?
Don’t they
love their husbands too?
Hopefully
when I get married,
I’ll give my
husband half my love and half my sense of duty.
I’m sure
I’ll never get married in the way my sisters say
they’re
married, loving their father only.
LEAR
But goes thy
heart with this?
CORDELIA
Ay, good my
lord.
LEAR
So young and
so untender?
CORDELIA
So young, my
lord, and true.
LEAR
Then that’s
the way it’ll be.
The truth
will be all the inheritance you get.
I swear by the sacred sun, by the mysterious
moon,
and by all the planets that rule our lives,
that I
disown you now as my daughter.
As of now,
there are no family ties between us,
and I
consider you a stranger to me.
Don’t get in
my way when I’m angry.
I loved
Cordelia most of all
and planned
to spend my old age with her taking care of me.
(toCORDELIA) Go
away! Get out of my sight!
—I guess if
she doesn’t love her father,
then I’ll
only have peace when I’m dead.
Elf 1
Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to love and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste-
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste.
Elf 2
And Love therefore is said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy Love is perjured everywhere.
A Fairy and Robin Goodfellow meet
onstage.
ROBIN
Hello, spirit! Where are you going?
FAIRY
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire.
I do wander everywhere
I work for Titania, the Fairy Queen,
And organize fairy dances for her in the grass.
ROBIN
The king’s having a party here tonight.
Just make sure the queen doesn’t come anywhere near him,
Because King Oberon is extremely angry.
He’s furious because she stole an adorable boy from an Indian king.
She’s never kidnapped such a darling human child before,
And Oberon’s jealous.
He wants the child for himself,
To accompany him on his wanderings through the wild forests.
But the queen refuses to hand the boy over to Oberon.
And now Oberon and Titania refuse to speak to each other,
Or meet each other anywhere—
Neither in the forest nor on the plain,
Nor by the river nor under the stars.
FAIRY1
But I work for Titania, the Fairy Queen,
And organize fairy dances for her in the grass.
Goodbye, you dumb old spirit. I’ve got to go.
The queen and her elves will be here soon.
OBERON enters
My dear Puck, come here.
You remember the time when I was sitting on a cliff,
And I heard a mermaid sitting on a dolphin’s back
Sing such a sweet and harmonious song.
ROBIN
Yes, I remember.
OBERON
That same night, I saw Cupid flying from the moon to the earth,
With all of his arrows ready.
He took aim at a beautiful young virgin
Who was sitting on a throne in the western part of the world,
And he shot his arrow of love.
But I could see that Cupid’s fiery arrow
So the royal virgin continued her virginal thoughts
Without being interrupted by thoughts of love.
But I paid attention to where Cupid’s arrow fell.
It fell on a little western flower, which used to be white as milk
But now has turned purple from being wounded by the arrow of love.
Young girls call it “love-in-idleness.” Bring me that flower.
ROBIN
I could go around the world in forty minutes. Exit ROBIN
OBERON
Having once this juice,
I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
The next thing then she waking looks upon—
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey or on busy ape—
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
ROBIN enters.
OBERON
Do you have the flower? Welcome, traveler.
ROBIN
Yes, here it is.
OBERON
I pray thee, give it me.
(takes flower from ROBIN)
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
I’ll put the juice of this flower on Titania’s eyes,
And fill her with horrible delusions and desires.
FAIRY1(sings)
You spotted snakes with double
tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen.
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong.
Come not near our fairy queen.
FAIRY3(sing)
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby.
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm
Nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh.
So good night, with lullaby.
The
FAIRIES sing and dance. TITANIAsleeps.
OBERON
(he squeezes flower juice on TITANIA ’s
eyelids)
Whatever you see first when you wake up, think of it as your true love.
ROBIN enters,
unseen by the characters onstage.
(to himself) Who
are these country bumpkins swaggering around
So close to where the fairy queen is sleeping?
What? Are they about to put on a play?
I’ll watch. And I’ll act in it, too, if I feel like it.
BOTTOM
(as PYRAMUS) Thisbe, flowers with sweet odious smells—
“Odors,” “odors.”
Odors and smells are
like your breath, my dearest Thisbe dear.
But what’s that, a voice! Wait here a while.
I’ll be right back!
The blackbird with its black feathers
And its orange-and-tan beak,
The thrush with its clear voice,
The wren with its small, piping
chirp!
TITANIA
(waking) What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
BOTTOM
(singing)
The finch, the sparrow, and the
lark,
The gray cuckoo with his simple
song
That many men hear
But they don’t dare say no to it—
TITANIA
Please sing again, sweet human.
I love to listen to your voice,
And I love to look at your body.
I know this is the first time I’ve ever seen you,
But you’re so wonderful that
I can’t help swearing to you that I
love you.
BOTTOM
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that.
And yet, to say the truth, reason
And love keep little company together nowadays.
TITANIA
You’re as wise as you are beautiful.
BOTTOM
No, that’s not true. But if I were smart enough to get out of this forest,
I’d be wise enough to satisfy myself.
TITANIA
Don’t bother wishing you could leave this forest,
Because you’re going to stay here whether you want to or not.
I’m no ordinary fairy. I rule over
the summer, and I love you.
So come with me. I’ll give you fairies as servants,
And they’ll bring you jewels from the depths of the ocean,
And sing to you while you sleep on a bed of flowers.
And I’ll turn you into a spirit like us, so you won’t die as humans do.
—Come here, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed!
Be kind and polite to this gentleman.
Follow him
around. Leap and dance for him.
Feed him apricots and blackberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries.
OBERON
Welcome, good Robin. Do you see this sweet sight?
Now I’m starting to pity Titania for
being so infatuated.
I ran into her recently at the edge of the forest.
I’ll undo the spell that makes her vision so disgustingly wrong.
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed ass’s head off of the head of that
Athenian man.
But first I’ll release the fairy
queen from the spell.
(OBERON squeezes the juice from the
second flower into TITANIA’s eyes)
Be like you used to be, and see like you used to see.
This bud belongs to Diana, the
goddess of virginity,
And it has the power to undo the effects of Cupid’s flower.
Now, Titania, wake up, my sweet queen.
TITANIA(waking up)
Oberon, I’ve had such a strange dream! I dreamed I was in love with
an ass.
OBERON
There lies your love.
TITANIA
How did this happen? Oh, I hate looking at his face now!
OBERON
Be quiet for a while.—Robin, take off his donkey head.—
ROBIN
(removing the ass’s head from BOTTOM)
When you wake up,
see things with your own foolish eyes again.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended—
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearnèd luck
Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long.
Else the Puck a liar call.
So good night unto you all.
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
Shakespeare
Join your hands, and with your hands your hearts.
MUSIC
No comments:
Post a Comment