Welcome
back! As we move along with this
scene, I will not include the massive blocks of definitions for variant
spellings, capitalized or unfamiliar words. Just remember that those words require special
attention. For the sake of these
blog entrees, I will make some choices, but these are by no means the only
choices to be made.
So let’s get
back to work. Moving along to the
next block of text:
…………………………………………………….your
Honestie?
I trulie: for the power of Beautie, will sooner
transforme Honestie from what
it is, to a Bawd, then the
force of Honestie can
translate Beautie into his likenesse.
This was sometime a Paradox,
but now the time gives it
proofe. I did love you once.
Hamlet’s cue repeats his word ‘Honesty’ that he used earlier
– don’t worry that it’s capitalized in the cue, that’s not his line, but it is
significant that ‘Honesty” is being repeated. The word is obviously an important one, and it should be
used, maybe as a weapon, maybe as something being bonded over, but attention
must be paid.
‘I trulie.’ ‘I’
could be the first person singular pronoun, meaning ‘Truly me.’ It could be an abbreviation for ‘ay’
meaning ‘yes,’ or ‘aye’ meaning ‘forever.’ Pick one, the play does not hinge on these two words. Throughout this block, Honesty and
Beauty are repeated, always capitalized.
Pay attention. ‘Bawd,’ a
false woman, is set in opposition to ‘Honesty.’ It is a difference that can be physicalized, so physicalize
it. ‘Paradox,’ is another
capitalized word, and is set against ‘proofe.’
‘I did love you once,’ uses ‘you,’ and being impersonal,
gives the line blocking that backs up the meaning of the line.
The following block of text does not contain any capitalized
words, but there is some tricky stuff.
Again, Hamlet is repeating a word in his cue. (Repeated words do not always appear in the cue line, so
always pay attention.)
‘Innoculate’ and ‘relish’ are words that we don’t use very often, so be
familiar with their meanings.
‘Vertue’ is spelled differently than we are used to. ‘I loved you not.’ Here is a change, since Hamlet is
contradicting what he last said.
Play the change.
Now
we get to the meat of this section.
‘Get thee to a Nunnerie.’
First
of all, this is such a famous line, beware the baggage. In all performance it is important to
come to it fresh as if it is the first time, but there is an added danger with
classical theatre, especially Shakespeare. So much of what he wrote has become catch phrases and buzzwords
in today’s society, and that meaning creeps in no matter what we, as
performers, do. It is important to
minimize that impact on your interpretation, and make the line yours.
Hamlet’s
biggest shift in the scene appears in this line. ‘Get THEE to a Nunnerie.’ For the first time, he says ‘thee’ which means he is
invading someone’s personal space.
Any time there is a shift in the mode of address, this signals something
is changing in the character and the actor should play this change. Physicalize it and make it as big as
possible. Maybe Hamlet is speaking
to someone new on the scene. Maybe
not. How this shift is made is up
to the actor in the moment, because until the moment of performance, he is unaware
of the situation.
In this block of text ‘Nunerie,’ Sinners,’ ‘Mother,’
‘Ambitious,’ ‘Fellowes,’ ‘Heaven,’ ‘Earth,’ ‘Knaves,’ ‘Nunnery’ and ‘Father’
are all capitalized. These words
are important to the sense of the speech and should be given weight in their
delivery and physicality. Hamlet
has a list of attributes: ‘prowd (notice the spelling), revengefull,
Ambitious,’ all which should be physicailzed. There is also a bit of stage direction for himself: ‘…with
more offences at my becke, then I have thoughts to put them in imagination, to
givethem shape, or time to acte them in.’ What are these offences? That’s the
actor’s choice, but it is evident that there is some attempt to show us what
they are.
In
that last line, notice the placement of the comma in the list after
‘imagination’ and not before.
Logically, it should be set up so that the thoughts run:
thoughts
to put them in,
imagination
to give them shape,
or
time to acte them in.
Instead,
it runs:
thoughts
to put them in imagination,
to
give them shape,
or
time to acte them in.
Could
this be a mis-print? Possibly. But
play the comma, the inflection that it invokes on ‘imagination’ and see what
happens. Hamlet doesn’t sound logical.
Something, literally, will not
sound right if the punctuation is followed. Follow it.
Also
of note is that the word ‘nunnery’ appears twice in this block, and is spelled
differently both times. Why? Was there some typographical confusion
in these 10 lines at the printing house? Did they need to conserve I’s and E’s at these points on the
page? Maybe. Or it’s a clue. Treat it as a clue and see what turns
up. Nunnery becomes a very important word, and should be looked up.
Also
note that Hamlet uses ‘we’ and plurals of
‘Fellowes’ and ‘Knaves.’ ‘Beleeve none of us.’ Even if there is an army on stage, this
is a wonderful time to include the audience. Include the audience in the performance.
We
will leave it here for today, and pick up with the rest next time. I hope that it is becoming apparent
just how much is in the text – not for the scholars, although they, too, have an embarrassment
of riches – but for the actors performing the role in the way of stage
directions and clues to the characters.
-Andy Kirtland
Works
Cited
Shakespeare,
William, Neil Freeman, and Paul Sugarman. The Applause First Folio of
Shakespeare in Modern Type. New York: Applause, 2001. Print.
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