William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (12 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
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BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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Here we have
thee
being used as an index of warmth of feeling - quite the reverse of the insulting use of
thou
between nobles noted earlier. Similarly, thou-forms can be used as an index of intimacy, as when Graziano and Bassanio meet (
The Merchant of Venice
, 2.2.170-90). They begin with the expected exchange of you:
thee
being used as an index of warmth of feeling - quite the reverse of the insulting use of
thou
between nobles noted earlier. Similarly, thou-forms can be used as an index of intimacy, as when Graziano and Bassanio meet (
The Merchant of Venice
, 2.2.170-90). They begin with the expected exchange of you:
GRAZIANO
I have a suit to you.BASSANIOYou have obtained it.GRAZIANO
You must not deny me. I must go with you to
Belmont.BASSANIO
Why then, you must.
But Bassanio then takes Graziano on one side and gives him some advice. The more intimate tone immediately motivates a pronoun switch: ‘But hear thee, Graziano, I Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice’. And he continues with
thou
-forms for the rest of his speech. When Graziano swears he will reform, the relationship returns to the normal public mode of address:
thou
-forms for the rest of his speech. When Graziano swears he will reform, the relationship returns to the normal public mode of address:
BASSANIO Well, we shall see your bearing.
And they
you
each other for the rest of the scene.
THE CHOICE BETWEEN VERSE AND PROSEyou
each other for the rest of the scene.
Shakespeare’s practice in using verse or prose varied greatly at different stages in his career. There are plays written almost entirely in verse (e.g.
Richard II
) and others almost entirely in prose (e.g.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
), but most plays display a mixture of the two modes, with certain types of situation or character prompting one or the other. Verse - whether rhymed or unrhymed (‘blank’ verse) - is typically associated with a ‘high style’ of language, prose with a ‘low style’. This is partly a matter of class distinction. High-status people, such as nobles and generals, tend to use the former; low-status people, such as clowns and tavern-frequenters, tend to use the latter (though in a ‘verse play’, such as
Richard II
, even the gardeners talk verse). Upper-class people also have an ability to accommodate to those of lower class, using prose, should occasion arise. ‘I can drink with any tinker in his own language during my life’, says Prince Harry to Poins (
I Henry IV
, 2.5.18-19). And lower-class people who move in court circles, such as messengers and guards, are able to use a poetic style when talking to their betters. This lower-class ability to accommodate upwards can take listeners by surprise. The riotous citizens at the beginning of
Coriolanus
all use prose, but when Menenius reasons with them, in elegant verse, the spokesman gradually slips into verse too - much to Menenius’ amazement: ‘Fore me, this fellow speaks!’ (1.1.118).
Richard II
) and others almost entirely in prose (e.g.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
), but most plays display a mixture of the two modes, with certain types of situation or character prompting one or the other. Verse - whether rhymed or unrhymed (‘blank’ verse) - is typically associated with a ‘high style’ of language, prose with a ‘low style’. This is partly a matter of class distinction. High-status people, such as nobles and generals, tend to use the former; low-status people, such as clowns and tavern-frequenters, tend to use the latter (though in a ‘verse play’, such as
Richard II
, even the gardeners talk verse). Upper-class people also have an ability to accommodate to those of lower class, using prose, should occasion arise. ‘I can drink with any tinker in his own language during my life’, says Prince Harry to Poins (
I Henry IV
, 2.5.18-19). And lower-class people who move in court circles, such as messengers and guards, are able to use a poetic style when talking to their betters. This lower-class ability to accommodate upwards can take listeners by surprise. The riotous citizens at the beginning of
Coriolanus
all use prose, but when Menenius reasons with them, in elegant verse, the spokesman gradually slips into verse too - much to Menenius’ amazement: ‘Fore me, this fellow speaks!’ (1.1.118).
The distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ style is also associated with subject matter. For example, expressions of romantic love are made in verse, regardless of the speaker’s social class.
If thou rememberest not the slightest folly
That ever love did make thee run into,
Thou hast not loved.
Or if thou hast not sat as I do now,
Wearing thy hearer in thy mistress’ praise,
Thou hast not loved.
This elegant plaint is from Silvius, a shepherd (
As You Like It
, 2.4.311-6), but it could have come from any princely lover. Conversely, ‘low’ subject matter, such as ribaldry, tends to motivate prose, even when spoken by upper-class people. When Hamlet meets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (
Hamlet
, 2.2.226), they exchange a prose greeting, then the two visitors open the conversation at a formal, poetic level. But Hamlet brings them down to earth with a jocular comment, and the ribald follow-up confirms that the conversation is to stay in prose. (It is a widespread editorial practice to print prose lines immediately after the speaker’s name, and verse lines beneath it. However, discrepancies between different editions show that the distinction is not always easy to draw.)
As You Like It
, 2.4.311-6), but it could have come from any princely lover. Conversely, ‘low’ subject matter, such as ribaldry, tends to motivate prose, even when spoken by upper-class people. When Hamlet meets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (
Hamlet
, 2.2.226), they exchange a prose greeting, then the two visitors open the conversation at a formal, poetic level. But Hamlet brings them down to earth with a jocular comment, and the ribald follow-up confirms that the conversation is to stay in prose. (It is a widespread editorial practice to print prose lines immediately after the speaker’s name, and verse lines beneath it. However, discrepancies between different editions show that the distinction is not always easy to draw.)
HAMLET My ex’llent good friends. How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz—good lads, how do ye both?ROSENCRANTZAs the indifferent children of the earth.GUILDENSTERNHappy in that we are not over-happy,
On Fortune’s cap we are not the very button.HAMLET Nor the soles of her shoe?ROSENCRANTZ Neither, my lord.HAMLET Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favour?GUILDENSTERN Faith, her privates we.
In a play where the upper-class protagonists tend to speak prose, it takes moments of special drama to motivate a switch to verse, as in the scene when Claudio accuses Hero of being unfaithful (
Much Ado About Nothing
, 4.1). Beatrice uses nothing but prose in the first half of this play, but, left alone after overhearing the news that Benedick loves her, she expresses her newly heightened sensibilities in ten lines of rhyming verse (3.1.107-16). In
Othello
(1.3), the Duke of Venice speaks only verse in debating the question of Othello’s love for Desdemona, but when he has to recount the affairs of state, he resorts to prose (1.3.220-7).
Much Ado About Nothing
, 4.1). Beatrice uses nothing but prose in the first half of this play, but, left alone after overhearing the news that Benedick loves her, she expresses her newly heightened sensibilities in ten lines of rhyming verse (3.1.107-16). In
Othello
(1.3), the Duke of Venice speaks only verse in debating the question of Othello’s love for Desdemona, but when he has to recount the affairs of state, he resorts to prose (1.3.220-7).
These norms explain only a proportion of the ways that verse and prose are used in the plays. There are many instances where people switch between one and the other, and when they do we must assume it is for a reason. Sane adults do not change their style randomly. For example, in
Much Ado About Nothing
(2.3.235-41), Benedick is tricked into thinking that Beatrice loves him, so when he next meets her he uses verse as a sign of the new relationship. Beatrice, however, at this point unaware of any such thing, rejects the stylistic overture, and her rebuttal forces Benedick to retreat into prose:
Much Ado About Nothing
(2.3.235-41), Benedick is tricked into thinking that Beatrice loves him, so when he next meets her he uses verse as a sign of the new relationship. Beatrice, however, at this point unaware of any such thing, rejects the stylistic overture, and her rebuttal forces Benedick to retreat into prose:
BEATRICE Against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner.BENEDICKFair Beatrice, I thank you for your pains.BEATRICE I took no more pains for those thanks than you would take pains to thank me. If it had been painful I would not have come.BENEDICK You take pleasure, then, in the message?
This is prose as put-down. And we see it again in the opening scene of
Timon of Athens
(1.1.179-91), where Timon and his flatterers have been engaged in a genteel conversation in verse about social and artistic matters. The arrival of the cynical Apemantus lowers the tone, and - anticipating trouble - the speakers switch into prose:
Timon of Athens
(1.1.179-91), where Timon and his flatterers have been engaged in a genteel conversation in verse about social and artistic matters. The arrival of the cynical Apemantus lowers the tone, and - anticipating trouble - the speakers switch into prose:
TIMONLook who comes here.Will you be chid?JEWELLER We will bear, with your lordship.MERCHANT He’ll spare none.
Timon tries to maintain the high tone by addressing Apemantus in verse, and Apemantus shows he is capable of the high style by responding in kind; but his acerbic comments introduce a low tone which forces all to retreat into prose:
TIMONGood morrow to thee, gentle Apemantus.APEMANTUS
Till I be gentle, stay thou for thy good morrow—
When thou art Timon’s dog, and these knaves
honest.TIMONWhy dost thou call them knaves? Thou know’st
them not.APEMANTUS Are they not Athenians?TIMON Yes.APEMANTUS Then I repent not.JEWELLER You know me, Apemantus?APEMANTUSThou know’st I do. I called thee by thy name.
The one-line poetic riposte to the jeweller, under the circumstances, has to be seen as a mocking adoption of the high style.
If verse is a sign of high style, then we will expect aspirants to power to use it to make their case, and disguised nobility to use it when their true character needs to appear. An example of the first is in Contention, where Jack Cade is claiming to be one of Mortimer’s two sons, and thus the heir to the throne. He and his fellow rebels speak to each other in prose. When Stafford and his brother arrive, they show their social distance by addressing the rebels in verse. But Cade is playing his part well, and responds in verse, as would befit someone with breeding. His rhetoric is so impressive, indeed, that it even influences the Butcher, who responds uncharacteristically with a line of verse of his own (4.2.140-5):
The elder of them, being put to nurse,
Was by a beggar-woman stol’n away,
And, ignorant of his birth and parentage,
Became a bricklayer when he came to age.
His son am I—deny it an you can.BUTCHERNay ‘tis too true—therefore he shall be king.
An example of disguised nobility is in
Pericles
(19.25 ff.), when governor Lysimachus arrives at a brothel with the intent of seducing Marina, whom he thinks to be a prostitute. The conversation between him, Marina, and the brothel-keepers is entirely in prose. Left alone with her, however, Lysimachus begins courteously in verse, and is taken aback when Marina shows she can respond in the same way, and moreover use the mode to powerful rhetorical effect. ‘I did not think | Thou couldst have spoke so well’, he says, as he repents of his intention. Marina knows the power of poetry, and uses it again later in the scene to persuade Boult to take her side.
Pericles
(19.25 ff.), when governor Lysimachus arrives at a brothel with the intent of seducing Marina, whom he thinks to be a prostitute. The conversation between him, Marina, and the brothel-keepers is entirely in prose. Left alone with her, however, Lysimachus begins courteously in verse, and is taken aback when Marina shows she can respond in the same way, and moreover use the mode to powerful rhetorical effect. ‘I did not think | Thou couldst have spoke so well’, he says, as he repents of his intention. Marina knows the power of poetry, and uses it again later in the scene to persuade Boult to take her side.
The switch from verse to prose, or vice versa, can also give us insight into the state of mind of a speaker. In the case of Pandarus (
Troilus and Cressida,
4.2.51-6), the switch to prose signals confusion. Aeneas calls on Pandarus early one morning, urgently needing to talk to Troilus, who has secretly spent the night with Cressida. The formal encounter and serious subject matter motivate verse. But Aeneas’ directness catches Pandarus off-guard, who confusedly lapses into prose:
Troilus and Cressida,
4.2.51-6), the switch to prose signals confusion. Aeneas calls on Pandarus early one morning, urgently needing to talk to Troilus, who has secretly spent the night with Cressida. The formal encounter and serious subject matter motivate verse. But Aeneas’ directness catches Pandarus off-guard, who confusedly lapses into prose:
AENEAS
Is not Prince Troilus here?PANDARUSHere? What should he do here?AENEAS
Come, he is here, my lord. Do not deny him.
It doth import him much to speak with me.PANDARUS Is he here, say you? It’s more than I know,
I’ll be sworn. For my part, I came in late. What
should he do here?
Something similar happens to Polonius, when he gets confused (
Hamlet
, 2.1.49-51). He has been giving Reynaldo a series of instructions in verse, but then he loses the track of what he is saying:
Hamlet
, 2.1.49-51). He has been giving Reynaldo a series of instructions in verse, but then he loses the track of what he is saying:
And then, sir, does a this—a does—
what was I about to say? By the mass, I was about to
say something. Where did I leave?
And Reynaldo reminds him, in verse.
In the case of Benvolio and Mercutio, meeting in
Romeo and Juliet
(3.1.1-10), we have two very different states of mind signalled by the two modes. The temperate Benvolio begins in verse, but he cannot withstand the onslaught of Mercutio’s prose:
Romeo and Juliet
(3.1.1-10), we have two very different states of mind signalled by the two modes. The temperate Benvolio begins in verse, but he cannot withstand the onslaught of Mercutio’s prose:
BENVOLIOI pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire.
The day is hot, the Capels are abroad,
And if we meet we shall not scape a brawl,
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.MERCUTIO Thou art like one of these fellows that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table and says ‘God send me no need of thee’, and by the operation of the second cup, draws him on the drawer when indeed there is no need.BENVOLIO Am I like such a fellow?
And they continue in prose.
In another meeting, between Cassius and Brutus in
Julius Caesar
(4.2.80-8), the switching between verse and prose acts as a guide to the temperature of the interaction. They are accusing each other of various wrongs. For the most part they speak verse to each other; but when they are on the verge of losing their temper, they switch into prose:
Julius Caesar
(4.2.80-8), the switching between verse and prose acts as a guide to the temperature of the interaction. They are accusing each other of various wrongs. For the most part they speak verse to each other; but when they are on the verge of losing their temper, they switch into prose:
CASSIUS Brutus, bay not me.
I’ll not endure it. You forget yourself
To hedge me in. I am a soldier, I,
Older in practice, abler than yourself
To make conditions.
BRUTUS Go to, you are not, Cassius.
CASSIUS I am.
BRUTUS I say you are not.
CASSIUS
Urge me no more, I shall forget myself.
And Cassius resumes in verse, until once again, Brutus drives him to explode into prose (4.2.112-118):
CASSIUSWhen Caesar lived he durst not thus have moved me.BRUTUSPeace, peace; you durst not so have tempted him.CASSIUS I durst not?BRUTUS No.CASSIUS What, durst not tempt him?BRUTUS For your life you durst not.CASSIUSDo not presume too much upon my love.
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