Bard 2009: Is “Fear” the Wrong Word?
Alice responded to my original Bard 2009 blog post this week and asked “do people really fear Shakespeare?” Thanks Alice – this is a great question and has really got me thinking: is “fear” the wrong word?
In the UK at least, I think there certainly is a sense of fear surrounding Shakespeare – I remember the fear in students’ eyes when I dished out the play scripts as a lecturer, I remember my own fear when I had to read Macbeth aloud in class aged 13. Perhaps we live in a world of quick fixes, whereas appreciating Shakespeare is a long-term commitment. Every time you go back to a play, you discover something new; something you hadn’t seen before. Your knowledge and appreciation builds up over time.
I think that people who like Shakespeare will seek it out. The uninitiated will always avoid it – that’s why I bleat on about the importance of “initiating” people.
Whenever I go to a Shakespeare event, it’s populated by people who already like Shakespeare; who have gotten over that “fear” that they won’t understand or never had it in the first place. Shakespeare simply is not on the agenda of the uninterested.
In this sense, I think I am talking about fear.
But Alice also said that “perhaps it is where you live. Here in New York, ordinary people love Shakespeare.” If that’s true, I find Alice’s statement to be a very refreshing one. Unfortunately, I think that a “stuffiness” has built up around Shakespeare in the UK and those running Shakespeare events have often found it difficult to shake that dusty image (mind you, there's some excellent, cutting edge work around).
But fear has nothing to do with this.
Alice has got me wondering if my approach to this is all wrapped up in my own sense of inadequacy. Perhaps fear is the wrong word because I’m actually describing my own early experiences with the Bard?
I always go to the theater in jeans, hoddie and Converse shoes. I fit in at contemporary theater productions. But, when I see Shakespeare, I nearly always feel uncomfortably underdressed. Perhaps I’ve never gotten over my own fear?
Ah, well. Back to the psychiatrist’s couch …
Comments
I recently posted a remark on my Facebook page to the effect that I love Shakespeare thanks to a great professor I had back in college. A 14 year old family friend of mine responded to the remark with a comment along the lines of “I love Shakespeare even though he confuses me sometimes”. I hope that she has great teachers in her future so that her confusion eventually turns to understanding, not fear!
I still fear him. I am reading him front to back between fiction books. His language is arcane and there isn’t really a lot of help I’ve found. Is there a website with his plays with current synonyms for arcane words accompanying the text somewhere? I mean in parenthesis in the text, not in footnotes that destroy the flow of the verse.
Even with a few arrangements for the modern reader he has become, like Chaucer, nearly a playwrite in a foreign language. Sad we don’t have better translations sic.
So many youngsters I have talked to have said they are ‘bored of Shakespeare’ not in fear of Shakespeare. Of course this statement is based on ignorance and as all Shakespearerean lovers know that Shakespeare is a beautiful language, but it requires to be given a little time and thought when reading.
It seems to me in this world that youngsters and adults alike have so many choices of reading material and getting to grips with the language of Shakespeare is not instantaneous.
If the reader can be patient and give the Shakespearean language a little time whilst reading it, and often read a piece several times it is then that his words become clearer.
There are many books published to introduce Shakespeare to modern readers which include beautiful imagery which can also help stimulate the reader to spend a little more effort actually getting to know Shakespeare’s stories. The reader can then open the door and go further into the world of Shakespeare.
There are also several glossaries to help readers and students to understand words which are not used in todays language.
There are new words in today’s language which I don’t even understand….so don’t ‘fear’ Shakespeare’s language even us oldies have to learn the youngsters new phrases and languages, as language continuously changes.