Shakespeare’s Language by Frank Kermode. 2000. Read in August 2011.
I
started reading this book just a few days after having visited Stratford upon
Avon for the first (and so far only) time.
Kermode
goes against the attitude that Shakespeare’s works, having been meant for the
stage, can only be thoroughly appreciated on the stage. He emphasizes the
importance of Shakespeare as a writer and has written a detailed and
fascinating book in which he really explores about as many aspects of Shakespeare’s
language as you can think of, giving many examples from the plays.
Part
One is a general discussion of various plays. Part Two chooses a specific play
for each chapter, not only the major plays but some of the lesser known like Pericles,
Troilus and Cressida and Coriolanus. For example, in his chapter
about Pericles, Kermode points out that Marina’s “indignation summons
the Shakespearian fondness for the abrupt, violent, usually monosyllabic verb”
(page 259). In Troilus and Cressida he makes the claim that “the
language is almost everywhere concerned with questions relating to value” (page
129).
He
also looks at specific words, for example “brow” and tells us that this word or
its plural “brows” occurs in the plays 129 times. This is in the chapter about Hamlet
and it is shown that some scholars think brows can mean lunacies but Kermode
doesn’t think it’s that simple: “Much might be deduced from the condition of
the brows” (page 117).
Some
of his reasoning is a bit convoluted and it’s not always explained. Towards the
end of the book he mentions “the muscle-bound contortions of the late
Shakespeare’s language” (page 304) and while I like the sound of it, I don’t
really know what he means.
When
starting to write analyses of the plays for Shakespeare Calling I thought I
would be referring often to this book, but I don’t remember having done so even
once. That still might come however. It
really is an interesting book.
Am currently reading this. Mightily disappointing Part One. One third quotations, one third paraphrase of the quotations, one third description of plots - all pedestrian beyond belief. I expected a lot more from such a big name. Am planning to read eight chapters from Part Two, but I think I'll need a break first.
ReplyDeleteIt's been so long since I read this that I scarcely remember it. Mostly a lot of details I think. I did think it was interesting though, evidently.
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