Working with Shakespeare

1
Working with Shakespeare

• So, you have got a piece of Shakespearean text to
  work with. Where do you begin? How on earth
  are you going to get to grips with it?

2
Working with Shakespeare

• This presentation is designed to help you
  discover and apply some of the skills necessary
  to ACT Shakespeare, discover the power of his
  language and bring his characters to life on
  stage.

3
Working with Shakespeare

• You will learn about
• Scansion,
• Breathing,
• Antithesis,
• Caesura,
• Reading Character,
• Paraphrasing,
• And pitching the parts.

4
Working with Shakespeare

• Never forget that the roles of Ophelia, Juliet,
  Cleopatra, Desdemona etc. were created for
  thirteen-year-old BOYS to play.

5
Working with Shakespeare

• Did these boys possess an exceptional
  understanding of mature women to help them play
  their roles effectively?
• Unlikely.

6
Working with Shakespeare

• What they did have was TECHNIQUE.
• With that they could play the role clearly and
  well enough for the audience to read and
  understand the psychology and motivation of the
  character.

7
Working with Shakespeare

• What follows is an introduction to the TECHNIQUES
  necessary to begin to play Shakespeare.

8
SCANSION

• Scansion is a technical term which describes the
  rhythm and structure of verse.
• Most of Shakespeares plays are written with
  Blank Verse.

9
SCANSION Blank Verse

• Blank verse is a form of poetry which has a
  regular rhythm but does not rhyme.
• The basic line in Shakespeare is five strong
  beats long, usually arranged in what we call
  iambic pentameter.
• Look at the following line.

10
Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,Should be
so tyrannous and rough in proof.

• This is said by Benvolio in Act I Scene I of
• Romeo and Juliet.

11
SCANSION The Iambic

• The rhythm of the iambic is ti-TUM.
• If you note each stressed syllable with capital
  letters you may find it easier to read the rhythm
  of the line.

12
aLAS, that LOVE, so GENtle IN his VIEWshould BE
so TYrannOUS and ROUGH in PROOF.

• Try reading this aloud and see just how the
  rhythm works.

13
SCANSION - Elision

• In some lines of text you will find that
  Shakespeare has abbreviated some words (usually
  marked with an apostrophe) to keep the rhythm
  flowing.
• This is called elision
• Look at the following example and try it out loud
  (remember to keep the five beats)

14
Horatio, thou art een as just a man

• From Hamlet III,ii.

15
SCANSION - Elision

• Notice how Shakespeare has elided even into
  een. This is very common in Shakespeare, as
  is eer for ever and i the for in the.

16
SCANSION - Elision

• Also notice how Shakespeare expects us to
  pronounce Horatio with only three syllables and
  not four in order to keep the rhythm right.
• This is a bit of elision you, as an actor, have
  to sort out.

17
SCANSION - Exercise

• Look at the following and have a go at scanning
  and eliding to make it fit the iambic pentameter

18
He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarse

• Lady Macbeth, from
• Macbeth I,v.

19
SCANSION - Exercise

• Here the word raven is pronounced almost as if
  it had only one syllable ravn, but, if the
  rhythm of the line is strong and flows properly,
  it sounds natural.

20
Please remember that in Shakespearean English the
final ed in the past tense of a verb is
frequently pronounced.i.e. calléd NOT calld
UNLESS that is what the text states.
21
SCANSION - Enjambment

• Another important concept is ENJAMBMENT.
• This basically means that you must not come to a
  full stop at the end of a line unless there is
  the punctuation there to stop you.
• Look at these lines

22
Now entertain conjecture of a timeWhen creeping
murmur and the poring darkFills the wide vessel
of the universe.

• From Henry V, Act IV Chorus

23
SCANSION - Enjambment

• All these lines make one unit of sense and should
  be read without a break.

24
SCANSION - Exercise

• Now look at the lines again and see just how big
  and important the final words of each line are.
  Hit them hard. Do not let the energy drop and
  swallow the final words of a line. They are
  usually the most important.

25
SCANSION - Exercise

• This means that, though you do not stop, you give
  the word at the end of the line a little more
  time, maybe lifting the inflection a little so as
  not to make the line sound as if it is coming to
  an end.

26
Now entertain conjecture of a timeWhen creeping
murmur and the poring darkFills the wide vessel
of the universe.

• From Henry V, Act IV Chorus

27
SCANSION - Exercise

• Notice also how Shakespeare deliberately varies
  the rhythm of the third line by reversing the
  order of the stresses to catch your ear

28
now ENterTAIN conJECcture OF a TIMEwhen CREEping
MURmur AND the PORing DARKFILLS the wide VESsel
OF the UN-i-VERSE.
29
SCANSION - Exercise

• Notice that the shift in rhythm falls on a verb.
• Verbs are very often given more stress in
  Shakespeares verse than we commonly tend to
  today.
• Even a common verb like to be often carries
  enormous importance.
• (There is one very famous example!)

30
SCANSION Feminine Endings

• Sometimes Shakespeare finishes a line with an
  unstressed syllable. This is not unusual in
  poetry and is called a feminine ending in the
  old books.
• Look at this famous example and try it for
  yourself.

31
To be or not to be that is the question

• From Hamlet, III,i.

32
SCANSION Feminine Endings

• A feminine ending is usually there to push your
  energy straight through to the next line, it sort
  of speeds up the pulse of that heavier, final
  word.

33
To be, or not to be, that is the
questionWhether tis nobler in the mind to
sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune,Or to take up arms against a sea of
troubles,And by opposing end them
34
SCANSION Feminine Edings

• Notice how all of those lines have feminine
  endings and that Hamlet has not yet completed his
  first sentence.
• Boy! Is he upset!

35
SCANSION Rhyming Couplets

• Not all of the writing in Shakespeare is in blank
  verse.
• At important moments and at the end of major
  scenes characters will speak a rhyming couplet.

36
SCANSION- Rhyming Coulplets

• A rhyming couplet is two successive lines of
  iambic pentameter which rhyme with each other.
• It is important when speaking these lines to
  follow all the guidelines used so far so as to
  give them the importance Shakespeare intends.

37
Away before me to sweet beds of
flowersLove-thoughts lie rich when canopied
with bowers.

• From Twelfth Night I, i.

38
SCANSION Other Rhythms

• Shakespeare also uses other forms of verse to
  show a characters homely or supernatural
  background.
• Look at this example of Pucks speech from Act II
  of A Midsummer Nights Dream.

39
SCANSION Other Rhythms

• Notice how Shakespeare uses a common four strong
  beat per line structure for the first four lines
  then finishes it with a rhyming couplet in
  pentameter.

40
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a
round,Through bog, through bush, through brake,
through brierSometime a horse I'll be, sometime
a hound,A hog, a headless bear, sometime a
fireAnd neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar,
and burn,Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at
every turn.
41
SCANSION Missed Beats

• Sometimes you will find that a line in the middle
  of a speech or piece of dialogue has fewer than
  five beats. This is often Shakespeares way of
  showing the actor(s) that there is a pause there.

42
SCANSION - Exercise

• Look at the following example and read it with
  the pauses (marked thus for each beat) in
  place.
• (Note that I have used the First Folio for this
  exchange from Othello Act III sc ii.)

43
Enter Desdemona and AemiliaOthello If she be
false, Heaven mockd it self Ile not
believet.Desdemona How now, my deere
Othello? Your dinner, and the generous
Islanders By you invited, do attend your
presence.Othello I am to blame.Desdemona Why
do you speak so faintly? Are you not well.
Othello I have a pain upon my Forehead,
heere.
44
SCANSION - Exercise

• It is obvious from the text itself that Othello
  is not listening to Desdemona until she asks
  after his health. He then must gather his
  thoughts and come up with an answer, one which
  reveals his doubt about her fidelity.

45
SCANSION - Exercise

• The way the last line is printed in the First
  Folio, with the capital letter and the extra e
  in here, is taken by many to show that these
  words need to carry extra weight.

46
Desdemona Why do you speak so faintly? Are you
not well. Othello I have a pain
upon my Forehead, heere.The menace of
Othellos line (totally missed by Desdemona but
obvious to the audience painforeheadhornscucko
ld) is all the greater by the time he takes to
prepare it and the deliberate emphasis on the
last two words is astounding. Add to that the
obvious physical action of touching or rubbing at
the spot, its significance so plainly missed by
the innocent Desdemona, and the total antithesis
of this couple screams at you from the stage.
This Mars and Venus (he is a Warrior and a Moor,
she a bella donna from Venice) are obviously
set on a collision course.
47
SCANSION - Prose

• It is worth noting that Shakespeare also lets his
  characters speak in prose ordinary, everyday,
  unrhymed, non-rhythmical speech.

48
SCANSION - Prose

• Shakespeare usually uses prose to show ordinary
  people, not Lords, Ladies or heroes. His clowns
  often speak in prose and a hero who can speak
  with common people in prose is often shown to
  have a special warmth.

49
SCANSION - Prose

• Look at this example from Twelfth Night when
  Olivias servant, Malvolio, tells her of a young
  messenger at her gate.

50
Madam, yond young fellow swears he will speak
withyou. I told him you were sick he takes on
him tounderstand so much, and therefore comes to
speakwith you. I told him you were asleep he
seems tohave a foreknowledge of that too, and
thereforecomes to speak with you. What is to be
said to him,lady? he's fortified against any
denial.
51
SCANSION - Prose

• Obviously, there are no special rhythmical
  requirements of speaking Shakespearean prose.
• Just two things to do.

52
SCANSION - Prose

• Understand the prose and make it sound natural!
• And
• Observe the rules about punctuation and breathing
  you will find later in the presentation.

53
SCANSION - CUES

• There is just one major point left to examine
• Picking up cues.

54
SCANSION - CUES

• THE FIRST RULE IS SIMPLE
• NEVER LET THE ENERGY DROP AT THE END OF A LINE OR
  SPEECH.
• HAND A FULL LOAD OF ENERGY ON TO THE NEXT ACTOR
  TO SPEAK.

55
SCANSION - CUES

• This can be reduced to the simple but memorable
  motto of
• SPIT IT OUT DONT SWALLOW IT!

56
SCANSION - CUES

• You will find that Shakespeare often makes a
  character finish a speech half way through a line
  of pentameter.

57
SCANSION - CUES

• This means that the next speaker MUST keep the
  rhythm of the line running when they pick up
  their cue WITHOUT A PAUSE (unless there is a
  definite, written break in the verse as in the
  extract from Othello used above).

58
SCANSION - CUES

• Look at the following example from A Midsummer
  Nights Dream when the four young lovers are in
  the throes of a major row

59
DEMETRIUS Quick, come!HERMIA
Lysander, whereto tends all
this?LYSANDER Away, you Ethiope!DEMETRIUS
No, no
he'llSeem to break loose take on as you would
follow,But yet come not you are a tame man,
go!  LYSANDER Hang off, thou cat, thou burr!
vile thing, let loose,Or I will shake thee from
me like a serpent!HERMIA Why are you grown so
rude? what change is this?Sweet love,--LYSANDER
Thy love! out, tawny
Tartar, out!Out, loathed medicine! hated potion,
hence!
60
SCANSION - CUES

• You can see here just how quickly this argument
  needs to be taken by the way the lines are
  divided between the speakers.

61
BREATHING

• The next major trick to learn is how to breathe
  properly, when to take a breath and how to
  control your breathing through a long line of
  text.

62
BREATHING

• The breathing MATTERS.

63
BREATHING

• In acting Shakespeare you need to approach the
  verse almost as if you were going to sing it.

64
BREATHING

• Remember Shakespeare makes language work in a
  way very few people have ever been able to
  before.
• So TREAT THE WORDS WITH RESPECT!

65
BREATHING

• The basic rule of thumb in working Shakespeares
  lines is
• Dont breathe until there is an important
  punctuation mark.

66
BREATHING

• Here is a simple guide to punctuation. It should
  help you to find where to take a breath and how
  to divide your speech into manageable chunks.

67
BREATHING - ,

• Normally the comma does NOT demand a breath. A
  comma denotes
• a change in the tone of voice or energy,
• a shift of focus,
• a qualifying point,
• the naming of the person to whom the line is
  being said.

68
Speak this line aloud using the changes of tone
rather than pauses (and remembering all that we
have done before) Alas, that love, so gentle in
his view,Should be so tyrannous and rough in
proof.
69
BREATHING AND

• The semi-colon is usually used to show that what
  follows is an expansion of what has just been
  said or an example of it.
• It can be shown by taking a top-up breath and
  changing voice tone.

70
BREATHING AND

• The colon is usually used to show an opposite
  point from what has gone before, often occurring
  suddenly and forcefully to the thinker/speaker.
• It can be shown by a greater change of voice tone
  and a SLIGHTLY fuller top-up breath.

71
Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,Make
mouths upon me when I turn my backWink each at
other hold the sweet jest upThis sport, well
carried, shall be chronicled.If you have any
pity, grace, or manners,You would not make me
such an argument.But fare ye well 'tis partly
my own faultWhich death or absence soon shall
remedy. Try this speech using all the breathing
and scansion tricks you have learned so far. You
should find that Helenas upset is clear from the
rhythm of this speech.
72
BREATHING - .

• In Prose it does exactly what it says on the tin.
• Stop,
• Take a full breath,
• Start again on a new sentence about a new subject.

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BREATHING - .

• In Verse it is only a FULL STOP WHEN IT OCCURS AT
  THE END OF A SPEECH OR LINE OF VERSE!
• THEN you can Stop,
• Take a full breath,
• Start again on a new sentence about a new subject.

74
BREATHING - ! ?

• In Shakespeares time exclamation and question
  marks were not always given the same weight as a
  full stop.
• The First Folio often uses them where we would
  use commas.
• You will need to try out the scansion and
  breathing for yourself to come to the best fit.
• Have a go at Hamlet again.

75
To be, or not to be, that is the
questionWhether tis nobler in the mind to
sufferThe Slings and Arrows of outrageous
Fortune,Or to take up Arms against a Sea of
troubles,And by opposing end them to die, to
sleepNo more and by a sleep, to say we endThe
Heart-ache and the thousand Natural shocksThat
flesh is heir to? Tis a consummationDevoutly to
be wished.
76
That is the first sentence of the speech, and
Shakespeare still does not seem to let the actor
take a full-stop breath! In fact the poor actor
has twenty-five lines before he hits an end of
line stop. But dont worry! Shakespeare does
give him a massive caesura in a four beat line to
take a pause (more of that later) and all this is
guidance, not gospel.P.S. The capital letters
are from the First Folio and could be taken as
marks to show which words need heavier hitting.
77
ANTITHESIS

• Antithesis is a word which describes something
  standing in opposition to another.
• You may want to go shopping but I want to go for
  a swim. 
• In the above line the words you and I are in
  antithesis.

78
ANTITHESIS 

• I didnt know whether to laugh or to cry.
• Here the antithesis is between the verbs to laugh
  and to cry.

79
ANTITHESIS 

• Shakespeare uses antithesis all the way through
  his plays to show oppositions between people,
  uncertainties, problems and tensions both in
  groups and within the individual.

80
ANTITHESIS 

• Antitheses can be found at every level in
  Shakespeare between groups, individuals, moods,
  opportunities hopes and fears
• Between Acts, scenes and speeches.

81
ANTITHESIS 

• Sometimes the antitheses are so strong that the
  words in opposition stand right next to each
  other and challenge the listener to make sense of
  them e.g. Romeos
• O, brawling love! O, loving hate!

82
ANTITHESIS 

• O, brawling love! O, loving hate! These
  strongest of all antithetical utterances are
  called oxymorons (from the Greek meaning
  sharp/dull).

83
ANTITHESIS 

• When reading your scenes find and mark the
  antitheses and be sure to hit them hard enough
  for an audience to register at least the key
  words in opposition.

84
ANTITHESIS 

• In a dialogue the antitheses can really help show
  the power and nature of the relationship between
  the characters.
• Look at the following excerpt from Romeo and
  Juliet

85
JULIET Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near
dayIt was the nightingale, and not the
lark,That pierced the fearful hollow of thine
earNightly she sings on yon pomegranate-treeBe
lieve me, love, it was the nightingale. ROMEO
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,No
nightingale look, love, what envious streaksDo
lace the severing clouds in yonder eastNight's
candles are burnt out, and jocund dayStands
tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.I must be gone
and live, or stay and die. ACTIII sc.v
86
ANTITHESIS 

• Make sure you find and play these antitheses to
  help power your performance.
• Antithetical words will fall in stressed
  positions and need to be hit hard.

87
CAESURA

• Caesura is a technical term meaning a break in
  the middle of a line of verse.
• In a line of Hexameter (six feet to the line) the
  break is always bang in the middle.
• With pentameter there is much more of a choice.

88
CAESURA

• Shakespeare, being the great poet he is, plays
  with every possible use of the caesura.

89
CAESURA

• So what is it for?
• It shows a clear break from one, old idea into a
  new one.
• Being in the middle of a line it shows that the
  idea comes quickly, strikes the thinker/talker
  hard and fast.

90
O it came oer my ear like the sweet soundThat
breathes upon a bank of violets,Stealing and
giving odour. Enough, no moreTis not so sweet
now as it was before.Twelfth Night Act I
scene i
91
CAESURA

• In the line just given you can see how Duke
  Orsinos mind changes and plunges him into
  frustration as he remembers his love and how cold
  she is towards him.

92
CAESURA

• When you speak the line with the caesura you
  notice that a brand new energy, tempo and focus
  need to be hit.
• In this instance it clearly demonstrates Orsinos
  changeable and easily swayed nature.

93
CAESURA

• That was an easy caesura to spot because it was
  marked by a full stop.
• Shakespeare marked it clearly in the line as an
  antithetical feeling and thought.

94
CAESURA

• This is the grand use of the caesura, to help
  reveal antithesis.
• As you will already have seen there is often a
  slight shift of focus, almost a mini-antithesis
  in almost every line of Shakespearean verse,
  sometimes marked with punctuation, sometimes not.

95
CAESURA

• It is the rocking of these energies around the
  caesura which give Shakespearean verse its life
  and energy sometimes gentle, sometimes stormy.

96
CAESURA

• Look at the following speech from Act II sc ii of
  Measure For Measure and see how Angelos stormy
  thoughts are revealed by the caesuras

97
Whats this? Whats this? Is this her fault or
mine?The tempter or the tempted, who sins most,
ha?Not she nor doth she tempt, but it is IThat
lying by the violet in the sun,Do as the carrion
does, and not the flower,Corrupt with virtuous
season. Can it beThat modesty may more betray
our senseThan womans lightness? Having waste
ground enoughShall we desire to raze the
sanctuary,And pitch our evils there? O fie fie
fie!What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
98
CAESURA

• Just how disturbed the young man is becomes
  apparent when you play the scansion, breathing,
  antitheses and caesuras.

99
CAESURA

• It is also worth remembering the advice that, in
  Shakespeare, you should never repeat exactly any
  word or phrase which occurs twice. Try to put a
  new stress or emphasis to the words.

100
CAESURA

• Its all in the technique.

101
CAESURA

• Lets have another look at that famous bit of
  Danish again and try to put all weve done so far
  into practice.

102
To be, or not to be, that is the
questionWhether tis nobler in the mind to
sufferThe Slings and Arrows of outrageous
Fortune,Or to take up Arms against a Sea of
troubles,And by opposing end them to die, to
sleepNo more and by a sleep, to say we endThe
Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocksThat
flesh is heir to? Tis a consummation Devoutly
to be wished. To die to sleep,To sleepe,
perchance to Dream aye, theres the rub,For in
that sleep of death what dreams may come,When we
have shuffld off this mortal coil,Must give us
pause. Theres the respectThat makes
calamity of so long life
103
Isnt it wonderful how Shakespeare shows us the
turmoil and torment of this young man of action
soldier, courtier, poet and then brings him to
an abrupt and breathless halt on the very word
pause!It becomes obvious that this is no
effete mothers boy maundering on about his
neuroses but a fired up youth wrestling with all
his considerable intellectual might with one of
the greatest philosophical debates just as it
really hits home. He is being torn apart and the
struggle is clear in the breathlessness of his
delivery.The mis-spelled sleepe is there in
the First Folio and probably indicates that the
word should be more drawn out than the sleep
which occurs just before it.
104
REMEMBER THISAs an actor you should always ask
yourselfWhat does the character do to me as I
learn to speak its lines?
105
READING CHARACTER

• Peter Brook advises his actors to imagine that
  Shakespeare possessed a unique tape recorder
  which recorded not only what people SAID but also
  what they THOUGHT.

106
READING CHARACTER

• He then had to find a way to put this
  understanding down on paper.
• The means he evolved was POETRY.

107
READING CHARACTER

• When a character is alone and thinking out loud
  to the audience (what is known technically as a
  soliloquy) they will always tell the truth, even
  if they are an habitual liar in the rest of the
  play when talking to anyone else.

108
READING CHARACTER

• Shakespeares audience used to love the tension
  between knowing what a characters true
  objectives are and seeing the devious means he or
  she uses to get them.

109
READING CHARACTER

• This state of the audience knowing what most of
  the characters dont is called DRAMATIC IRONY.

110
READING CHARACTER

• Have a look at one of his great villains to see
  how he exploits this ironic antithesis when
  creating the roles of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth,
  Iago (in Othello), Richard III c.

111
Because Shakespeare wrote in very rich poetry,
and did that 400 years ago, we need to pay some
attention to the fact that we may not quite
understand all the words and ideas we are being
asked to express on stage.
112
One good way to improve your understanding of the
text and your character is PARAPHRASING.
113
Paraphrasing

• Check each speech you have to say and make sure
  you can put the gist of it in your own words.
  This will never be complete and will change as
  your understanding increases.

114
Paraphrasing

• Before you say your lines repeat your paraphrase
  then say your lines bringing out all the force
  and power of the verse to support the emotion of
  the line.

115
Paraphrasing

• The next time you run the section listen to the
  previous speaker and, before you say your line,
  paraphrase what their character has just said.

116
Paraphrasing

• THIS WILL HELP MAKE SURE THAT YOU LISTEN
  CAREFULLY TO OTHER CHARACTERS AND STAY INVOLVED
  ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

117
Paraphrasing

• Remember that Shakespeares actors never had the
  whole text to work with, they only had their own,
  handwritten, part with just the briefest of cues
  added. This meant that they absolutely had to
  listen carefully to what the others were saying
  to get their timing and delivery right.

118
Paraphrasing

• N.B. These handwritten parts were wound round a
  stick they were, literally, rolls of parchment
  the longer the part, the bigger the roll.
  Although we now spell it differently the words
  remain a large role etc.

119
Pitching The Parts

• In order to vary the intonation and relieve the
  audience (and your voice) from long rants it is a
  good idea in a long speech or soliloquy to divide
  the speech into three types or worlds of
  delivery. What I shall call
• Bold,
• normal
• and italics

120
Bold, normal and italics

• This is another useful tool to help you make the
  contours of any speech you make clearer.
• In this you break the speech down into the main
  lines of the argument or report your character is
  making and imagine them in Bold.
• Put the subsidiary parts in normal type.
• Then put the interjections or comments in
  italics.

121
Bold, normal and italics

• When you read the piece through try pitching your
  voice to show the different levels of meaning you
  have decided.
• This will give you some kind of contour to your
  speech and help an audience follow the main line
  of argument and the action.
• Look at the following example from Alls Well
  That Ends Well and see how you would attempt to
  break it down.

122

• 'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in
  France.'Nothing in France, until he has no
  wife!Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in
  FranceThen hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't
  IThat chase thee from thy country and
  exposeThose tender limbs of thine to the
  eventOf the none-sparing war? and is it IThat
  drive thee from the sportive court, where
  thouWast shot at with fair eyes, to be the
  markOf smoky muskets? O you leaden
  messengers,That ride upon the violent speed of
  fire,Fly with false aim move the still-peering
  air,That sings with piercing do not touch my
  lord.

123
Upper, Lower, Parenthesis.

• Now take a look at one suggested way of tackling
  this and see if it reads easily.

124

• 'Till I have no wife, I have nothing in
  France.'Nothing in France, until he has no
  wife!Thou shalt have none, Rousillon, none in
  FranceThen hast thou all again. Poor lord! is't
  IThat chase thee from thy country and
  exposeThose tender limbs of thine to the
  eventOf the none-sparing war? and is it IThat
  drive thee from the sportive court, where
  thouWast shot at with fair eyes, to be the
  markOf smoky muskets? O you leaden
  messengers,That ride upon the violent speed of
  fire,Fly with false aim move the still-peering
  air,That sings with piercing do not touch my
  lord.

125
Upper, Lower, Parenthesis.

• If you find this technique useful use it yourself
  on a long, complicated speech.

126
FINALLY

• There are no bit parts in Shakespeare.
• Whoever is talking is carrying the whole weight
  of the play at that time.
• We have only scratched the surface of
  Shakespeares genius.
• There is still so much left to discover.
• Good luck!