Hello everyone, nice to have you yet again to
continue our journey into this course, an
introduction to English literature for Palestinian
students at the English department at the Islamic
University of Gaza. Again, the course introduces
us to major literary movements, major literary
events, major literary texts, and major literary
figures in English. We understand these texts. We
study them in their historical context. And again,
I have to repeat this because this is a literature
course. literature in its historical context
because we need to understand the relationship
between history and literature. And I said this
before, it's not a one-way thing. It's not people
only think that literature influences history, but
we here also examine how literature influences
life. So how this is a mutual relationship in a
way or another. We finished last time talking
about Middle English. We've seen how England
started to become the England we know now, how the
English language was developing, how English
literary figures, especially people like Geoffrey
Chaucer, how they were looking for the English
identity because they wanted to be special in a
way different from other European countries. Today
we move to speak about one of the major eras in
the history of English literature. It's the
Renaissance. In the Renaissance, we have so many
things to speak about. But in general, the
subtitle here reads as The Age of Shakespeare, The
Age of Drama. So we'll have an introduction and
see what the Renaissance means to England, to the
United Kingdom, and to English literature. And
then we'll talk about Shakespeare and take Hamlet
as an example. Now, the Renaissance, as you can
see, it is said that the Renaissance started
earlier in Europe, and then, in a way, England
followed up. Around 1485, that's the late 15th
century to the mid-17th century is considered the
Renaissance. The Renaissance means rebirth, means
renewal. It's the rebirth. It's New England. It's
New Britain. Now, in the book, And in most English
texts, they usually introduce us to this era, the
Renaissance. And they speak all, you know, they
say all good things about England, about the
United Kingdom, about the British Empire. We hear
and read all these important, fascinating
discoveries, inventions, and technological,
scientific advances. which all these are in a way
or another are true. But usually these books that
speak about how England became England usually
forget something very important. Remember, England
became, you know, the British Empire, right? The
British Empire that controlled large areas around
the world. England became the most powerful
country in the world. London became not only the
capital of Britain, of England, but it became the
most important city in the world. What does that
mean? It means the English people in a way became
richer. They discovered new areas. They reached
different areas around the world. Again, however,
when we speak about this, when English books speak
about this, they usually forget two important
things. And I will focus on these things. In a
way, they are interchangeable. They are
imperialism and colonialism. Imperialism and
colonialism. What does it mean? What is
imperialism? What is colonialism? Can you tell me
someone? What is imperialism or colonialism? Have
you ever heard about the term colonies, colonial,
colonizer, colonizer? Yeah? Imperialism. Do you
have any idea?
Yes.
OK. So again, I say in a way, colonialism is part
of imperialism, the British Empire, where a
country generally controls another country,
politically, economically, et cetera, et cetera.
Now colonialism is like an occupation, colonized
to occupy. When we speak about the British
colonies in Africa, in Asia, and even some parts
of America, it becomes part of the British Empire,
not by right, but by force. So what happens in
colonialism is that the British Empire sends its
armies, sends its soldiers to occupy areas of the
world in Africa and in Asia. And when they occupy,
what happens to this country? What happens to
Asia? What happens to Australia? What happens to
India, for example, or Pakistan? It's that the
British Empire takes all the good things, the raw
materials, the treasures, the materials. It brings
money. It brings riches to the English people in
England. But what happens to the natives? What
happens to the colonizers? It's something that
this book doesn't touch upon. And we need to pay
attention to this. It means colonialism means if
England was getting richer and richer, Africa and
Asia were getting poorer and poorer. It means
oppression. It means the destruction of these
countries. It means that these countries are
massacred. Because of the British Empire, millions
and millions of people were massacred. Because of
the British Empire, countries even today as
Palestinians, we were for some time under the
British mandate of colonialism. And because of the
British Empire, we're still paying this heavy
price. Israel gifted Palestine to the Zionists.
And we're still suffering now. Most of the
problems about borders in Pakistan, in India, and
Kashmir, in Africa, are thanks to the British
Empire. So don't forget, when you read an English
book praising again the advancements, the
achievements of the British Empire, don't always,
don't forget, don't ever forget the fact that the
other people that colonized paid the heaviest
price. They're killed. They're destroyed. Their
countries, their nations are destroyed for
centuries and centuries. And as Palestinians, we
still pay for this. So one interesting thing is
that these new worlds that were discovered are not
actually, in fact, new. Because look at America,
for example, the Native Americans. There were
Native Americans that the Europeans called Red
Indians because they thought they were discovering
India. Now Columbus discovering America in 1492 is
mentioned here as an achievement, right?
Something, wow, cool, because Europeans started
migrating to America and made America. But this
doesn't mention the fact that tens of millions
were massacred, Native Americans, just brutally
destroyed and massacred.
their land and everything. They had their land,
their life, their futures, and everything. So
that's number one. So the Renaissance is
characterized, yes, by new discoveries around the
world. But we know these are not new, because
there were people already there. The lands
belonged to other people. And everything else
belonged to those people. So that's number one.
And then when we speak about religion during this
era, we speak about Henry VIII. Now, generally in
Europe, the king follows the Catholic church in
Rome, the Pope. The Pope is the most important man
in Europe. He was God's spokesperson on Earth. He
gives blessings to the kings. The kings ask for
things, ask for his permission sometimes, and he
gives them his blessings, or he says no. And if he
says no, it's no. Now, King Henry, Whose brother
died, he succeeded him. He became the king of
England. He married his brother's wife. And he
didn't love her. He didn't like her. And he said,
OK, I want to divorce her. Divorce her. But can
you divorce your wife in Catholicism? You can't.
It's for eternity.
Yeah? And this is, again, Catholicism. So what
should the king do here? Should he listen to the
Pope? Because England, again, remember England was
working very hard to be different, to gain its own
identity, to be its own master. He said, OK, thank
you, Pope. We'll have our own church. And then we
started something called the Church of England.
And who's the head of this church? The king. The
king became the most important man in England. He
was God's person, God's representative on earth.
Okay? But when we speak about this, we speak again
about the Church of England. Religion was, in a
way, becoming different. And here we have, we can
speak about Catholicism, the Pope, and
Protestantism. You know a Protestant? He's a
Protestant or a Catholic. A Protestant from the
word to protest because they were protesting some
teachings of the Catholic Church. Now this is
important to our understanding of literature and
English history here because New ways of thinking
in terms of religion and God and man means new
thinking about life, about how to write, how you
understand life. Now, a very important point here
is what is called the great chain of being. Look
at this.
This pyramid shape, the triangle, is what we know
as the great chain of people, where people were
ranked according to their importance. God is the
creator, but here we have, who's here? The king.
The king of England. He became God's spokesperson,
the most important person, which means everything
the king says, you have to obey. You can't disobey
the king. You can't hurt the king. You can't trash
the king. And then probably the royal family, the
church people, important people, rich people, et
cetera. And then here we have the masses, the poor
people. And at the end, we have insects, animals,
and everything else. So man became important. But
who's the most important man? The king. He became
God's speaker, God's spokesperson on Earth. So
this is in terms of religion. In terms of thought,
three. Again, everything is advancing. New ideas,
new thoughts about life, about man, about the
relationship between man and God and man and man.
Now, this person, his name is Erasmus. He's a
Dutch. a thinker and philosopher, he came with
this idea that is now known as humanism. Humanism
is from human. It's a concept that focuses on man,
man and woman, okay? Man as the center of the
world. Man, not anything else, became the most
crucial person in the world. People started to
realize that man is not only because of his
intelligence, but also because of man's ability to
distinguish bad from good, or good from bad, or
evil from good. Man is intelligent. Man is smart.
Man is the center of the world, can control his
fate in a way, and can choose to do good and not
to do bad. Now again, Erasmus and his statement,
this is a paraphrase, that man is the center of
the world. This is the concept of humanism, man as
the center of the world, as the most important
center figure in the world, more important than
any other creatures. In addition, it talks about
man's ability to change. to the better, to choose
the good rather than the bad or evil. Now if we
speak about changes in politics, in economics,
intellectualism and life and religion and God,
necessarily there is what? Change in literature.
So whether literature is adapting, to include more
characters and more themes and more issues. Or
life is influencing literature. Or literature
influencing life is, again, a matter of
discussion. Sometimes it's not easy to follow. But
again, literature is so important that it also
makes a difference. It also creates a difference
and makes a difference. This is our major point.
Literature during the Renaissance And when we
speak about literature at that time, we speak
about the most important genre. Remember, so far,
we only have poetry and then some drama, the
miracle drama, remember, from the Bible, okay, in
the Middle Ages. And now drama became more
important because there were theaters and people
would go pay money to watch actors act on the
stage, et cetera. But don't forget that drama was
written also in verse. Here, it was written in
poetry. Shakespeare's plays are mainly written in
poetry. Don't forget this. So it's still poetry.
But the major difference between poetry and drama
is that poetry is written to be sung, like songs
in a way. But drama was written to be acted on
stage. Please don't forget this. When you think of
Shakespeare and dramatists of that time, they
wrote their plays to be acted, performed on stage.
This is important. That's why sometimes you love
the play more when you watch it. Because it comes
to life. It wonderfully comes to life when it is
performed on stage. So Shakespeare. Shakespeare,
Shakespeare.
What do you know about Shakespeare? He's a great
writer. He wrote plays and poems.
What do you know about Shakespeare? What is the
impression you already have about Shakespeare? He
wrote 37 plays.
More than four, but tragedies, comedies, and
histories. There are other divisions, but we'll
come to this later on. What do you know about
Shakespeare? Forget about the slides. Romeo and
Juliet. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. King Lear. The
most famous line in English history, in English
literature, is to be or not to be from? Hamlet.
From Hamlet. What else? What else do you know
about Shakespeare?
He wrote the sonnets. He wrote more than 150
sonnets. 154, some say 52 sonnets. What is a
sonnet? We'll have one more, one whole class for
the sonnet. 14 line poems, sonnets, please. Okay,
good. So originally he wasn't born in London. But
he moved to London because London... Remember,
London was the most important city in the world.
So he moved to London because London is the city
of culture, of literature, of politics, of
economics, of money, of literature, of art, of the
theatre, of success. I like that in the Kamoa
papers because when Queen Elizabeth saw one of his
tragedies and then the people... Even the queen
would watch some of his plays. He has his own
theater later on called The Globe. So let's talk a
little bit about Shakespeare. Listen, now
Shakespeare was not born in London. But at the
age, around the age of 20, 18, he moved. He got
married to a woman older than him. He had some
kids. Some of them died in their infancy. And then
he moved to London because He wanted to act, he
wanted to do something, to write literature, to be
part of the important world. Now Shakespeare, it
is said that he went to a grammar school where he
learned some grammar, language, probably he read
something, some Latin, Greek mythology, Greek
literature probably. maybe some rhetoric, but he
didn't go to university, he didn't go to college,
so he wasn't a fancy rich boy whose parents sent
him to university to learn. And this is something
we'll talk about in a bit. Now Shakespeare, in his
37 plays or so, is said to be one of the most
important people throughout history. He's
important. He's everywhere. His books were
translated. His plays were translated into almost
every language around the world. Everybody knows
Shakespeare. Everybody hears about Shakespeare.
Whatever you want to talk about, you find
Shakespeare. Business people quote Shakespeare.
Politicians quote Shakespeare. Teachers use
Shakespeare. Shakespeare's everywhere. It's not
only about... We'll talk about this also. Not only
about his stories. His stories are amazing.
Wonderful. The plot, the tragedies, the people,
the character, the characters. Now in Shakespeare,
the stories are usually taken from some book he
read. But it's the language, it's the depiction,
it's bringing the people and bringing the events
alive to us. We watch Shakespeare now, almost 400
years later, and we feel that he belongs to this
age. We feel We feel that he is part of our life
today, the way he talks to us, the way he
discusses his issues, the concerns, his
characters. He touches our hearts. We'll see
Hamlet for example here. Now, the point about
Shakespeare being one of the most, if not the most
important figure in world literature is important
because that's why we're studying Shakespeare
here. He's a canonical writer. He belongs to all
times and all places. As students of the English
department here, we need to study Shakespeare. I
know some of you might have a bad impression about
Shakespeare for a reason or another. Please don't.
Try to read quotes. If you love anything about any
topic you have in mind, I don't know, friendship,
sisters, brothers, mothers, life, teachers,
writing, language, war, battles, heroes, just look
up. Shakespeare quotes on war. And you'll enjoy,
you'll be amazed. Shakespeare talks about
everything in the world. Sometimes if you want to
look for information about the relationships,
Shakespeare is there. About kings, Shakespeare is
there. If you want to quote a topic, I don't know.
Like there are references to the planets, to the
stars, to chemistry. to translation, to teaching,
to thinking, to philosophy. People are amazed how
learned Shakespeare was and is. That's why some
people doubt. They say, can a boy from outside
London who only went to a grammar school be this
knowledgeable? And we'll talk about this
conspiracy. People say, no, Shakespeare is not
Shakespeare. We'll see this in a bit. So we have
37 plays. We have more than 150 sonnets. He's
translated to almost every main language around
the world. He's quoted. Shakespeare was constantly
experimenting. Because literature, for example,
the sonnet, the sonnet came from Europe, from
Italy. But he changed something. He added
something. He doesn't only imitate. He takes and
he adapts. Now talking about Shakespeare, the man
himself, who is Shakespeare? This is, by the way,
one of his famous pictures. Some people say, no,
this is not Shakespeare. And I'll show you another
picture later on. If you remember Muammar Gaddafi
of Libya, he said Shakespeare is originally an
Arab man. His name is Sheikh Zubair. Because
Sheikh is the same as Sheikh. And Shakespeare is
Shakespeare. Sheikh Zubair.
Could an Arab man travel to England, learn the
language and be this? efficient this professional
this profound We don't know. It's very doubtable,
unlikely. But it's interesting that people around
the world want to claim Shakespeare for
themselves. Now, some people say Shakespeare isn't
Shakespeare. Shakespeare is just a name, because
we don't know much about his life. Some claim that
a guy named Francis Bacon. Others claim
Christopher Marlowe. We study Christopher Marlowe.
Shakespeare is Christopher Marlowe, because
Christopher Marlowe died young, and he
disappeared. So some people say, no, he didn't
die. He just pretended to be someone else. Another
people believe he is Edouard Devier of Oxford.
This theory is interesting. Those people, it's
called the Oxford School. The Oxford School. It's
a very famous university. Of course. So they claim
that Shakespeare is someone who went to Oxford.
that there's no way only a grammar school boy
could write this. It has to be someone who went to
university like Oxford, knowledgeable, with a
great background, a noble person with knowledge
and experience. This is interesting. Some people
support this wholeheartedly. But this theory has
some kind of elitism, condescending. It shows
arrogance because they believe that only important
people, royal family, elite people, educated
people can produce this amazing literature. See
this? Okay? And some people even believe that
Shakespeare could be one of the royal family if
not the King James himself. I don't know. But some
people in their reality did not want to be
attached with producing plays because this, in a
way, belongs to other people. And another
interesting theory about who Shakespeare is, there
was an article in Haaretz, probably seven years
ago, wondering if Shakespeare is an Italian Jewish
woman. So not only Italian, but also not only a
Jew, but also a woman. Still interesting. Many
people want to claim Shakespeare for them.
Shakespeare for them. Some people, I had a
discussion with this interesting guy who believed
that Shakespeare could probably be a group of
people. Because again, there is profound knowledge
about the universe, the stars, the planets,
peoples, histories, other cultures, language,
chemistry, science, everything. So probably a
group of people, in a way, and one with an amazing
language skills put this together. We don't know.
We don't know. This sounds silly, but for us here,
we don't care who Shakespeare is. We'll take him
as Shakespeare, the man, the person. But more
important than Shakespeare and his life and what
he did is the literature he's produced. Thank you
very much. The text itself. Because sometimes it's
funny. Every couple of decades, they say, ah, this
play was half written by Marlow. This sonnet that
we thought that Shakespeare wrote was written by
someone other than Shakespeare, or vice versa. So
if the author changes, if somebody realizes that
Shakespeare is a guy from Shijia, is someone from
Gaza, who wrote all these wonderful things, who
left Gaza because of a siege back then, and went
to England and became the most famous person in
England, Still, the text is more important. It's
interesting to know something about the life of
this person. Now, let's study in brief again
Shakespeare's major literary work. Most important
play. It is Hamlet. The play is Hamlet.
See the character map here. Or probably before we
do the character map. Listen to me. So OK, we
agree that Shakespeare is everywhere, all around
the world. Now look at this interesting critic who
said, talking about Hamlet. And this is again,
this is only Hamlet. One of 37 plays and let alone
the sonnets. He said, any time of the day, Again,
indicating how important Hamlet is. Any time of
the day, someone somewhere around the world is
talking about Hamlet, reading Hamlet, studying
Hamlet, watching Hamlet, researching Hamlet,
quoting Hamlet, cursing Hamlet, adapting Hamlet,
writing about Hamlet, answering questions about
Hamlet, thinking of Hamlet, dreaming of Hamlet, I
don't know, anything, like so many things. And
here, at the end of the world, in Gaza, besieged
and occupied, we're studying Hamlet. We're
studying Shakespeare because of how significant
this person is. Hamlet was a prince, but he
belongs to every time and every place.
Hamlet—we'll talk about this in a bit— Hamlet has
modern thoughts
and ideas that even today, in the 21st century, we
can relate to. His problems are problems of today
and every day. Hamlet is a prince, but he's also
an individual. When we read Hamlet, the
relationship between him and his dad, his uncle,
his mom, his friend, his girlfriend, his enemies,
everything, oh my God, it's like it's part of us.
And that's why many people identify with Hamlet.
Hamlet was performed all over the world. And it's
interesting how many people might adapt Hamlet.
Sometimes in Africa, for example, they would take
Hamlet and make the character You know, like a
black African or in China, Chinese man. And there
is, I think, a movie, I can't remember the name,
where Hamlet is a 21st century or 20th century
businessman from New York. But again, he has to
come face to face with all these problems of the
modern life. Now, Hamlet is a modern person, a man
who goes to university, University of Wittenberg.
By the way, the play takes place in Denmark. The
story could have happened in a way or another, but
Shakespeare reproduced it. So again, Hamlet is a
prince. He's a student. He's a son. He's supposed
to succeed the throne. And then he gets the news
that his father died, passed away. He comes back
sad, mournful, sorrowful. And then his uncle
becomes the king. Hamlet does not succeed his
father. His uncle becomes the king. And his
mother, Hamlet's mother, marries his uncle. It
wasn't allowed at that time. But because this is
the king, nobody can talk to the king. Nobody can
say no to the king. Remember, he's the top of the
pyramid. And Hamlet is so sad. And all of a
sudden, someone tells Hamlet, hey, Hamlet, there's
a ghost that looks like your dad. Hamlet is a
university student. As we don't believe in ghosts,
do you? We don't because they don't exist. But he,
because he was desperate, he goes out with his
friend Horatio and he sees he comes face to face
with the ghost of his father. And he talks to him
alone and he tells them, I was killed by your
uncle and your mom kind of knew about this. And
Hamlet was like, oh prophetic soul, I knew there's
something wrong. What's the plan? Kill the king.
To kill the king, revenge. But again, this is a
modern person, a man of the world, a man who goes
to university, seeking revenge belongs in a way
belongs to the past. If you kill somebody who
kills you, in modern life, you go to court now.
You go to court. You go to the police or whatever
represents the police here. So what happens is
that after a long time of Hamlet thinking and
hesitating and OK to do this or not to do this, he
kills. OK. Hamlet, remember, falls in love with or
is in love with Ophelia. Ophelia. OK? But
Ophelia's father, Polonius, And brother Laertes
tells Ophelia not to love Hamlet. They are in
love. They're a really cool couple. But because
the woman was weak, was controlled by the parents,
by the society, she says, OK, I'll obey my father.
So sad, so heartbreaking. We feel sorry for
Hamlet, because people should stand by him. How
much do we blame Ophelia? How much do we blame her
parents? It's an issue of discussion here. And
Hamlet, in an act of rash, accidentally kills
Ophelia's father. Yeah. He thinks he was the king,
was hiding behind some curtain, and he stabs him.
Oh, and he dies. And after that, Laertes is out.
Ophelia, after that, in a way, goes crazy. And
then she kills herself or dies accidentally.
Laertes comes back, and the king, Claudius, tries
to get rid of Hamlet, and they agree on a duel.
Now, before this, it was the moment of Hamlet to
be or not to be. That is the question. Because
Hamlet was hesitant. Should I belong to the old
age, or should I belong to the modern age? What
should I do? Should I kill the king? Can I kill
the king? Can the king be killed? Even if the king
is a murderer, it wasn't easy to think about this.
To die? To sleep? Should I kill myself? Should I
just commit suicide? What should I do? Hesitancy
is a theme here. Deliberation. To be or not to be?
That is the question. And then they agree on a
duel. In the old ages, if people had a problem or
dispute, they resolved this by a duel. So if I
steal your land, and you say, hey, bring my land
back. I say, OK, let's duel. So if I kill you, the
land is mine, basically, in simplistic terms. If I
kill you, it means the land belongs to me. Now,
Laertes and Hamlet agree on a duel. Because the
king, King Claudius, Hamlet's stepfather, Hamlet's
uncle, Hamlet's king, wants to get rid of Hamlet.
He soaks, with the help of Laertes, Laertes's
sword with deadly poison. And he also brings a
glass of wine for Hamlet, and he puts poison
inside the cup. So they're fighting and fighting,
heroically, both of them. And then Laertes cuts
Hamlet. And Hamlet, in a way, takes the sword and
stabs Laertes. And then Laertes probably realizes
he's wrong in a way, tells Hamlet, you're dead.
The sword is poisoned. Your uncle did this. During
this, or before this a little bit, Hamlet's mother
wants to drink the wine that her husband prepared
for Hamlet. And he says, no, don't drink. And for
the first time, she decides to disobey him.
It's interesting how she proves herself, but when
she does so, like Ophelia, she dies. She says, no,
I am my own master in a way. And she drinks the
poison. She dies. And Hamlet, when he knows that
story, he takes the sword and he stabs his uncle.
He doesn't think, he doesn't hesitate. There's no
to be or not to be here. There is action. Hamlet
dies. Laertes dies. Ophelia dies. Polonius dies.
Gertrude, his mom, dies. Almost every, all main
characters die. That's why Hamlet is a tragedy.
It's a tragedy where all the main characters die.
However, in Hamlet, there is hope for the future.
His best friend Horatio is still alive, and Hamlet
tells him, tell my story. In a way, if this is a
novel, the narrator is Horatio. And then a new
king is crowned.
And that's the story of Hamlet. It's a tragedy.
But if you think this is cool, the story, you need
to read the language. Really beautiful. Really
amazing. So many. I'll be posting some quotes on
Facebook. They are optional. But all we need here
is to be or not to be. So this is the character
map. This is Hamlet. He's the center. And then the
ghost and the skull. So many good things there. So
why Hamlet? Hamlet, again, Hamlet's the person.
When I don't use inverted commas, it means the
character. Hamlet is a man of modern concerns,
love, duty, revenge, relationships, brotherhood,
friendship, et cetera. The struggle between the
old and the young is there. Young Hamlet and the
old system. Young Hamlet and old Hamlet. Many
until this very day identify with him. When you
read Hamlet, you'll find some of you in Hamlet. He
looks like, I usually say, Hamlet in a way could
be like a Palestinian young man living under
occupation with the society, the rules, and the
siege. We think about this. Hamlet is a tragedy
because everybody, almost everybody dies there. So
sad, but there's hope for the future. Now this is
the to be or not to be quote. This is a soliloquy,
basically it's a soliloquy. What is a soliloquy?
You know solo, solo, when we say solo? Okay, solo,
soliloquy.
Soliloquy means solo, originally it means I talk
to myself.
Soliloquy is a literary device, a theatrical
device from drama, dramatical device where one of
the characters, mainly, sometimes or usually the
main character is alone, alone, that's solo, on
the stage.
On the stage. What does he do? He talks to
himself. Usually we do this all the time. Now I'm
sure some of you are talking to But here, because
this is supposed to be heard by the audience, the
audience, the people in the audience are very
important, they are part of the drama. So in a
way, he speaks his mind out, shows us his inner
conflict, what's going on in his mind. But he
doesn't do it in movies and TV shows, sometimes
it's done with a voiceover. The character doesn't
move his or her lips. But we hear the voice, this
is a voice over. But here, to be or not to be,
that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the
mind to suffer slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune, or to take arms against a sea of trouble,
and by opposing in them to die, to sleep,
When Hamlet does this soliloquy and other six or
seven major soliloquies, he talks to the audience
directly. What does that indicate? What does that
mean? How important is the soliloquy for the
audience and for the play? Can you tell? Let's
assume this is a stage. I'm all alone on the
stage. And all of a sudden, instead of just
talking with other people before, I come closer in
a way to the audience and I speak to the people
next to me. Look them in the eye like this. What
does this make the people I come closer to feel?
How does it feel to them?
Very good. So they will know, try to understand
the struggle and probably they will feel some of
this, it's personal. Like he comes closer to you,
he becomes your friend, it's like someone
whispering in your ear, telling you his secrets,
his conflicts. Don't we like people who tell us
secrets more? In a way, we love them. They trust
us. We have to share, to feel probably sorry for
them. Now, the soliloquy is important because it
makes the audience part of the play. It attracts
the audience. And the audience, the people, they
identify, identify. Like they feel, oh my God,
this is like me. I have similar fears or concerns
or emotions to express. In Shakespeare, we have
soliloquies everywhere, mainly in tragedies. In
Hamlet, we have like seven main soliloquies.
There's another thing to talk about here. It's an
aside.
We'll talk about this just with a bit. Okay, so
again, what is a soliloquy? It's a dramatic device
when the actor is all alone on stage and directs,
in a way, directs his or her speech to No, what is
the importance of the soliloquy? To share
feelings, to attract the audience, to make them
grab attention, make them identify with you, feel,
understand? Now the aside is also a literary
device, a theatrical, dramatic device. An aside is
usually short, one liner, one sentence. But the
soliloquy is generally long. In a soliloquy, the
actor is all alone, okay? But in Anasite, there
are other actors. Again, in Anasite, there are
other actors. What happens here is that in
Anasite, there are other people here, and the
character takes Anasite, like I'm talking to
someone here, he does this, and he says something.
Okay? So what happens? Let me say this again. In a
soliloquy, it's usually a long speech. The actor
is alone. In an aside, short, one sentence, and
there are other actors on the stage who are not
supposed to hear. Like you say something, okay,
I'll do this, okay. I'll meet you outside, or
something. Like directing, in a way, the talk to
the audience, but not to the other characters. The
significance is almost the same. But the soliloquy
is deeper, more profound. To be or not to be, that
is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind
to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune,
or to take arms against a sea of troubles. and
bioposing in them. We're focusing on this, OK? The
most important line or verse in English
literature. This is the Soliloquy and the Aside.
And finally, I'll stop here. This is Shakespeare's
The Globe.
I'm not sure if this is very clear there. Look
here. This is the stage. This is the stage. And
these are the people near the stage that can talk
to them. If you are rich enough, you can pay more
money, and you sit here above. Here, you're
usually standing. This is not the globe itself,
but something similar to it. So this is the stage.
People are very close. So the soliloquy is
significant. You pay one penny. I don't know. But
if you are rich, you can sit above. and knocked
down, VIP, if you are royalties or something. And
finally, this is again Shakespeare, a famous
picture. Look at the ring here, the earring. And
this is the picture that recently has been
recently discovered, where people say this is the
real Shakespeare. Who is the real Shakespeare?
Sheikh Zubair, Marlow, Bacon, an Italian Jewish
woman, a guy from Gaza, We don't know. We're not
sure. We don't care. It's good to know, but we
don't care. All we care is about the texts, the
plays and the sonnets. Thank you very much. We'll
stop here. If you have questions, please do ask.