SHAKESPEARE AND THE AGE OF ELIZABETH

Fall 1990

WORKSHOP I: The Immortal Bard??

By Don Finkel

Part I (1 hr. 30 mins.)

Form groups of four. Find a comfortable place to work and begin by introducing yourself to each other. Discuss the following questions and try to agree on answers to them as a group. Write down your group's answers (and your own, if you disagree) in your notebook, so you can refer to them in seminar and in the whole group discussion at the end of the workshop. Appoint someone in the group to keep an eye on the time, so you move through the workshop in the designated time.

A. (15 mins.) Your name is Kathy and you are a student in SHAKESPEARE AND THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. It is the night before the first seminar, and you have just completed reading the first reading assignment, The Taming of the Shrew. You put your book down in disgust, sigh deeply, and say to your roommate: "This play sucks. I hated it. Why would they have us read such sexist junk, anyway?"

Your roommate responds, "It's written by Shakespeare, isn't it? It must be great literature."

You start musing to yourself. Your first reaction is that your roommate is right. You are just a hopeless case--a dumb, uncultured woman.

Then, a few minutes later, you find yourself thinking, "No. This play was written by a white European male, a person completely distorted by the patriarchal history and culture that shaped him. The play is therefore worse than worthless, it is positively destructive. We shouldn't have to spend time reading stuff like this."

1. These two extremely opposite responses to the play are both natural. They present us the alternatives of "rejecting the play" vs. "rejecting the reader" (the reader's responses). What other possible responses, between these two extremes can you think of? List as many as you can. (10 mins.)

2. Which 2 or 3 responses on your list most recommend themselves, i.e., which would you give as advice to our friend Kathy? (5 mins.)

B. (5 mins.) In "Comic Structure and the Humanizing of Kate ...," John Bean refers to Kate's final speech about the duties of wives as "a speech that has embarrassed generations of critics." (p. 67) Why should a critic, whose job it is, after all, to be critical, to give critical response to literature, possibly be embarrassed by something written by someone else? What is going on here? What are the assumptions affecting "generations of critics"?

C. (40 mins.)

1. You have read four different interpretations of the character Kate, her development, and by implication, what the play is all about. Three were by actresses who played the role, and one was by a scholar (a literary critic). Agree on brief (one paragraph) summaries of each of these interpretations, and write them down. (20 mins.)

2. What was your initial reaction to reading these "differing opinions"?

(5 mins.)

3. (15 mins.)

a. Is there a "right" way to play Kate (and interpret the play)?

b. Suppose, magically, we had a videotape of Shakespeare's own original production of The Taming of the Shrew. Would that show us the right way to play Kate?

c. Suppose we were to agree--just for the sake of argument--that there is no one right way. Does this mean all interpretations are equally valid, that any way an actress portrays Kate is fine? Give reasons.

d. On p. 10 of "Kate: Interpreting the Silence," Fiona Shaw says, "People have criticized my Kate for not putting up more of a fight. I'm dying to put up a fight but look at the text - it ain't there!" What does this phrase, "look at the text - it ain't there!" mean? What could be in the text (which is just words) that would tell an actress whether she should portray Kate non-verbally as putting up a fight or not? (Remember that Shakespeare uses very sparse stage directions.)

D. (15 mins.)

1. After reading John Bean's essay, "Comic Structure and the humanizing of Kate," what would you conclude are the kinds of things you, as a reader, would need to know to make sense of the play? List four or five. (5 mins.)

2. After reading the three actresses discussions in "Kate: Interpreting the Silence," what would you conclude are the kinds of things you, as a reader, would need to know to make sense of the play? List four or five. (5 mins.)

3. Discuss the seeming conflict between the two types of things you listed in response to the above two questions. (5 mins.)

E. (10 mins.)

1. In "Kate: Interpreting the Silence," you may have been surprised to notice how differently the three different directors used the Christopher Sly "framing device." Review these differences. (5 mins.)

2. Is it appropriate for directors to take such liberties with the text? Why or why not? (5 mins.)

(3. for seminar--skip over for now: How would you deal with Christopher Sly, if you were the director?)

F. (5 mins.)

Finally, what does The Taming of the Shrew have to offer us today? Why should we read it?

BREAK - 15 minutes

After the break, reconvene in CAB 110 for Parts II and III.

Part II (15 mins.)

Writing individually, generate a list of questions about Shakespeare's work, about the Age of Elizabeth, and about today's "Age," that you would hope to answer--or to make progress answering--by the end of this program in June. These should be questions you are genuinely interested in. Your list may be taken as a first draft of your own personal intellectual objectives for this program. Write as many of these questions as you can.

Then read them over, and circle the two that seem the most important to you today. Be prepared to tell these to the class when we discuss the workshop together in Part III.

Part III (45 mins.)

The whole class will discuss the results of the workshop, with particular emphasis on Part I - A, Part I - F, and on Part II.