Shakespeare

SPEAKER A: What? I say,

My foot my tutor? ( To Ferdinard) Put thy sword up, traitor;

Who makest a show but darest not strike, thy conscience

Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward,

For I can here disarm thee with this stick

And make thy weapon drop.

SPEAKER B: Beseech you, father

Who is Speaker A? To whom is he talking to? What situation is around the speaker?

This is not to put one on an examination seat; this is just to cast one’s mind to the past (or to the future). Apparently what comes to one’s mind would probably be School Leaving Certificate Examinations written years back? But what memories does this bring? Good ones for those who had an A in literature or bad ones for those who tried hard but got a pass. By now a lot of answers must have be welling up in minds. But just before you try to fill in the correct answer with a light pen, this is an excerpt from Act I scene II of William Shakespeare’s play the Tempest, where Prospero, Miranda father tries to prove to Ferdinand that he is more powerful than he is. Speaker B is Miranda who pleads with her father not to start up a fight as she is already in love with Ferdinand. Williams Shakespeare’s works have become a constant feature for learning in Nigerian schools’ syllabus system as such one does not graduate without getting acquainted with one or two of his classics irrespective of ones discipline.

The name Shakespeare is a supreme achievement in English literature, Williams Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon’s”. His works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, two epitaphs on a man named John Combe, one epitaph on Elias James, and several other poems.  His work has been translated into over 60 commonly spoken languages in the world and as a thus the successful survival of his works in time even to this day. His works have come to be appreciated all over the world in terms of performance, and reinterpretation tailored to suit diverse cultural and political contexts.

Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford. William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local landed heiress. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before William's birth, his father became a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John's fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s. His father was however reduced to a tenant farmer. At the age of 15, Shakespeare was already taking care of his parents by giving money to them. At age 18 he got married to Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. As such, he started living an independent and responsible life as a teenager.   He attended Stratford's Grammar school, focusing intensely around Greek and Latin literature, rhetoric, and Christian ethics. He kick started his career that carve a niche for him in English literature between 1585 and 1592 as an actor, writer, and a part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men of theatrical players in London which later became the king’s men after the crowning of King James I, in 1603. During this time he plays where popularly performed and his published works sold a great deal by this time Coaxton had already introduced the printing machine. Although he lived a short life but he died leaving his footprint on the sands of time. Over the course of 20 years in his life, Shakespeare wrote plays that encapsulated the complete range of human emotions and conflicts. He was indeed extra ordinary because despite his death he was able to achieve a lot. Some of his works include (for tragedy) Hamlet, Julius Ceaser, Romeo and Juliet, (for comedy) A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, Twelfth Night, (Poems) Sonnets The Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Adonis. He died on April 23rd, 1616 on his 52nd birthday, in Stratford. Till date, Badolatry is practiced in honour of William Shakespeare.

Students often complain that Shakespearean language is difficult to understand but during his time that was the English language widely spoken and if indeed Shakespeare is alive in this age, he would probably not understand the way we speak the English language. Here is an instance of Shakespearean language and its modern equivalence - aye means indeed, anon means at another time/soon, e'en means evening, morrow obviously means tomorrow and so on.

Adapting the concept of the Poetry month celebrated in America in the month of April, we shall examine one of his sonnets, Sonnet 18. Before we look at the sonnet it’s important that we know that a Shakespearean sonnet consists of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter Made up of 3 stanzas and a couplet. A typical Rhyme-scheme for a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF | GG.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 5

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; 10

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

    So long lives this and this gives life to thee. 14

This poem is intentionally selected because it duly addresses time and season. Being fully aware that people are fond of complaining about the weather saying it’s too hot for summer or too cold for winter. In the poem, the poet begins the poem with a question of comparison of two things; his lover and summer. He answers and settles that his lover is lovelier and more temperate than a summer day. A summer day often compared to a winter day or rainy day is better because people do a lot of outing on such a day such as  go on picnics, go for shopping etc. A summer day on the other hand has its excesses this could be seen when the weather gets too hot and uncomfortable. But the poet persona convinces us that his lover is even moderate and is calm nonetheless her loveliness.

 The third line talks about the fierceness of the summer day of how it shakes the buds of May. The buds which is a symbol of life springing anew is being shaken and perhaps in the process some buds fall off and never live to be a flower. In essence his lover is not barren but has the ability to take care of young ones (darling buds).

Line five describes the hotness of the eye of the heaven which is the sun and how it constantly fluctuates. He also explains that the changing course of a summer day cannot be restrained. He ascribes heavenly characteristics to his lover in line 9 saying that her beauty is heavenly and that it would never fade and that she would not be stripped of her beauty which is her sole possession. Even death cannot hide her beauty.

In line 14 which is the last line, the poet elevates his lover to a point of immortality that she would not die but remain immortal and her beauty will continue even after the passage of time.

To conclude, William Shakespeare works have come to be appreciated all over the world and his works have been used to solve all manner of human problems not only academically but emotionally, politically and socially.