Insults by Shakespeare — Transcript

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1. 0:00Translator: Bedirhan Cinar
2. 0:14Why do we cringe when we hear "Shakespeare?"
3. 0:16If you ask me, it's usually because of his words.
4. 0:19All those thines and thous and therefores
5. 0:23and wherefore-art-thous can be more than a little annoying.
6. 0:26But you have to wonder, why is he so popular?
7. 0:30Why have his plays been made and remade more than any other playwright?
8. 0:35It's because of his words.
9. 0:37Back in the late 1500s and early 1600s,
10. 0:40that was the best tool that a person had,
11. 0:43and there was a lot to talk about.
12. 0:45However, most of it was pretty depressing.
13. 0:48You know, with the Black Plague and all.
14. 0:51Shakespeare does use a lot of words.
15. 0:54One of his most impressive accomplishments is his use of insults.
16. 0:58They would unify the entire audience;
17. 1:01and no matter where you sat, you could laugh at what was going on onstage.
18. 1:06Words, specifically dialogue in a drama setting,
19. 1:09are used for many different reasons:
20. 1:12to set the mood of the scene,
21. 1:14to give some more atmosphere to the setting,
22. 1:17and to develop relationships between characters.
23. 1:21Insults do this in a very short and sharp way.
24. 1:25Let's first go to "Hamlet."
25. 1:27Right before this dialogue,
26. 1:29Polonius is the father of Ophelia, who is in love with Prince Hamlet.
27. 1:34King Claudius is trying to figure out why Prince Hamlet is acting so crazy
28. 1:39since the king married Prince Hamlet's mother.
29. 1:42Polonius offers to use his daughter to get information from Prince Hamlet.
30. 1:48Then we go into Act II Scene 2.
31. 1:50Polonius: "Do you know me, my lord?"
32. 1:54Hamlet: "Excellent well. You're a fishmonger."
33. 1:58Polonius: "Not I, my lord."
34. 2:01Hamlet: "Then I would you were so honest a man."
35. 2:04Now, even if you did not know what "fishmonger" meant,
36. 2:08you can use some contextual clues.
37. 2:11One: Polonius reacted in a negative way, so it must be bad.
38. 2:16Two: Fish smell bad, so it must be bad.
39. 2:19And three: "monger" just doesn't sound like a good word.
40. 2:23So from not even knowing the meaning,
41. 2:26you're beginning to construct some characterization
42. 2:29of the relationship between Hamlet and Polonius,
43. 2:32which was not good.
44. 2:34But if you dig some more, "fishmonger" means a broker of some type,
45. 2:38and in this setting, would mean like a pimp,
46. 2:42like Polonius is brokering out his daughter for money,
47. 2:45which he is doing for the king's favor.
48. 2:48This allows you to see that Hamlet is not as crazy as he's claiming to be,
49. 2:52and intensifies the animosity between these two characters.
50. 2:57Want another example?
51. 2:58"Romeo and Juliet" has some of the best insults of any of Shakespeare's plays.
52. 3:04It's a play about two gangs,
53. 3:06and the star-crossed lovers that take their own lives.
54. 3:08Well, with any fisticuffs
55. 3:10you know that there is some serious smack talk going on.
56. 3:13And you are not disappointed.
57. 3:15In Act I Scene 1, right from the get-go
58. 3:18we are shown the level of distrust and hatred
59. 3:20the members of the two families, the Capulets and Montagues, meet.
60. 3:25Gregory: "I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as they list."
61. 3:31Sampson: "Nay, as they dare, I will bite my thumb at them,
62. 3:35which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it."
63. 3:38Enter Abraham and Balthasar.
64. 3:41Abraham: "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"
65. 3:44Sampson: "I do bite my thumb, sir."
66. 3:47Abraham: "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"
67. 3:51Okay, so how does this development help us understand mood or character?
68. 3:55Well, let's break it down to the insult.
69. 3:58Biting your thumb today may not seem like a big deal,
70. 4:01but Sampson says it is an insult to them.
71. 4:04If they take it so, it must have been one.
72. 4:07This begins to show us the level of animosity
73. 4:10between even the men who work for the two Houses.
74. 4:13And you normally would not do anything to someone
75. 4:16unless you wanted to provoke them into a fight,
76. 4:18which is exactly what's about to happen.
77. 4:21Looking deeper, biting your thumb in the time in which the play was written
78. 4:25is like giving someone the finger today.
79. 4:29A pretty strong feeling comes with that,
80. 4:31so we now are beginning to feel the tension in the scene.
81. 4:34Later on in the scene, Tybalt, from the House of the Capulets,
82. 4:37lays a good one on Benvolio from the House of the Montagues.
83. 4:41Tybalt: "What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
84. 4:46Turn thee, Benvolio, and look upon thy death."
85. 4:49Benvolio: "I do but keep the peace; put up thy sword,
86. 4:54or manage it to part these men with me."
87. 4:57Tybalt: "What, drawn and talk of peace!
88. 5:00I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.
89. 5:04Have at thee, coward!"
90. 5:07Okay, heartless hinds.
91. 5:10We know that once again, it's not a good thing.
92. 5:13Both families hate each other, and this is just adding fuel to the fire.
93. 5:18But just how bad is this stinger?
94. 5:20A heartless hind is a coward,
95. 5:22and calling someone that in front of his own men, and the rival family,
96. 5:26means there's going to be a fight.
97. 5:29Tybalt basically calls out Benvolio,
98. 5:31and in order to keep his honor, Benvolio has to fight.
99. 5:35This dialogue gives us a good look
100. 5:37at the characterization between these two characters.
101. 5:39Tybalt thinks that the Montagues are nothing but cowardly dogs,
102. 5:43and has no respect for them.
103. 5:45Once again, adding dramatic tension to the scene.
104. 5:48Okay, now here's a spoiler alert.
105. 5:50Tybalt's hotheadedness and severe hatred of the Montagues
106. 5:54is what we literature people call his hamartia,
107. 5:57or what causes his downfall.
108. 6:00Oh, yes.
109. 6:01He goes down at the hands of Romeo.
110. 6:05So when you're looking at Shakespeare, stop and look at the words,
111. 6:09because they really are trying to tell you something.