William Shakespeare : Background Study (1951)

350 years ago they apply to people anywhere in the world perhaps the word people is a good clue to our study and enjoyment of Shakespeare people with human problems people with human passions people living out their lives in different ways playing as Shakespeare said their many parts people are a link between the atomic age in which we live and the Elizabethan age in which Shakespeare lives what kind of an age was Shakespeare's time what kind of a man was William Shakespeare today in England the lovely Valley of warshire where Shakespeare was born and where he lived is still called shakespare land it is the very heart of England the England that gave Shakespeare his language and shaped his character the Elizabeth in England that Shakespeare knew was a land of castles and princes Pomp and ceremony Kennelworth Castle is part of the pageant of English History that Shakespeare brings to light in his works during Shakespeare's Time Queen Elizabeth once visited kennworth castle in the courtyard of the palace the queen was entertained with pageant and and plays these were a part of the colorful life that developed during Elizabeth's Reign the age we still call the Elizabethan period not far from Kennelworth on the river Avon is Stratford in this town Shakespeare was born and spent his early life in Stratford original half timbered buildings in the tutor style give the town an appearance that carries us back to the Elizabethan period almost four centuries have passed since William Shakespeare was born in this house but time has only increased Shakespeare's popularity people come in ever increasing numbers to see his birthplace perhaps people understand Shakespeare because Shakespeare understood people people who live think and behave as human beings do whether they live in the Elizabethan age or today today boys of Stratford visit the very school that William Shakespeare attended as a boy and young men of the Town walk along the same Lane that Shakespeare used as a young man when he went calling on the girl he loved that girl was Anne Hathaway and this is her home coming to see her here Shakespeare may have watched for her face at one of these windows in this living room Shakespeare probably sat and talked with the girl who became his wife but all of his life was not spent in Stratford much of his work was done in London today in modern London we can find bits of the city that are of Elizabethan times certainly Shakespeare knew the Tower of London he set some of the action of his play Richard III in this Fortress in his play King John Shakespeare refers to the George Inn of London in the 16th century plays were often performed in the courtyards of Inn Spectators stood in the courtyard or on the balcony the first theaters built in England had a similar Arrangement that is the plays were performed in the center of the theater The Globe was one of the most famous Elizabethan theat today the memorial theater at Stratford is one of the world's finest playhouses people come to Stratford not only to see Shakespeare's town but to see his plays for after after all the play is the thing and what has kept the play so popular through the centuries probably one answer is that the human emotions and human behavior of Shakespeare's characters are so effectively expressed that we see our own behavior in them in this play we feel the beauty of undying love as Romeo expresses it but soft what light through yonder window breaks it is the East and Juliet is the sun arise Fair son and kill the envious Moon who is already sick and pale with grief that thou her ma H far more fair than she most of us have known people who are extremely ambitious in this play about a struggle for the Scot Throne the fierce ambition of Lady McBeth led to murder and tragedy come you spirits that tend on Mortal Thoughts fill me from the crown to the toe top full of dest crudity make thick my blood stop up the access and passage there is infinite Variety in Shakespeare's characters and plays The Taming of the Shrew is a hilarious love story in which a spirited girl is subdued by a determined young man named petroio I'll attend her here and woo her with some Spirit when she comes say that she ra why then I'll tell her plain she sings As sweetly as a night Andale say that she frowns I'll say she looks as clear as morning roses newly washed with Dew say she be mute and will not speak a word then I'll commend her vol ability and say she utth piercing eloquence it isn't difficult for us to understand Shakespeare's people and their actions career girls today for instance will sympathize with Porsha a woman lawyer as she pleads her famous case the quality of Mercy is not strange it droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven upon the place beneath it is twice blessed it blesseth him that gives and him that takes his mightiest in the mightiest Shakespeare's astounding insight into human nature is nowhere better Illustrated than in his character of Hamlet as he faces The Dread decision of whether or not to kill his father's murderer Hamlet's mental struggle is a study in psychology 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 by opposing end them yes Shakespeare's characters are real Dynamic men and women who are as alive today as they were when he first touched them with the spark of his creative genius perhaps as we examine the plays in their original form and see the pages set in Old English type we may feel that a wide Gulf of time separates us from these works and we may have some difficulty in Reading reading and understanding some of the old English words that Shakespeare used but with patience we can get acquainted with Shakespeare's language and at the same time discover that much of his language is very modern have you ever heard anyone say this is the short and the long of it or perhaps I cannot tell what the dickens's name is the plays are full of expressions and phrases that are still part of our daily talk let's just listen to some of Shakespeare's phrases neither rhymed nor reason I'll not budge an inch I'll tell the world it was Greek to me the game is up with bag and baggage sweets to the Sweet all's well that ends as well yes all of us use Shakespearean language without realizing it but what else can we learn about the plays many of the settings are English settings places that Shakespeare knew through personal experience for instance in as you like it the forest of Arden that Shakespeare described was very likely inspired by the actual Forest of arton in the war Countryside not far from Shakespeare's home home in a number of his plays Shakespeare sets the scene simply as a heath and this is what he had in mind a broad expanse of wastelands of which there are many examples in England and Scotland when Shakespeare presented his merry wives of Windsor his audience Associated the play with Windsor Castle and its surrounding Parks still another of the many English settings are the Cliffs of Dober of the Southeast coast this region is the setting for part of Shakespeare's King Lear this precipice is still called Shakespeare cliff and the view from it is one that glester describes in the play there is a cliff whose high and bending head looks fearfully in the confined deep yes Shakespeare knew his England its people its Beauties its exciting history and these elements are part of his plays but Shakespeare is more than a playright he is the playright poet in language of sweeping lyric Beauty Shakespeare gives us pictures of scenes the gray eyed mourn Smiles on the frowning night checkering the Eastern clouds with streaks of light and Fleck a Darkness like a drunkard reels from fourth day's path and tightens fiery Wheels Shakespeare's command of the language lends infinite variety to his poetry look love what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in Yonder East night candles are burnt out and jock and day stands tiptoe on the Misty mountaintops born and reared in a land of beauty it is no wonder that Shakespeare wrote of nature almost by habit the poet may have been thinking of his own beloved River Avon when he wrote here will we sit and let the sounds of Music creep in our ears soft Stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony sweet harmony might well describe Shakespeare's Works a masterful blending of poetry and life here in Stratford Church Shakespeare is buried in the heart of the England he loved but he lives on in his works in the immortal characters he created for Shakespeare the stage on which he set his men and women was not only the world he knew but it was a world of people everywhere the link between ourselves and Shakespeare is a human link it is a human Bond that knows no limits of time and space [Music]