Thus Leaning on Mine Elbow I Begin
All of Shakespeare's characters have a happy and independent energy that raises them above the realm of nature. That is why the greatest tragic characters are also so close to comedy. His characters become real as soon as they hit the stage. They are mysterious and can provoke the audience into wonder in one moment and wonder in the next. Their speeches and actions are so knit together that they create the character's soul. The inflection of their voices creates unique and identifiable personalities.
Genius must find its time and can be helped along in the atmosphere of its period. It's been claimed that in the sixteenth century was the adventurer and the striving of the individual. We see him for the first time on the English stage in Faustus and in Tamburlaine, This was also the Shakespearian moment.
Shakespeare's major protagonists have all the strength and vitality of their creator. Their capacity for life is astonishing. They have a mental, as well as a physical, energy. Macbeth retains a mysterious optimism, They are at one with the forces of the universe. Shakespeare's true villains are pessimists, denying the capacity for human greatness and are often self-absorbed and it is here, if anywhere, we can find Shakespeare's true sympathies. Studies have shown that Shakespeare adored all forms of movement, as if only in that quick sway and acceleration could he catch the vital life of all things.
As with many writers, there is a particle of himself in all of his characters and this is what, ultimately, brings them alive. He says so in the plays themselves. Richard III declares that "a thousand harts are great within my bosome,: and in Richard II the character Aumerle cries out: "I have a thousand spirits in my breast." He had an almost supernatural imagination, which seemed to be able to slip into the being of another.
Shakespeare would see his characters the way an actor would, not as a poet. It is notable how many of his characters blush. That is for the stage. It is with this amazing talent, that Shakespeare, out of all his contemporaries has such a solid knowledge of stagecraft. It was almost instinctual. He could see gestures and groups of actors moving across the stage. One of the characteristics of Shakespeare's plays is that a scene with many characters is followed by a scene with few characters to giving time for the larger cast to be assembled.
He also gave about 95% of his lines to fourteen principle actors of his company; this was mostly due to seniority but it was also carefully planned economy of a practical manager. It permitted rehearsals to go on without the hired men.
It has become obvious that he saw certain performers, such as Kempe or Burbage, in certain roles. He heard their voices and knew in advance their individual presence on stage. Burbage's development had an influence on the growing depth and complexity of Shakespeare's tragic heroes. They also age along with Burbage. Shakespeare did the same for Kempe reached his apex of achievement of performing in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It is clear that Shakespeare gave much thought to doubling, where one actor played more than one part and he had to ensure that the same characters were not on stage at the same time. So with a cast of twenty-one actors playing in some sixty different parts was in itself an amazing feat in theatrical memory (seriously, it is amazing because sometimes I can't remember many of the bit characters I create in my stories).
He would also create characters for himself and in each of the plays, there is always at least one character in which he was meant to perform. The character may not resemble him at all, but he is the one Shakespeare wanted to play.
His deference to actors is evident in other places too. Generations of actors have said that once you memorise the lines of his plays, they stay in your memory. This, of course, would have been a huge advantage to early actors who might have to repeat several plays during one theatrical season. The words he uses are attuned to the movement of the human voice. They possess natural speech emphasis, unlike the stiffness of Marlowe or Kyde. Actors have also commented on the fact that the cues for movement or stage business. He was also able to exploit the dramatic possibilities of silence. He used offstage shouts or sounds to suggest turns in the plot, like the knocking at the door in Macbeth. There has never been a more accomplished master of all the devices of the stage.
As an actor, he was in intimate communication with his audience. His purpose was to please his spectators and every episode was meant to engage their attention. There are passages of dialogue which are clearly meant to signal to those parts of the audience who might not be able to see what is happening on stage. When Macbeth calls out "Why sinkes that Caldron," he is telling the audience that the cauldron is going through the trapdoor.
If there is a certain modesty in this, it is a virtue he learned early. He was obliged to act in many ill-written plays composed by his contemporaries and in a lifetime of reticence and self-effacement it is perhaps the greatest act of self-denial that Shakespeare ever endured.
Fluidity is also the form of his thought. He delights in pairs and oppositions. He cannot conceive a thought or sentiment without reversing it. He is preoccupied by changes and contrasts. The clown continues his farce as Romeo enters the of Juliet. The King and the Fool are companions in the storm. In the most glorious reaches of Shakespeare's art, there is no morality at all. There is only the human will in consort with his imagination.
Though he is often seen as unemotional there is reason to believe that the death of Desdemona deeply disturbed Shakespeare but strangely, not terribly moved as it was suggested he was in a particularly cheerful mood the day he wrote the scene.
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