Dr. Neil Freeman, Professor Emeritus, researcher, and literary connoisseur visiting from The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, offered BYU-Hawaii students attending a recent Honors Colloquium an insightful, helpful, and witty exploration of one of English literature's most prominent contributors: William Shakespeare. In the process, he enlightened the BYUH students with a uniquely creative and new perspective on the life and work of the Great Bard.
Professor Freeman, who has worked with numerous acting troupes, student organizations, and as a Shakespearian actor himself, currently teaches within the Film and Theatre Department at UBC, one of Canada and North America's most prestigious universities. Approaching the subject from both literary and playwright perspectives, he drew on his expertise and keen intellect to interpret and perform Shakespeare's works "in the way Shakespeare intended them."
Freeman proposed the "shoulds" — or the accepted style, technique, and structure surrounding Shakespearian works — that many over the years have proposed to be "traditionally 'okay material,' in that the following is usually accepted by poets and academics, without much opposition; and is thus the very basis of most analytical techniques."
He lamented that as editors and literary experts have made various revisions to Shakespeare's work to revise its structure and style to fit this specific and accepted mold, the true power of Shakespeare's words is too easily lost. Justifiably, he added, those who offer credence to this persuasion may sorely undermine Shakespeare's ability, let alone his reputation as perhaps the greatest writer of all time.
"Countless editors have changed and altered Shakespeare's work on the grounds that his work needs to be perfected to fit the definition of proper Shakespearian style," Freeman argued. "What they misunderstand is that the key importance to understanding Shakespeare's work as he wrote it is that he knew what we was writing, and he wrote it as he did for a well-defined and justifiable reason. To alter it is to de-emphasize the meaning, and stress the wrong words, ideas, and overall flow of the work."
Freeman explained that when most of us read Shakespeare, we likely expect to encounter a perfectly structured, iambic pentameter — the 10-syllable norm. However, he asserted Shakespeare left many lines out-of-sync with this pattern, giving rise to debate whether this lapse in structure was intentional or mistaken.
He argued that not only did Shakespeare purposefully break pattern, he did so for a very conscious reason: When Romeo first sees Juliet, for example, he declares, It is my lady, O it is my Love, O that she knew she were. When the world reads the famous play, however, this 16-syllable line has become, It is my lady, O it is my Love. Why? Freeman responded, "Modern text invariably reduces [the line] to almost 'correct' the length to 10 syllables."
To those who might argue Shakespeare mistakenly failed to follow his own pattern, Freeman said, "The original setting is not a matter of bad poetry, but a sign that the character's mind is so full that he or she cannot stay within the confines of normal speech." That is, Juliet strikes Romeo as so beautiful that he cannot control himself, resulting in an outburst of emotion, and hence, the unconventional, longer-than-usual line.
Similarly, he suggested, "Lines shorter than the 10-syllable norm are [also] not a matter of bad poetry, but a sign that the character's mind is so full that he or she needs some sort of break while coming to terms with the imagery or impact of the line and, again, cannot stay within the confines of what is accounted 'normal' pentameter speech."
"Many modern editors often do not accept what they regard as 'irregular' lines as set in the first Folio, arguing compositor incompetence or scribal interference had destroyed the pure pentameter that Shakespeare 'must' have originally written." Freeman also insinuated that occasionally modern texts do allot authority for not following the Folio setting, "Usually when there is line-structure difference between a Folio and Quarto version of the same play."
In its extreme form, Freeman suggested that modern editing has, in effect, altered the meaning and tone of Shakespeare's most passionate ideas. Referencing the famous Twas a Rough Night scene from Macbeth, Freeman said, "Following the murder of Duncan, [the wording] has been altered so much as to create a simple moment of straight reporting instead of an admittedly beautiful poetic moment, again with no quarto alternative."
Freeman also asserted that even altering punctuation can drastically change a character. For example, in a Twelfth Night scene in Shakespeare's First Folio, Toby asks Andrew, Will you helpe an Asse-head, and a coxcombe, and a knave; a thin fac'd knave, a gull? In effect, Toby asks for help and humbly expresses his weakness and faults; whereas the modern, edited version states, Will you help? — an ass-head and a coxcomb and a knave, a thin fac'd knave, a gull! These simple punctuation variations dramatically thrust Toby's request to the offensive side, apparently asking for help and then seemingly insulting and dismissing Andrew. The question mark creates confusion as to who Toby is speaking (himself or Andrew), while the exclamation point expresses a tone of force and conviction that the First Folio clearly lacks.
To solidify the effect of these ideas, Freeman had the BYUH students rehearse famous lines from several plays in both the traditional and revised form. Emphasizing the importance of proper syllable stress, Freeman conceded, "Theater's acceptance of the uncompromising rigidity of weak-strong, weak-strong syllable stress quite possibly has destroyed a generation of actors." He also emphasized the importance of infusing reality and passion within the work to perform it properly.
Finally, Freeman encouraged the Honors students to continue their study of Shakespeare and literature with a new perspective and greater awareness to appreciate better the structure, devices, and techniques authors use to make their words come alive.
The BYU-Hawaii Honors program promotes higher education to students, offering courses designated to delve deeper and encourage discussion, service projects, and weekly Honors Colloquiums held Wednesdays at 3 p.m. in McKay 101 during Fall and Winter semesters.