I heard something in rehearsal last night that made me think of this.
In his book Shakespeare’s Advice to the Players, Sir Peter Hall states that because the sanctity of the line is paramount, an “actor must therefore try to make every line scan.” In other words, if there’s a way to reduce a line to ten syllables, following the pattern of unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, we should try to do so. Of course, even in an early play like Titus Andronicus, not every line scans. Working my lines for Marcus, I’ve found at least a couple of feminine endings (this refers to a line that contains 11 syllabes, the last of which is unstressed), and one line with only nine syllables. Sometimes, to make the line fit, we have to expand a word, as when we pronounce the –ed at the end of a word like banished, or drop a syllable we might otherwise pronounce elide (called an elision – the dropped syllable is “elided”). A trap for modern actors is the idea that words are pronounced the same every time we say them. This is particularly a problem with names.
Here’s an example. In Act III, scene ii of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon gives instructions to Puck. During the speech, he pronounces Demetrius two different ways in as many lines.
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
In the first of these two lines, the “i” in Demetrius is elided, so that the name has three syllables: then STIR de ME trus UP with BIT ter WRONGS. In the second line, all four syllables are pronounced: and SOME time RAIL thou LIKE de ME tri US.
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
In the first of these two lines, the “i” in Demetrius is elided, so that the name has three syllables: then STIR de ME trus UP with BIT ter WRONGS. In the second line, all four syllables are pronounced: and SOME time RAIL thou LIKE de ME tri US.
Not even names are immune to this. But hey, what's in a name, right?
not much about scansion sets my teeth a'grinding more than forcing the 10 syllables. why can't we trust that even though *most* verse is in proper iambic pentameter, he knew what he was doing when he made a feminine ending? i was taught that often feminine endings indicated some sort of heightened emotional state, which i have found to be generally on-track.
ReplyDeleteI agree there are many times when you can't (and shouldn't) force a line into ten syllables. After all, probably the most famous line in the canon has a feminine ending ("To be or not to be..."). I think scansion work requires striking a balance. It's an art, not a science. It can't be rigidly applied. Especially in the late plays, where the verse is often very irregular.
ReplyDeleteI was reminded of this post today as I listened to Flo Rida talk about his "Benjamin Frank-uh-lins." Rap music is full of these sorts of expansions and contractions and no one even bats an eye.
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