Why scan Shakespeare's verse?

Not too long ago, I posted a page from my work with the text preparing to play Marcus Andronicus. Someone I respect very much asked me if doing this sort of work didn’t take away from the flow and/or the meaning. I replied off the cuff that, on the contrary, I think this kind of work adds to the meaning. It was not a very useful response. I thought I’d expand on my ideas on this a little more, in what is almost certain to be a rambling post.

First of all, I think of a script as similar to a sheet of music. But we’re used to modern scripts that generally only have the notes – no time. A sheet of music that just says “g, g, g, e, f, f, f, d,” only gives you part of the information you need to play the music. Obviously, there are many, many ways that those notes could be played. But when you start with an eighth rest, play three eighth notes and then a half note, you get the opening motif of Beethoven’s Fifth.

Modern writers are sometimes conscious of time and sometimes not. Some of them write in pauses, ellipses, etc. But in Shakespeare’s time, verse was a very common form, and one in which plays were very commonly performed. It was something the actors and audiences were used to. And for that reason, something the playwrights generally used as a tool. That’s one of the reasons why if an actor wants to wring the most possible out of the text of an early modern play, the actor has to pay close attention to the verse.

Take this line from Hamlet, for example:

Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.

The first thing we do is see if we can read the line in ten syllables, with stress on the even numbered syllables.

a DIEU, a DIEU! ham LET, re MEM ber ME.

Nope, that doesn’t make sense. It has to be

a DIEU, a DIEU! HAM let, re MEM ber ME.

Now, I certainly don’t think there are no errors in the text of Shakespeare’s plays. Note how Orsino is called both Duke and Count in Twelfth Night. That seems like an error that just never got fixed. But placing that stress on the first syllable of Hamlet in that position seems to be done for a reason. That line could easily have been written in regular verse.

Adieu, adieu! And Hamlet, don’t forget.

It seems obvious to me that there’s meant to be a lot of emphasis on Hamlet’s name in this line. The ghost is disappearing, but wants to stress the importance of the message before he goes. A final plea. It’s an exclamation point. Many actors would probably treat that last sentence that way regardless of the verse, but in many cases, the verse will reveal emphasis that you might not otherwise think of. Emphasis that was specifically written in by the playwright. To disregard it is to ignore an important piece of the text.