My Thoughts on Teaching Shakespeare... It is more important for me to get you to like Shakespeare than it is to get you to understand every word. The best way to get you to like Shakespeare is by getting you to perform Shakespeare. Performing Shakespeare does not mean having you sit at your desks reading out loud, standing in front of the room reading out loud, or having me act out scenes for you. Acting out a scene is a form of close reading on your feet.

Our focus will be on the WORDS, the LANGUAGE of the play

O

O Int. Expressing (according to intonation) surprise, frustration, discomfort, longing, disappointment, sorrow, relief, hesitation, etc. Used mainly in imperative, optative (wish or hope), or exclamatory sentences or phrases, as in O take me back again!, O for another glimpse of it! O the pity of it! O dear! Oxford English Dictionary

Tone A particular quality, pitch, modulation, or inflexion of the voice expressing or indicating affirmation, interrogation, hesitation, decision, or some feeling or emotion; vocal expression. Oxford English Dictionary Let’s try some examples of tone using the interjection O.

O (tone: surprised)

O angry

O suspicious

O excited

O exhausted

O afraid

Stress n. Phonetics. Relative loudness or force of vocal utterance; a greater degree of vocal force characterizing one syllable as compared with other syllables of the word, or one part of a syllable as compared with the rest; stress-accent. Also, superior loudness of voice as a means of emphasizing one or more of the words of a sentence more than the rest. Oxford English Dictionary

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

I didn’t say he got a tattoo.

Now, let’s practice with some lines from Shakespeare. Use the given tone word to help provide a feeling or emotion conveyed in the line. Think about what word(s) you might stress in the line.