Shakespeare’s Bawdy Humor

Anticipatory Set With a partner, come up with: 2 reasons why students are intimidated by Shakespeare 2 reasons why we have to read Shakespeare (not because our teachers make us…)

Objective After viewing the powerpoint, students will demonstrate understanding of the elements and purpose of Shakespeare’s bawdy humor by summarizing the main ideas in their Cornell notes.

Objective You will: Show me by: Understand the elements and purpose of Shakespeare’s bawdy humor. Show me by: Taking Cornell notes. Summarizing the main ideas in your Cornell notes.

Where’s the sex?!?!? “The plays are absolutely packed with filth. I’ve found more than a hundred terms for vagina alone. I bet your high school English teacher forgot to mention that.” Héloïse Sénéchal editor of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s edition of the Complete Works.

Where’s the sex?!?!? So, how did you, a great admirer of a finely crafted sex joke, miss all this goodness in Shakespeare?

Where’s the sex?!?!? Due to the constant evolution of language and culture, Elizabethan euphemisms are mostly unrecognizable to the casual contemporary reader. Translation: We don’t get their slang

What is bawdy humor? dealing with sexual matters in a comical way Usually with innuendo (dirty hints) humorously indecent It’s crude, rude, and socially unacceptable…

How do I know if it’s bawdy humor? Look for the PUNS!  Things that are pointy or that you could stick into something, well they represent… AND THEN Things that are circular or that you might put something into, well they represent…

How do I know if it’s bawdy humor? “Pointy” type things: bugle, lance, carrot, pear, stake, pen, pipe, poll-axe, horn, tool… “Circular” type words: breach, case, den, eye, flower, lap, mark, plum, sty, wound…

How do I know if it’s bawdy humor? Example: “But I might see Cupid’s fiery shaft/ Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon” –A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II, Scene 1 Translation: “And then the flaming penis shot into the sky’s vagina. I totally saw the whole thing.”

Why did Shakespeare include bawdy jokes? Shakespeare included bawdy humor in his plays for the lower class (poorer) members of the audience. (But I’m pretty sure everyone was laughing…)

A Modern Reproduction of the Globe Theater http://www.athenalearning.com/programs/playing-shakespeare/interactive-globe-theatre

How do I know if it’s bawdy humor? Pay attention when gloves are mentioned. In Shakespeare’s time, high-end ladies’ gloves were made of lambskin. (AHEM! the same material they used for condoms.) Example: “This woman’s an easy glove, my lord; she goes off and on at pleasure.” –All’s Well That Ends Well, Act V, Scene 3

Now you try… Juliet: Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die. –Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene III Errr…she want’s to “die” on Romeo’s “happy dagger”?!?!?! Where’s the frog?

Now you try… His tongue in her tail…REALLY?!?! PETRUCHIO : Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail. KATHARINA: In his tongue. PETRUCHIO : Whose tongue? KATHARINA : Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell. PETRUCHIO : What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman. –The Taming of the Shrew, Act II, Scene I His tongue in her tail…REALLY?!?!

Keep in mind… Dirty does not ultimately equate funny. Dirty and smartly stylized equates to funny.

Why does humor matter? Humor must be had in any great work of literature or film. It is what allows us to connect at a more visceral level to what’s going on while we contemplate the story’s more intellectual themes.

Closure Write the summary for your Cornell notes. 4-5 Sentences please!

Original Pronunciation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s