Shakespeare's Tragedies and an Acting Lesson: Crash Course Theater #15

Summary

Crash Course Theater explores Shakespearean tragedy, contrasting it with Greek drama by highlighting on-stage violence. The script delves into Elizabethan staging, actor specialization, and the unique blend of prose and verse in Shakespeare's plays. It emphasizes the Bard's innovation in character depth, intertwining humor with tragedy and examining the Christian moral context of sin and redemption. 'King Lear' serves as a case study, illustrating the complexity of human failure, suffering, and the struggle between illusion and harsh reality.

Takeaways

• 🎭 Shakespearean tragedy involves on-stage violence like poisoning, stabbing, and strangling, unlike Greek tragedies that kept violence offstage.
• 👑 Elizabethan drama involved actors organized into companies named after royal patrons, performing at playhouses or touring during plague closures.
• 👨‍🎤 Actors specialized in roles like kings, queens, and fools, with boys playing women's roles, and had to memorize multiple plays and parts.
• 🗣️ Shakespearean actors had to project their voices and use sumptuous costumes and props to make performances visually interesting in bare stages.
• 📜 Tragedy in Shakespeare's time was a flexible term, with some plays like 'Richard III' and 'King Lear' being ambiguously categorized.
• 😢 Shakespearean tragedies end unhappily, mix prose and verse, and often include action-packed scenes with prophecies, ghosts, and moral conflicts.
• 😃 Shakespearean tragedies also include comedic elements, with fools providing humor even in sad plays.
• 🙏 These plays inhabit a Christian moral landscape, with characters worrying about earthly consequences and potential damnation in the afterlife.
• 🧠 Shakespeare's tragic heroes are complex, grappling with internal conflicts and maintaining emotional engagement with the audience.
• 🌪️ 'King Lear' exemplifies Shakespearean tragedy, with a plot involving betrayal, madness, and a series of tragic reversals and deaths.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the Crash Course Theater episode presented by Mike Rugnetta?

The main focus of the episode is Shakespearean tragedy, discussing its characteristics, staging conventions of Elizabethan drama, and the specific example of 'King Lear'.

How did changes in vagrancy laws affect actors during the Elizabethan era?

Changes in vagrancy laws led actors to organize themselves into companies named after royal patrons and perform at purpose-built playhouses or tour the country when the playhouses were closed, such as during the bubonic plague.

What were the typical components of an Elizabethan acting company?

An Elizabethan acting company typically consisted of 8–12 shareholders, 3–4 boys, a few hired players, some musicians, and a couple of stagehands.

Why did actors in Shakespeare's time have to specialize in certain roles?

Actors specialized in roles like king, queen, lover, and different types of fools to meet the demands of various plays and the limited number of actors in a company.

What were the unique challenges faced by actors in Elizabethan playhouses?

Actors had to project their voices to be heard above the audience, perform without modern sound equipment, and manage multiple roles in different plays running in repertory.

Why did Shakespeare write comedic elements into his tragedies?

Shakespeare included comedic elements to engage the audience and provide an 'interchange of seriousness and merriment,' softening and exhilarating the mind at different times.

Outlines

00:00

🎭 Introduction to Shakespearean Tragedy

In this introductory paragraph, Mike Rugnetta sets the stage for a discussion on Shakespearean tragedy, contrasting it with Greek drama by highlighting the on-stage violence and the graphic nature of Shakespeare's plays. He introduces the focus on 'King Lear' and hints at the broader context of Elizabethan theater, including the organization of acting companies, the roles of actors, and the unique challenges they faced. The paragraph also touches on the staging conventions and the importance of memorization and performance in the absence of modern technology.

05:00

👑 The Complexities of Shakespearean Tragedy

This paragraph delves into the characteristics that define Shakespearean tragedy, emphasizing the blending of prose and verse, the action-driven plots, and the exploration of fate versus free will. It discusses the presence of reversals and recognitions, as well as the concept of hamartia, where characters with mostly good intentions make critical errors. The paragraph also notes the inclusion of humor, the Christian moral framework, and the innovative portrayal of tragic heroes with complex psychological interiors, setting Shakespeare apart from his contemporaries.

10:03

🏰 The Tragedy of 'King Lear'

The final paragraph provides a detailed summary of Shakespeare's 'King Lear,' outlining the plot and the key events that lead to the tragic conclusion. It discusses King Lear's initial mistakes, the betrayal by his daughters, the suffering and madness that ensues, and the ultimate demise of the main characters. The paragraph also touches on the themes of recognition and illusion, inviting the audience to consider the nature of truth and the human condition as portrayed in the play.

Keywords

💡Shakespearean Tragedy

Shakespearean Tragedy refers to a genre of drama that typically involves a protagonist with a noble status who experiences a downfall due to a combination of fate, personal flaws, and external circumstances. In the video, this concept is central as it discusses the distinctive features of Shakespeare's approach to tragedy, such as on-stage violence and complex characters, exemplified by plays like 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear'.

💡Elizabethan Drama

Elizabethan Drama encompasses the theatrical works and staging conventions of the era during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The video mentions the organization of acting companies and the structure of playhouses, which are key to understanding the context in which Shakespeare's plays were performed and the conditions that influenced their content and style.

💡Soliloquy

A soliloquy is a dramatic device where a character speaks their thoughts aloud while alone on stage, providing insight into their innermost feelings and conflicts. The script refers to soliloquies as a characteristic element of Shakespeare's plays, used to reveal the depth of characters like Hamlet's contemplative nature.

💡Repertory

Repertory in a theatrical context means a system where a company performs multiple plays in rotation over a period. The script explains that in Shakespeare's time, actors would learn new plays in the morning and perform existing ones in the afternoon, highlighting the demanding nature of an actor's life during the Elizabethan era.

💡Bare Stage

Bare Stage is a minimalist approach to stage design where the set is sparse, often with only essential pieces of furniture. The video describes how Elizabethan playhouses had a bare stage, relying on costumes and props to convey the setting and status of characters, as seen in the plays that Shakespeare wrote.

💡Hamartia

Hamartia is a term from classical Greek drama referring to a character's error in judgment that leads to their downfall. The script mentions hamartia in the context of Shakespeare's characters, like Hamlet and Brutus, who make critical mistakes that contribute to their tragic ends.

💡Fool

In Shakespeare's plays, the 'fool' is a character archetype that provides comic relief and often speaks truth to power through humor. The script notes the presence of different types of fools, such as the slapstick and the clever fool, and their importance in even the most tragic of Shakespeare's plays.

💡Projection

Projection in theater refers to the technique of speaking loudly and clearly so that the audience can hear the actor over the distance and noise. The video emphasizes the importance of projection for actors in Elizabethan playhouses, which lacked modern amplification and were often crowded.

💡Reversal and Recognition

Reversal and recognition are plot devices in drama where a sudden change of circumstances or a revelation leads to a new understanding of the situation. The script explains that these devices are present in Shakespeare's tragedies, contributing to the complexity and emotional impact of the plays.

💡Psychological Interiority

Psychological Interiority refers to the exploration of a character's inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations. The video highlights Shakespeare's innovation in creating characters with rich inner lives, like Hamlet, who grapple with their decisions and moral dilemmas, setting his work apart from other tragedies of the time.

💡King Lear

King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most renowned tragedies, which the video uses as a case study to illustrate the features of Shakespearean tragedy. The script summarizes the plot of 'King Lear,' including its themes of familial betrayal, madness, and the consequences of poor decisions, which encapsulate the tragic nature of the play.

Highlights

Shakespearean tragedies are known for their onstage violence, including poisoning, stabbing, and baking people into pies, which contrasts with Greek tragedies that kept violence offstage.

Elizabethan actors formed companies named after royal patrons and performed at purpose-built playhouses or toured the country when these were closed due to events like the bubonic plague.

Actors in Shakespeare's time specialized in roles such as kings, queens, lovers, and various types of fools, and they had to be versatile, often memorizing multiple plays and roles.

Shakespeare himself was an actor, possibly playing roles such as the ghost in 'Hamlet,' though the specific parts he played are largely unknown.

Actors did not receive full scripts; they got only their lines and cues, which they had to learn quickly without much emphasis on themes and motivations.

In 'Hamlet,' Shakespeare advises actors to avoid overacting and to deliver their lines with natural elegance and temperance.

Elizabethan playhouses were smaller versions of Greco-Roman amphitheaters, featuring bare stages that relied on costumes and minimal props for visual interest.

Shakespeare’s tragedies blend action with complex themes such as fate versus free will and individual desire versus public good, often involving prophecies and supernatural elements.

Unlike Greek tragic heroes who are mostly good but flawed, Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, like Hamlet and Othello, are deeply complex and psychologically nuanced, often in conflict with themselves.

Shakespeare's tragedies often contain humorous elements, thanks to the crowd-pleasing fools, creating a dynamic interchange between seriousness and merriment.

The tragedies inhabit a Christian moral landscape, where characters grapple with the earthly and spiritual consequences of their actions.

In 'King Lear,' the tragic narrative explores themes of power, loyalty, and madness, with King Lear making grave mistakes and suffering the consequences.

Edmund, the villain in 'King Lear,' is a master manipulator, driving the plot with his schemes against his half-brother Edgar and manipulating Lear’s daughters.

The storm scene in 'King Lear' symbolizes Lear’s inner turmoil and the chaos in his kingdom, highlighting Shakespeare's use of natural elements to reflect psychological states.

The endings of Shakespeare's tragedies are often deeply tragic and unresolved, leaving characters and audiences grappling with the harsh realities of life and the human condition.

Transcripts

Hey there, I’m Mike Rugnetta, this is Crash Course Theater, and today the bodies hit the

floor: We’re talking about Shakespearean tragedy.

Remember how the Greeks left the violence offstage?

Well, Shakespeare goes another way, with poisoning, stabbing, strangling, and baking people into

pies.

Get in line, Sweeney Todd.

There are already a couple of Crash Course Literature episodes about “Hamlet” and

that Scottish King whose name I could totally say right now if I felt like it, but I’m

just not going to, so we’ll be looking at “King Lear”.

And to set it all up, we’ll look at the staging conventions of Elizabethan drama,

and how all those soliloquies and storm scenes were acted.

Macbeth!

OK FINE IM SORRY IM SORRY INTRO

Because of changes in vagrancy laws, actors organized themselves into companies named

after some royal patron.

They mostly performed at purpose-built playhouses, but when those were closed—looking at you,

bubonic plague—they would tour around the country.

A company would be made of 8–12 shareholders, 3–4 boys, a few hired players, some musicians,

and a couple of stagehands, who ran around with whatever the Renaissance equivalent of

headsets and clipboards were.

Actors tended to specialize.

There were king types, queen types, lover types, and even a few different types of fool—like

slapstick fools and clever fools ... like Yorick here.

Shakespeare was an actor.

We don’t know the roles he played, though there’s a rumor he played the ghost in “Hamlet.”

[[[From offscreen, ghost’s lines: “Swear… swear… swear.”]]]

Who said that!?

But even specialized actors had to do more than just act.

They also had to sing and dance and sword fight.

And boy did they have to memorize.

Actors would spend their mornings learning a new play and their afternoons performing

an old one.

Because plays ran in repertory, there could be several plays on the go in any given week,

and many actors had several parts within them.

The boys in the company played the women’s roles—and some of those women have a lot

of lines.

With a schedule like that, actors didn’t spend a lot of time sitting around speculating

about themes and motivations.

Especially because actors didn’t get copies of the full script, just pages of lines and

cues.

The goal was to learn the lines and recite them without too much overacting.

We don’t know if Shakespeare hated overacting, but Hamlet sure does.

Here’s his speech to the traveling players:

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to

you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,

as many of your players do, I had as lief the

town-crier spoke my lines.

Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all

gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as

I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire

and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.

Hamlet is telling the actors don’t yell, don’t gesticulate wildly.

Just get the words out, and if you need to emote, do it with some elegance.

No mouthing!

No sawing!

Wait… am I an overactor?

As we mentioned last time, the outdoor Elizabethan playhouse was a smaller, chintzier version

of the Greco-Roman amphitheater.

It had an acting area backed by a tiring house--the place where players got changed --overlooked

by tiers of semi-circular seating and a pit, the area where workingmen who had paid a penny

could stand and watch.

Plays were performed in the afternoon, to take advantage of natural light.

And since this was an era before wireless headset mics, actors had to project so they

could be heard above all the chit-chatting groundlings.

The stage was bare except for big-deal furniture like a throne or maybe a bed.

So to make things visually interesting, actors relied on sumptuous costumes and hand props.

But this isn’t the Japanese theater.

If an actor held a fan, he was probably just using it to fan himself.

There were only a few special effects, but a couple of those were fire-based, which is

not the greatest idea in a theater made of wood.

On that flammable stage, actors performed some of the most fire tragedies ever written.

Many written by Shakespeare who borrowed from Greek tragedy and the medieval morality play

and earlier Elizabethan forms to create a whole new genre.

Seneca, who we met in our episode on Roman drama, is also an influence, especially on

Shakespeare’s first tragedy, “Titus Andronicus.”

Still, let’s remember that in terms of genre, tragedy is a flexible term.

As we mentioned last time, it was the editors of the posthumous First Folio who decided

to group his plays into Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies.

In Shakespeare’s life there was a lot more slippage.

A quarto of “Hamlet” was published as “The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet,” which

seems clear enough.

But the history play “Richard III” was published in quarto as “The Tragedy of King

Richard III,” so that’s confusing.

More confusing?

“King Lear” appeared in quarto as the “True Chronicle Historie of the life and

death of King LEAR and his three Daughters,” which makes it sound like a history play,

but its not.

So we propose a shortcut: When it comes to Shakespeare, a tragedy is a play that ends

unhappily and is not about a recent king.

Like the other plays, the tragedies are mixtures of prose and verse, though they tend to go

heavy on the verse, and the language is typically more ornate than in the comedies.

As in Greek tragedies, they are action-packed.

What with all the prophecies and soothsayers and vengeful ghosts—[[[Offstage: “Swear…

swear… swear”]]] shush it up!

I don’t wanna hear it anymore!—Shakespeare sets up related conflicts between fate and

free will, individual desire and public good.

Reversal and recognition?

They’re here, too.

Mostly.

So is the idea of hamartia, or mostly good characters missing the mark, like when Hamlet

gets caught up in his father’s revenge story, or Brutus joins the conspirators, or the Scottish

characters in the play I could totally name if I wanted to … agree to kill the king.

But hey, there’s new stuff, too.

For one thing, Shakespearean tragedies have a lot of funny bits.

The actors in Shakespeare’s company who played fools were big crowd-pleasers, so Shakespeare

wrote parts for them even in the sad plays.

So, if you like your tragedy extra-depressing, too bad!

As Samuel Johnson said, Shakespeare’s work is defined by “an interchange of seriousness

and merriment, by which the mind is softened at one time, and exhilarated at another.”

Kinda like a marvel movie!

Another important difference—sin!

These plays inhabit a Christian moral landscape, at least in part.

It’s not enough for characters to worry about what an action will mean on earth, they

have to wonder whether or not it will damn in the afterlife.

His construction of tragic heroes, though, is where Shakespeare made his biggest innovation.

Greek tragic heroes are mostly good people who whiff it, but Orestes, Oedipus, Pentheus

aren’t as ... complicated .. as Hamlet, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra!

The philosopher Hegel said that Shakespeare’s big innovation was to put thesis and antithesis

into a single character.

So it’s not Orestes versus Clytemnestra, or Pentheus versus Dionysus.

It’s Hamlet versus ... Hamlet.

Deep, yo.

Basically, no one does radical psychological interiority like tragic Shakespeare.

This sets him apart from, well, everyone… but also his contemporaries.

In most Elizabethan revenge tragedies, the revenger becomes more evil the more evil he

does.

Makes sense, right?

But Shakespeare never lets the heroes of his revenge tragedies become dehumanized.

They’re thinking; they’re questioning; they’re trying to figure out if what they’re

doing is right and if there are alternatives.

We never stop feeling for the heroes of Shakespeare’s tragedies, and this emotional engagement is

a lot of what makes them so sad, and terrible, and great.

To see this in action, let’s explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, “King

Lear.”

A play set in some fairy tale, hurricane-ravaged version of ancient England, that was first

performed at the Palace in 1606 and probably written the year before.

Adjust your screen brightness, ladies and gentlemen, because things are about to get

dark.

Light the way, Thoughtbubble: King Lear decides to retire, which is not

something kings do.

But first he makes his daughters stand up before the court and praise him.

His older daughters, Goneril and Regan, make kissy faces.

This disgusts his youngest, Cordelia, who says nothing, so her father takes away her

inheritance and banishes her.

He also banishes the loyal courtier Kent.

Meanwhile, Edmund, the bastard son of the Duke of Gloucester, is hatching a plan to

frame his half-brother Edgar.

It works.

Even though Lear is retired, he still wants to live like a king, but his older daughters

are like, what if you didn’t?

They refuse to house his retinue of soldiers, so Lear walks out into a terrible storm, followed

by the disguised Kent and the fool, who soon goes missing.

They meet up with Edmund, who is pretending to be a crazy beggar called Tom o’ Bedlam

until he can unframe himself.

The older daughters decide they’ll have to fight Lear, and when they learn that Gloucester

is trying to help him, they have his eyes plucked out, saying, “Out vile jelly!”

They give Gloucester’s land to Edmund, who they are both obsessed with.

Because Edmund is hot.

Edgar, the non-hot, non-sociopathic one, finds his father and promises to help Gloucester

commit suicide.

But it’s a weird trick.

Gloucester lives.

Cordelia has come back from France to help her father, who has gone mad.

There’s a fight.

Lear and Cordelia are taken prisoner and Cordelia is strangled before Edmund, suddenly overcome

with remorse, can free her.

Edgar kills Edmund.

Goneril poisons Regan.

Goneril kills herself.

Lear dies of a broken heart.

Gloucester dies for no reason.

They try to make Kent king, but he says he’s going to die, too.

Everyone is sad, the fool is still missing, and… scene!

Thanks, Thoughtbubble.

I may never feel happy again.

So at the beginning, Lear makes a couple of wrong calls.

He’s wrong to give up his kingship and expect to live like a king.

He’s wrong to ask his daughters to perform their love rather than to honestly feel it.

But throughout the rest of the play, we see him wrestle with and regret his bad decisions.

He’s never depicted as a monster or a sinner who can’t be redeemed.

He’s a sad and increasingly crazy old man who asks for our sympathy and probably gets

it.

There are a couple of exciting reversals: Lear’s team is going to win.

No, it isn’t!

Oh wait, yes it is, but ... everyone we care about is dead.

One of the really clever things Shakespeare does, is withhold recognition.

There’s some discrepancy between the quarto and folio versions, but in his last moments,

Lear seems to imagine that Cordelia might still be alive.

Shakespeare asks us to decide whether it’s better to live with this comforting illusion

or to accept the harsh, unvarnished truth.

We made it.

And now maybe we better understand what it is to be human and to fail and suffer and…

[[swear, swear, swear]] whatis?

Stan?

Has that been you the whole time?

You’re not my dad’s ghost!

Okay.

Next time is going to be a little more cheerful as we look at Shakespeare’s comedies and

a genre that critics went on to call the romances or the problem plays.

Because—spoiler alert—there are some problems.

Until then… curtain!