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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s plays were never meant to be written down. They were written for the actors, but not for people. William would never have anticipated people would ‘study’ his plays.

I tell you this because the first conversation between Romeo and Juliet is a Shakespearian, or an English sonnet.

A sonnet is rhymed verse that is 14 lines long. It is impossible to identify a sonnet inside of rhymed verse because one would never know when it started. You have to see a sonnet to know it’s there.

So, it’s my opinion that this was placed in there purely for art’s sake. The actors would have known, assuming that they got a script that didn’t just have their parts on it. But the patrons would never have known. You've heard of Art for Art's sake. To me, this is a shining example.

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