'You' and 'Thou' in Shakespeare : a practical guide for actors, directors, students and teachers / Penelope Freedman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Freedman, Penelope, author.

Series:

Arden Performance Companions.

Arden Performance Companions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Language.

Shakespeare, William.

English language--Early modern, 1500-1700--Pronouns.

English language.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (157 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

London [England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021

Place of Publication:

London [England] : The Arden Shakespeare, 2021.

Summary:

"Romeo and Juliet always use 'thou' to each other, but they are the only pair of lovers in Shakespeare to do this. Why? All the women in Richard III address Richard as 'thou', but no man ever does. Why? When characters address the dead, they use 'thou' -- except for Hamlet, who addresses Yorick as 'you'. Why? Shakespeare's contemporaries would have known the answers to these questions because they understood what 'thou' signified, but modern actors and audiences are in the dark. Through performance-oriented analysis of extracts from the plays, this book explores the language of 'trulls' and termagants, true loves and unwelcome wooers, male impersonators, smothering mothers, warring spouses and fighting men, as well as investigating lèse-majesté, Freudian slips, crisis moments and rhetorical flourishes. Drawing on work with RSC actors, as well as the author's experience of playing a range of Shakespearean roles, the book equips the reader with a new tool for tracking emotions, weighing power relations and appreciating dazzling complexity."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Best friends

3. Too wise to woo peaceably

4. Unwelcome advances

5. Lèse-majesté

6. Family values

7. Married love

8. Freudian slips and testing moments

9. Absent friends

10. Conclusion.

ISBN:

1-350-11871-0

1-350-11870-2

1-350-11869-9

OCLC:

1238133222