Shakespeare's Day

Image edited by Naledi Sibisi

On 23 April 1564 the stars were aligned - arguably one of the greatest playwrights of all time graced the earth and so, it was on this autumn day that I beseech ye' to hap'ly perch your attention upon my blog post dedicated to Sir William Shakespeare.

In exciting news, the past few months have been dedicated to studying Shakespeare's texts as part of my English Literature course so you can only begin to imagine the pace at which my fingers were dancing across this keyboard in sonnet rhythm.

The recurring themes of love, death and tragedy have been the Himalaya of my thoughts lately. These themes have started to govern the way I perceive the world around me - obviously with less dramatic consequences in the sense that I'm not about seek vengeance through a poisoned sword or contaminate my body for the sake of love. I do however, relate to the nature of these themes centuries later and it would be my pleasure to share these insights with you.

Some of Shakespeare's most profound works are driven by ideas of life and death and the consequences of our actions in the interim. His plays are usually characterized by the tragedy, the downfall of a character as a result of the choices they made which determined their fate or whatever. And every single time, although the outcome was expected, I would be deeply affected by this 'point of no return' because it was reminiscent of a number of experiences in my contemporary world. Let's take a look at Othello, undoubtedly one of my favourites.

Othello was a soldier who found love, and at the hands of jealousy and manipulation, he lost it. It was because of his military rank that he was unable to be emotionally engaged in his marriage; in other words, he was a warrior first and his heart took a back seat. For this reason, he didn't have the foundation to address his feelings where his wife was concerned, driving him to kill her (then kill himself) upon realizing his fault. More metaphorically, a soldier stance may be what drives some of us to let our emotions fade into the background, providing an opening for jealousy and manipulation to infiltrate through this crack.

You heard about him and her, or, he heard about you and another him which allowed both of you to manipulate the feelings you had for each other. Not because you were unwilling to admit what you felt, but because you didn't quite know how to articulate these feelings beyond your tin-man attire. Next thing you know, you're killing your significant other by deleting them off every social network and killing yourself because the world suddenly makes little sense without a whiff of their presence in your air.  On top of all that, your warrior pride will never lead you to acknowledge that the fault was yours until you've reached the point of no return and they have discovered new heavens.

"I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
Of one that lov'd not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme...."

- Othello Act 5, scene 2, 340–346

And so, he admits that the extent of his love was a deep sea but he failed to portray this love wisely. These are much like modern day tragedies. Those, I love you, but I fail to love you with reason tragedies. Those, I will willingly place another in your hands because I am afraid of being overwhelmed by the paths my heart chooses to travel.

This idea of remaining silent about what is truly felt takes me back to another Shakespeare favourite, Hamlet. This text is filled with Catholic and Greek mythological references, particularly in the concluding line of Hamlet's first speech.

"But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue."

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2, 161

The Catholic doctrine teaches about the power of the tongue – a concept that is interesting to look at supported by Greek Mythology. Iconic Greek philosopher, Pythagoras, personified a severe religious and moral compass which allowed for a well admired life. According to The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, “The ability to remain silent was seen as important training in self-control, and the later tradition reports that those who wanted to become Pythagoreans had to observe a five-year silence” (Iamblichus, VP 72). With that in mind, the understanding of why Hamlet must hold his tongue comes to light. Because he is overwhelmed by his emotions and disoriented as a result, he must hold his tongue to exercise some form of self-control. 

The more he confesses, the more irrational he becomes thus he must be cautious with his confessions. Biblically, it is said that “death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Morris, 2009:138). Essentially, the mystery of life and death are answered in this context.  It is only when Hamlet's mother Gertrude dies, that she acknowledges the magnitude of her wrongdoings. Fundamentally, the tongue has the power to convict, command, bewilder and drain someone and I guess, upon realizing this, the heart becomes heavy.

I can't help but become sad and then angered at the end of a Shakespeare text and the reason for this is, well, his theories live on.

And on, and on.