Shakespeare as Spoken.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 25, 23 June 1906, Page 41

Shakespeare as Spoken.

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MARSHALL STEELE.

Recent criticisms of Shakespearean revivals have sounded a note of complaint that the melody of his versa is utterly destroyed by the actors’ adoption of the rules of modern pronunciation. For such complaint there is assuredly ample cause when to pronounce a Anal “ed” is necessary for the scansion of a line, as in:— Much marked of the melancholy Jaques. Here lived J, but now live here no more. To omit this syllable in delivering either passage must be singularly offensive to ears attuned to blank verse. The further complaint, however, that the ending “ion” was always treated as one syllable, though the verse demanded that it sliould sometimes be regarded as two, raises some interesting points. First of all, it should be pointed out that one of the plays which (or the acting of which] had given rise to these critical comments was "As Yon Like It,” and in "As You Like Tt” not only are there more instances than usual of the termination as a dissyllable, but they come far eloser together than is the rule. Thus, in one scene alone, there are four such instances: — And I did laugh sans intermission. He bath strange places crammed With observation, the which he vents liv mangled forms. Or what is he of basest function. Seeking the bubble reputation. Next, it will be noted that one of these is in the middle of the line; and there are only three such instances in al! Shakespeare, except where the consonants immediately preceding the ending are “ct.” These exceptions, however, axe but few. and Shakespeare, as a rule, treated "ion” in the modem fashion, as a monosyllable. In cases where he did not, it would sound too strangely affected were our actors to speak of “reputation,” “funeti-on,” or “einoti-on.” Since they occur with rare exceptions at the end of a line, it is better to treat the lines where they are encountered as fresh examples of the numerous ones with only four accents. But when the actor destroys the rhythm of a line by substituting modern for Shakespearean accentuation, his offence is past condoning. Who, for instance, eould hold his soul in patience to hear the beautiful passage in Othello's dying speech—As fast as the Arabian trees do drop Their medicinal gum. murdered, by giving "medicinal” any but a penultimate aoentt Nor can we endure to hear verse turned, into prose by pronouncing according to twentieth century rules the line—If thy offences were upon record. And Shakespeare uses a goodly few common nouns which are paroxytone today, but were oxytone in liis time, and should, therefore, be so treated on the stage whenever one of his plays is acted. In the ease of verbs with the termination “ise,” these, unless polysyllables, were accented, as a rule, by alt the Elizabethans on the penultimate. Some of them, e.g., “advertise” and "solemnise,” were yet hovering between two promnieiations, and Shakespeare gives each of them to “solemnise.” Thus, Portia says: — Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnised but in "Love's Labour Lost” we have the line— Of Jaques Faneonbridge solemnised, where the accent is clearly on the second syllable. In each case the line must he pronounced as Shakespeare intended, or be indistinguishable from prose. The effect is equally offensive to the car when the actor departs from the Shakespearean accent in the following passages, where it will bo seen that the verb is invariably accented on the penultimate :— And thou shalt be convulsed Cardinal, And chastise with the valour of my tongue. To one that can my part in him advertise. Authorising thy trespass with compare.

In the la*t instance uc have a verb which was in frequent use, and always with the same accent, aiuvng Elizabethan dmiuatists. In one of Beaumont and Fletcher’s playa, “The False One,” it occurs three times: “That should authorise it” begins one line; “authorised enemy” ends another: while the third instance is:— Let her Iler A while. to make us. apart; she ahull authorise Our undertakings. \et although instance piled on instance shows what was the accentuation of this word, what Macbeth dares to adopt it when speaking of “tales authoris’d by her gran dam”? There were other words which, in Elizabeth's reign, bore an accent on the penultimate where now it is thrown one syllable further back. How utterly the verse is spoilt by uttering them with the modern pronunciation, the following examples show: — Poloniiis: And these few precepts in thy memory Seo then character. Ferdinand: The most opportune place, the streng'st suggestion, etc. Player King: Our wills and fates do so contrary run. I'lySses: Forestall presvi-enec and esteem no act But that of hand. Lear: Sepulchring an adultress. Helena: Ay. do. preserver, counterfeit sad tools. On the other hand, there are as many words which Shakespeare accented on the ante-penultimate, while wo bring the accent a syllable forward. Such am “Northampton,’’ “confes&or,” “purveyor,” ••quintessence,” “recorder,” perspective.” “observants,” and sueh examples a» —• That twenty silly duelling observants, and — Like perspectives, which righily gazed upon Show nothing but confusion, point once again the moral that we must adopt Shakespeare’s pronunciation er mar the music of his incomparable verse. To avoid this last disaster, too we must, when the rhythm demands it, omit the “th” sound from such words as “neither,” “either,’’ “hither,” “whether,’* “whither,” and pronounce them as monosyllables; we must make such contractions as “interJgatorics,” “blunging,” and “dis’pte”; and we must remember that at one time it was a dire offence to rob “Gloucester” and “Worcester” of even one syllable. In such lines as — Andronicus. T d<* not flatter thee. That lock up thy restraint. Fur yon, Fosrhumus, My friend Stephano. signify. I pray you—we must fearlessly make the false quantities the metre demands, notwithstanding that sad memories of our fourth form days recall to us painful penalties which, in the first two eases, sueh mispronunciation involved. Hera is a work for any stage reformer who has courage and capacity to undertake it. The Elizabethan Stage Society gives us from time to time the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as they wore acted in those spacious times, and with each performance sets us rediscussing Mr Walk ley's platform theory. The theatres give us’ Shakespeare as he was not presented in the past and as he was never intended to be presented, and the multitude seemed to prefer him in this form. But some of us would dispense with scenic sple-ndour and elaborate stage contrivances but to bear for one? Shakespeare's magic ver>e spoken as it was spoken in his own day. while he was yet winning Ben Jonson’s immortal praise: — Soul <*f niir age! Th’ applause, delight, and wonder of the stage!