Feeling our way through Shakespeare

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage” (Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth)

The arrival of a new student last week had me revisiting school Shakespeare.

“Don’t try to translate it,” I said, because it’s not just about the words on the page, it’s about a feeling.

Reading a Shakespeare play in its original form is like trying to decipher a foreign language text.

This student is a big fan of K-Dramas and my suggestion was that Shakespeare’s plot lines aren’t too far from those of modern K-Dramas (may have offended some Shakespeare die-hards with that remark).

His narratives have stood the test of time and hook you as a reader/viewer, if you can decipher the language.

We didn’t master Shakespearean English within a short hour, but we did make progress.

And, dare I say it, she might even be enjoying it 😉