

Shakespeare was a producer and actor and, oh yes, a writer

[ 2010-01-14 10:29]     字号 [] [] []  


I'm Steve Ember.



And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about one of the most influential and skillful writers in the world. For more than 400 years, people all over the world have been reading, watching and listening to the plays and poetry of the British writer William Shakespeare.

JULIET: "Ay me!"

ROMEO: "She speaks:

O, speak again, bright angel!"

JULIET: "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;


And I'll no longer be a Capulet."



"Romeo and Juliet" shows how William Shakespeare's plays shine with extraordinarily rich and imaginative language. He invented thousands of words to color his works. They have become part of the English language. Shakespeare's universal stories show all the human emotions and conflicts. His works are as fresh today as they were 400 years ago.



William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18. The couple had three children, two daughters and a son who died very young. Shakespeare moved to London in the late 1580s to be at the center of the city's busy theater life.



In 1599 Shakespeare's company was successful enough to build its own theater called the Globe. Public theaters during this time were usually three floor levels high and were built around a stage area where the actors performed. The Globe could hold as many as 3,000 people. People from all levels of society would attend performances.








Shakespeare is best known for the 39 plays that he wrote, although only 38 exist today. His plays are usually divided into three groups: comedies, histories and tragedies. The comedies are playful and funny. They usually deal with marriage and the funny activities of people in love. These comedies often tell many stories at the same time, like plays within plays.





Shakespeare's histories are intense explorations of actual English rulers. This was a newer kind of play that developed during Shakespeare's time. Other writers may have written historical plays, but no one could match Shakespeare's skill. Plays about rulers like Henry the Fourth and Richard the Third explore Britain's history during a time when the country was going through tense political struggles.


Many Shakespearian tragedies are about conflicting family loyalties or a character seeking to punish others for the wrongful death of a loved one. "Hamlet" tells the story of the son of the king of Denmark. When Hamlet's father unexpectedly dies, his uncle Claudius becomes ruler and marries Hamlet's mother. One night a ghostly spirit visits Hamlet and tells him that Claudius killed his father.

Hamlet decides to pretend that he is crazy to learn if this is true. This intense play captures the conflicted inner life of Hamlet. This young man must struggle between his moral beliefs and his desire to seek punishment for his father's death. Here is a famous speech from a movie version of "Hamlet." The actor Laurence Olivier shines in this difficult role.

HAMLET: "To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?"


Shakespeare also wrote one of greatest collections of poems in English literature. He wrote several long poems, but is best known for his 154 short poems, or sonnets. The English sonnet has a very exact structure. It must have 14 lines, with three groups of four lines that set up the subject or problem of the poem. The sonnet is resolved in the last two lines of the poem.

If that requirement seems demanding, Shakespeare's sonnets are also written in iambic pentameter. This is a kind of structure in which each line has ten syllables or beats with a stress on every second beat.



Here is one of Shakespeare's most famous poems. Sonnet 18 tells the story about the lasting nature of poetry. The speaker describes how the person he loves will remain forever young and beautiful in the lines of this poem.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.



Next week, we will explore the many ways that Shakespeare's work has influenced world culture over time. This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.



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(来源：VOA 编辑：陈丹妮）