Quick dose of the Bard

September 4, 2007 2:27 PM

Searching for an understandable snippet of Shakespeare.

In school, we are putting on a miniature Renaissance Faire, and I am going to be doing a quick reading of Shakespeare. I need a short selection from Shakespeare that would be understandable to 9th graders that I can memorize. Any suggestions welcome.

posted by Hargrimm to writing & language (28 comments total)

i doubt you'll find anything that's totally straightforward for the uninitiated, but you might start here.

o, google, how great thou art.
posted by thinkingwoman at 2:30 PM on September 4, 2007

How about the witches' speech at the beginning of Macbeth?
posted by CrunchyFrog at 2:31 PM on September 4, 2007

Lots of high schoolers (like me) had to memorize the "All the World's a Stage" monologue.
posted by kdern at 2:32 PM on September 4, 2007

At least, that was the popular speech back in the 80's when I was actually in high school!
posted by kdern at 2:33 PM on September 4, 2007

A lot of 9th graders have to read Romeo & Juliet.
posted by mattbucher at 2:47 PM on September 4, 2007

The famous "To be, or not to be" speech from Act III Scene I of Hamlet is too difficult, but the "Get thee to a nunnery" exchange between Hamlet and Ophelia afterward is a bit more straightforward.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 2:48 PM on September 4, 2007

A sonnet. Like the prologue from Romeo and Juliet.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 2:48 PM on September 4, 2007

Or if you want something really short, use my favorite quote from Hamlet:
"There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. "
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 2:51 PM on September 4, 2007

I like:
I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.

(but cut it at "man delights not me")
Or, when I was thirteen I was in a summer camp and got to perform a monologue of my choice, I chose one from Richard III:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says that 'G'
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.


or one of the Sonnets? 20 is always good for a debate, 135 demonstrates that even the Bard had his off days. There are quite a few and most are accessible and all are, by definition, short.
posted by Grod at 3:02 PM on September 4, 2007

Thirding Romeo And Juliet. Youthful, aching romance is timelessly understandable to 9th graders, even when it's dressed up in fancy language. I remember reading it in 9th grade english class, and I loved it even though I was a jaded 80s girl. And we got to see the 1968 version of the movie as a treat. All of us girls swooned, AND we got to see Romeo's naked butt! And I'm sure the boys were just as excited to see Juliet's heaving bosom. (I'll bet the prude brigade prevents that kind of thing from being seen in the high schools nowadays).
posted by amyms at 3:04 PM on September 4, 2007

Sonnet 130 is my personal favorite. And it says "breasts" which should get everyone's attention.
posted by GuyZero at 3:15 PM on September 4, 2007

Hamlet yes.
But I also really love me some Benedick from Much Ado. Like this one here (warning, PDF). Act 2, scene 3, line 7 apparently. It's pissy and funny and understandable to a 14-year-old.
posted by Gingersnap at 3:17 PM on September 4, 2007

Sonnets, yes, certainly.
I'd recommend #18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day) or the aforementioned #130 (My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun)
posted by CrunchyFrog at 3:25 PM on September 4, 2007

Having memorized "To be or not to be..." in 8th grade, it's certainly not too hard for 9th graders.
posted by klangklangston at 3:28 PM on September 4, 2007

Please consider the quality of mercy monologue, from The Merchant of Venice.

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptered sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute of God himself;
And earthly power doth then show like God's
When mercy seasons justice.

posted by amtho at 3:31 PM on September 4, 2007

Sorry, I didn't mean for that to be double spaced.
posted by amtho at 3:32 PM on September 4, 2007

I can't believe I forgot 130, I'll third it.
posted by Grod at 3:39 PM on September 4, 2007

I think perhaps Richard III is a bit too adult for most teens, at least I hope so, Grod. Even though my personal fave line of all Shakespeare is; "And thus I clothe my naked villiany in old odd ends, stolen forth of holy writ, and seem a saint when most I play the devil" from the aforementioned play.

Many of the sonnets are quotable and understandable by teens, and Romeo and Juliet and the humorous plays (Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, etc) are always good.

I've been unable to find a free copy of it, but if you can find a video of the old Moonlighting episode of Atomic Shakespeare, I assure you, your students will embrace the Bard with every fibre of ther little poetic hearts.

Good luck!
posted by elendil71 at 3:42 PM on September 4, 2007

I've always been a fan of the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V:

"What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Cut as you like - but it's a good one, IMO.
posted by jimmyhutch at 3:44 PM on September 4, 2007

We had to memorize Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." speech, the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.." from Macbeth, Hamlet's "To be or not to be..." and a slew of others in high school English, but my favorite is sonnet #130 mentioned above--I memorized that just because I love it, not because I had to.
posted by misha at 3:52 PM on September 4, 2007

Are you committed to the poetry of the bard? If not, try something like this or this.

There's a company in Chicago that does these things, but I can't remember what they're called. Googling "Short Shakespeare" gets the Navy Pier thing that the legit company does-- that's not it. Any help from the hive mind?
posted by nax at 3:58 PM on September 4, 2007

This was my fave when I was a kid. Gloss over the first part but the second is vivid and readily understandable to anyone.

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

--Macbeth (V, v, 19)
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:00 PM on September 4, 2007

on preview:
elendil71. Maybe.

CunningLinguist, yes. The emphasis on the and (at least that's how I think it's supposed to scan, I could be wrong) should resonate with teens who have to do math homework and babysit and the dishes

I'd also suggest Lear, which always resonated with me. If you're old enough, the title character, if not, I always like to see actors try this:
And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!
Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.
Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,
Look there, look there!

Those five nevers. Ouch. Worse than a monosyllabic "howl" repeated four times.

Or a reflection on legitimacy, fraternity, mores, class mobility and all that sort of thing?

Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true
As honest madam’s issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops
Got ’tween asleep and wake?—Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land:
Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word—legitimate!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper.—
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

I find Romeo and Juliet is too simple -- like a teen movie. The comedies aren't very funny, at least they don't move one to laughter near so well as the tragedies and histories move one to tears and introspection, except The Taming of the Shrew, I enjoyed that one. The sonnets are enjoyable. Hamlet is, to me, the greatest of his plays. Thus your best bet would probably be something from Romeo and Juliet and if not then something from one of the Comedies. Probably A Midsummer Night's Dream would have something useful, but nothing springs to mind at the moment.
posted by Grod at 4:18 PM on September 4, 2007

Grod, "comedy" has a broader meaning than "funny" in this context.

Hargrimm, seconding that the classic is the "all the world's a stage" bit from As You Like It. Also the "These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air..." speech from The Tempest is classic as a closing monologue.
posted by desuetude at 9:27 PM on September 4, 2007

Nax- you're perhaps thinking of the Reduced Shakespeare Company?
posted by IndigoJones at 5:43 AM on September 5, 2007

the pyrramus and thisbe play within a play from "midsummer night's dream"?
posted by rmd1023 at 7:41 AM on September 5, 2007

seconding the richard iii bit .
posted by juv3nal at 12:58 PM on September 5, 2007

i think the sonnets are pretty straightforward.
back in the day, i got a kick out of this one:

SONNET 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
posted by twistofrhyme at 3:17 AM on October 12, 2007