History Drama in Culture Use of Signs in Literature and Theatre Essay

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sernq

Humanities

Southern Methodist University

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Explain the Sign in full (the signifier and the signified). Explain what object carries the meaning and explain what the meaning is. Then link it to the overall themes we see in the play. You could also discuss the Signs used in the films by Olivier or Branagh.

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Drama (Winter 2020): Response 1 We have talked about the idea of representation and the theory of Semiotics (Signs). Using William Shakespeare's Henry V or Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, take Saussure's theory of Semiotics and analyze some of the Signs Shakespeare or Beckett uses in order to represent an idea. Explain the Sign in full (the signifier and the signified). Explain what object carries the meaning and explain what the meaning is. Then link it to the overall themes we see in the play. You could also discuss the Signs used in the films by Olivier or Branagh. For example, you could take the tennis balls Henry receives at the beginning of the play. The tennis balls are the signifier (they carry the meaning), and the lack of respect shown by the French Dauphin is the signified (the meaning carried). So the tennis balls and the meaning they carry make up the complete Sign. You would, then, discuss how they show a lack of respect because the tennis balls refer to a game and, therefore, idleness or a lack of seriousness and how the Dauphin is making reference to Henry's early days as an idle lay about; therefore, the Sign shows how the Dauphin is not taking Henry seriously as King and mocks him. Then you would link it to the overall themes of the play. One of the themes Shakespeare gives us is the idea that the French continue to underestimate Henry as monarch. The gift of the tennis balls is Shakespeare's way of introducing that theme. On his ascension to the throne, the French fail to take him seriously, so that when they go to war with him, they fail to recognize his ability and lose as a result. It also shows just how mature Henry has become upon his ascension to the throne. Make sure you quote from the text (NOTE: quotations do NOT count toward the word count). You may use the scenes we discussed in class. Date due: Length: January 28, 2019 750 words The play deals with events that are complex and take place in a number of many countries and settings Leslie Banks (1890-1952) As Chorus (1944) The Chorus acts as narrator and allows the audience to keep track of what happens - Chorus is a theatrical convention with many functions: expressed opinions, gave advice - Derived from Greek Tragedy - Shakespeare uses Chorus to set the scene and to interact with the audience - Shakespeare acknowledges the limitations of theatre and the stage through the chorus - Act 1, scene 0: Breaks the “fourth wall” & calls attention to itself as a piece of theatre - recognizes that the audience is a part of the artistic creation through use of imagination - Chorus helps Shakespeare to let audience know where we are (3.0.13-21, 25-27) - Scenes were painted backgrounds on cloth or flats (wooden frame covered with canvas or hardwood) - could not be easily changed; Chorus helps us to see the shifts in time and space - But the Chorus also subtly shapes our view of King Henry as the ideal ruler (2.0.1-7) - Chorus supports Shakespeare’s political suggestions that Henry is an ideal king - Henry mirrors best Christians; his soldiers are gods (Mercury) doing his bidding Theatre as Sign System Barbican Theatre London, England Theatre is an art form that presents the audience with ideas, images, and characters through a process of representation - Theatre is a highly politicized space - As far back as ancient Greece, drama has been a place where writers/actors argue their political/moral points or agenda - The texts we will do all grapple with various political and/or moral issues - representation: putting ideas into words, painting, sculptures, plays - Carefully chosen & constructed images to represent an event - It uses simplifications & interpretations of the objects/events they describe - Even “Realism” is a mode of representation not reality; t.v. news is a representation - The mode closest to reality but not reality itself (representation of the “real”) - Elements still chosen, edited, simplified (or made more complex), even created - These representations are created within a particular social & historical context - Shakespeare wrote during the Elizabethan (1558-1603)/Jacobean (1603-1625) periods - Period of expansion of English Empire, time of religious violence & beginning of a new coherent and unified “English” identity - But our reactions to the text is also shaped by our social & historical context - We respond to Shakespeare in ways shaped by our own 21st Century attitudes & views - We can bring new meaning to Shakespeare - Meaning is constantly shifting, being created - Theory helps us understand new meanings; it recreates a version of the text - Feminism can help us to view Katharine in Henry V; Marxism can help us view Henry - Both theories discuss power relationships (feminism through gender; Marxism, class) - Feminism helps us to see how women were viewed and controlled by male characters - Marxism helps us to see how elites control & dominate the lower class (servants, soldiers) - props scenes must take on greater symbolic representation (i.e. 1 actor becomes 1000) - But can open up the imagination as director is not bound by realistic representation - Stage can be filled by scenery/props or it can be barren (to engage imagination): - The space we watch a performance in affects the experience we have - Think a rock concert vs a play in a theatre - Both are performances & share similarities, yet we experience them differently - Theatre in Shakespeare’s time was different - The audience was vocal and interacted with the actors on stage (cheering, jeering) - There was only lighting from the sun Original Globe theatre opened in 1599 and was destroyed by fire in 1613 was rebuilt (1614) then finally closed by the Puritans (1647) reconstruction opened in 1997 about 750 feet from the original site of the theatre Neptune Theatre, Halifax Compare that to this experience How does the space change how we view and interact with the performance? Now think of the Donmar Warehouse in London: cramped with no space between audience and the actors on stage
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Running head: SIGNAGE IN SHAKESPEARE’S HENRY V.

Use of Signs in Literature and Theatre: Examples from Shakespeare’s Henry V
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SIGNAGE IN SHAKESPEARE’S HENRY V

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Introduction
Henry V, by William Shakespeare, is a play that carries deep meaning within it as it
depicts political events in state settings. As such, symbols must be used to carry some of the
dense representations of the political class that Shakespeare speaks of. In the current paper, the
signs used by Shakespeare in the play are discussed. The link of each symbol of thematic goals
of the play is done, alongside descriptions of the sign and the signified.
The Gift Chest of Tennis Balls as a sign
When Henry goes up into power, Dauphin gifts him with a tun of tennis balls. Overall,
tennis balls seem to be a worthless gift, which overly infuriates Henry. In the character of
Dauphin, Shakespeare uses tennis balls to show that the disrespect Dauphin has for Hen...


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