На чтение: ≈ 10 мин.Согласно записям в церковной книге города Стрэтфорда-на-Эвоне, 23 апреля 1564 года родился, а 23 апреля 1616 года ушел из жизни Вильям Шекспир, знаменитейший драматург, поэт, автор 36 пьес, 154 сонетов и нескольких поэм.
Его пьесы ставятся в театрах мира уже более 400 лет, все его произведения переведены на многочисленные языки мира и постоянно переиздаются – по количеству переизданий Шекспир стоит на втором месте после Библии. Многие фразы, целые монологи из его пьес давно разошлись на цитаты и стали крылатыми выражениями; сонеты зачастую цитируются целиком. Те, кто читали роман Умберто Эко «Имя розы» или смотрели фильм, не задумываются о том, что название взято из трагедии «Ромео и Джульетта». Наряду с трагедией «Гамлет» эта история любви двух юных жителей Вероны является одной из самых знаменитых пьес в мире. Говорят, если название какого-то романа, повести или фраза из беседы персонажей кажутся вам знакомыми, стоит ввести их в поисковик и проверить на авторство. Зачастую оказывается, что перед вами цитата из Шекспира. «Taken at the Flood», название одного из романов Агаты Кристи, – цитата из пьесы Шекспира «Юлий Цезарь». «Королева детектива», чьи книги по количеству изданий стоят на третьем месте в мире, сразу после Шекспира, любила и хорошо знала труды своего соотечественника, упоминания о нем есть во многих ее произведениях. Фраза из трагедии «Макбет» «by the Pricking of my Thumbs» практически стала поговоркой. «What’s in a name», вопрос юной Джульетты, давно используется в различных сферах жизни.
Упоминания и напоминания о Шекспире можно встретить на всех континентах. «Shakespeare and Company» – так называется знаменитый книжный магазин, расположенный в двух шагах от собора Нотр-Дам в Париже. По легенде, в двадцатых годах 20 века здесь собирались писатели-космополиты; бывало, если им негде было переночевать, они устраивались прямо здесь, среди высоких стеллажей и узких проходов. Сегодня в магазине постоянно толпится народ и слышится разноголосая речь на всех языках планеты. «Shakespeare, Le Magicien Eternel», читаю на обложке апрельского выпуска одного из журналов; эта фраза не требует перевода с французского. Имя великого драматурга встречается в самых неожиданных местах, например, в моем родном Новосибирске есть улица Шекспира. Когда рассказываю об этом своим британским коллегам, они всегда удивляются: Шекспир в Сибири!
В помощь учителю, который планирует провести урок, посвященный Вильяму Шекспиру, – несколько важных фактов о жизни и творчестве величайшего гения эпохи Возрождения:
Who Was William Shakespeare? Why does this question arise?
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564, and there is a notation in the church register of the time. He was born in the family of a glove-maker; he attended the local school where he learned Greek and Latin, and later he went to a grammar school. He was not a member of nobility; not much is known of his life for sure because he lived so many years ago. That is why there are so many questions not only about his own life but about the authorship of his literary works. It was thought that a person who was not of noble birth and who did not travel a lot could not know so much, and could not write so well. However, it is known that he could read a lot and thus learn what he needed!
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, and they had three children. His family house and her family cottage are carefully preserved in town; millions of visitors come to Stratford every year to pay their respects to the great writer. Shakespeare left Stratford and went to London in the 1590’s. As was the custom at that time, a young family man earned money for his wife and children by any craft he could. Playwrights were considered to be simply skillful craftsmen who could compose a play or a poem to the order of some nobleman or the royal court. Thus “Romeo and Juliet” was composed for Queen Elizabeth I birthday: it is believed that the talented young man was able to write a nice, touching but not too sad play really fast.
Quite often, the writer would create a play or several scenes which would be given to actors to memorize, so that each actor might have only a portion of the play and the clues as to when they had to deliver their lines. All the actors were men; Shakespeare himself was a talented actor too. During the performance, several scribes used to jot down the spoken words as quickly as they could so that the whole play would be put together for the next acting. That is why there are often variations in the texts of the time. Note: a teacher needs to explain to modern children that everything was done manually. There were no computers, no internet, no check spell, and no recordings. And yet Shakespeare’s writings were so good, and some of the acting so wonderful, that there are multiple records about that, and some actors’ names are still known and respected.
Thanks to this habit of writing down a play as it was performed, a huge volume which included all of William Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets and poems was lovingly put together by his friends and admirers in 1623. This book is known as The Folio (tome). A few copies of this edition still survive in various libraries and museums. One of the first editions of “Romeo and Juliet” sits on a chain in one of the oldest English universities. It was so popular that students used to carry it away, to read and cry over it together at night. It had to be changed for a newer version regularly because the book was soaked with tears!
William Shakespeare wrote at a time when the English language was still being formed; many words had several spellings, and there were no set grammar rules. So Shakespeare practically created the modern literary English. Some of the words he used became obsolete, they are recognized but practically never used today, like the pronouns thee and thou which mean “you”. Many words and expressions were first used by the playwright in their modern meaning, with the still familiar spelling and usage. In a way, he set the norm for the modern-day language.
Can we still read Shakespeare’s works? Yes. For a classroom reading, we may safely choose a sonnet, or a scene from “Romeo and Juliet” or that old stand-by, “To Be Or Not To Be”, the celebrated monologue from “Hamlet”. Alternately, we may tell the senior students that Shakespeare is the most widely cited author in the world, and that excerpts from his writings occupy the largest number of pages in any Dictionary of Quotations. We may suggest that they use Google or any other search engine, type in Shakespeare quotes, and see what they get. This will definitely get their attention. A sonnet of fourteen lines or a short passage from a play may be a good exercise in translation.
Is there anything new to be learned about William Shakespeare today? Yes. With the passage of years and even centuries, some documents which were previously unpublished may become public knowledge. When an old archive or a library which used to belong to a rich titled family is sorted out, our contemporaries may find unexpected treasures. A copy of one of the first editions or even The Folio itself are occasionally found. Quite recently, what is believed to be a portrait of Shakespeare was found among the old books in a formerly private library.
William Shakespeare is indeed the eternal magician.
Нина Коптюг, кандидат филологических наук, Новосибирск
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