Week #10 - BRAVE NEW SHAKESPEARE CHALLENGE
Week #10 - BRAVE NEW SHAKESPEARE CHALLENGE.
For our 10th week we challenge you to interpret and share:
We’ve invited artists to share their interpretations of this famous passage.
THE WINTER'S TALE
Act Three, Scene Two
WATCH: Check out the videos from our Public Theater family for inspiration on this page.
CREATE: Get inspired! Act, sing, rewrite, translate, paint, dance – whatever moves you!
CAPTURE: Record a video or snap a photo of your work.
SHARE: Post your interpretation and share it with us and challenge your friends! Tag @PublicTheaterNY on Twitter and Instagram or @publictheater on Facebook, and be sure to use the hashtag #BraveNewShakespeare.
BONUS POINTS: Tag a friend who you think is up for the challenge.
THE WINTER'S TALE, Act Three, Scene Two.
THE WINTER'S TALE
By William Shakespeare
Act Three, Scene Two
HERMIONE #1
Since what I am to say must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation and...
Read the full passage here.
HERMIONE #2
Sir, spare your threats:
The bug which you would fright me with I seek....
Read the full passage here.
El cuento de invierno
Acto Tres, Escena Dos
Por William Shakespeare
Traduccion por Ángel-Luis Pujante
HERMÍONE #1
Pues lo que vaya a decir no ha de ser
sino para negar la acusación....
HERMÍONE #2
Mi señor, ahórrate amenazas. El duende
con que quieres asustarme yo lo busco....
Shakespeare Thoughts.
From Patricia Akhimie
Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark, and author of Shakespeare and the Cultivation of Difference (Routledge)
Twitter: @pakhimie
Accused of a crime she has not committed—adultery with her husband’s childhood friend, Polixenes—repudiated publicly by her husband, King Leontes, separated from her son, incarcerated, forced to give birth in a prison cell and immediately parted from her newborn baby, Queen Hermione defends herself in the only way she can in this scene. Made to stand before her accuser and an indifferent crowd of onlookers in a mockery of a trial, she proclaims her innocence in the most strident terms. Yet her words fall on deaf ears. Her call for justice is that much more poignant because she seems to know that she will not be exonerated no matter what she says or does, that no one can save her.
Hermione’s speech resonates with us today as she describes what it is like to be treated as suspect, to be treated as guilty without evidence of any crime, to be subject to overly harsh punishment, and to know that the justice system itself is biased against you. In Shakespeare’s time women were particularly vulnerable to accusations of adultery, their reputations could be easily by smeared by something as simple as gossip, and they did not enjoy many protections against physical and other kinds of domestic abuse. A husband’s trust and love was key to a woman’s safety and well-being. Powerfully, Hermione says that she does not care even for her own life, having lost everything worth living for. What she does care about is honor, her own and her children’s by extension. In order to clear her name she will invoke a greater judgment—divine judgment—represented in the play by the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
Resources and Links.
READ ALL OF SHAKESPEARE FOR FREE AT THE FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY ONLINE!