Punctuation
January 24, 2012
I remember having a discussion with Patrick Marber as to whether there was, or was not, a comma in the middle of a particular short line in Dealer's Choice. As it was a devised play, the line undoubtedly came from an improvisation, but perhaps in committing the written text Patrick had imagined it with no little caesura of a glance or a breath. It just goes to show the importance that details of punctuation can take on for a playwright who wants to give some clue as to how a line should be delivered.
As Shakespeare was writing primarily in blank verse, we can imagine that punctuation was very important to him. After all, punctuation of the written word was first implemented to help monks to deliver long passages of Latin from refectory pulpits. The idea was to help them in their phrasing. Nowadays, efficient and speedy comprehension of written text is highly dependent on good grammatical punctuation and syntax. Shakespeare, on the other hand, was working within the tradition of rhetorical punctuation for the spoken word.
The punctuation in the most important source texts of Shakespeare's plays, the First Folio of 1623 (F1), has been exhaustively studied. Scholars have spent much time and effort in establishing which particular compositor set each page. Editors are fond of 'correcting' their punctuation for us. But many years of placing my trust in the F1 text have convinced me of its value to an actor. The Bard's colleagues were conscientious in their mission to print the plays 'cur'd, and perfect of their limbes . . . absolute in their numbers, as he conceived them.'
There are bound to be errors in the printed text, but I am utterly convinced of the usefulness of respecting what the 17th century compositors set from the available manuscripts and play scripts. I like to try out the clues in the First Folio punctuation and see how they might work for me. I find it difficult to trust modern editions. The text in my Arden edition of Anthony and Cleopatra which claims to be 'true to the folio' has 1,466 changes to punctuation in 3,014 lines. Over two hundred exclamation marks have been added!
Here's an example of some enlightening F1 punctuation in The Tempest. Gonzalo is trying to encourage Alonso and tells him, in my edition, 'How lush and lusty the grass looks. How green.' Actually, in the First Folio, both sentences end in question marks. I prefer that more uncertain, appealing note.
I wonder if this interests you? If it does I can pick up the theme again.
(The What Country Friends is This? plays are; The Tempest, Twelfth Nightand The Comedy of Errors, and are part of the RSC's World Shakespeare Festival)
by Nick Day
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