The winter's tale by William Shakespeare by Lauren Marie

My Classical monologue:

lmgledhill — 2014-11-17 12:21:11 UTC

Out, Alas!

You'd be so lean, that blasts of January

Would blow you through and through.

Now, my fair'st friend,

I would I had some flowers o'th spring that might

Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,

That wear upon your virgin branches yet

Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina,

For the flowers now, that frighted though let'st fall

From Dis's waggon! daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take

The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,

But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes

Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses

That die umarried, ere they can behold

Bight Phoebus in his strength - a malady

Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and

The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,

The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,

To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,

To strew him o'er and o'er!

The Iambic Pentameter

lmgledhill — 2014-11-17 12:28:46 UTC

The Iambic pentameter is a tool that Shakespeare used when writing in verse. It's a piece of writing where each line consists of 10 syllables.

Why did Shakespeare write in verse?

lmgledhill — 2014-11-17 12:31:45 UTC

Shakespeare wrote in verse so that the audience and actors were able to tell the difference between his upper class and lower class characters.

How was the lower classes dialogue written?

lmgledhill — 2014-11-17 12:35:42 UTC

Shakespeare wrote in prose for the lower class. There is no rhythm to the dialogue, it would be recognised as 'normal speech'.

Why did he use the iambic pentameter?

lmgledhill — 2014-11-17 12:43:43 UTC

Shakespeare used the iambic pentameter because it gives the poem a certain flow and helps to define it as a piece of poetry.

Why did I choose this monologue?

lmgledhill — 2014-12-02 14:40:10 UTC

I chose this monologue because of the characters' personality and the subject of the monologue. Perdita mainly comes across as an innocent character. I thought that I would be able to take on the character of Perdita really well. I have an innocent side to my personality which I was able to play about with. By playing about with the innocent side to my personality I was able to see how far I can push my innocence. I also found a lot of other similarities between me and Perdita, such as her courage, her emotional strength and her positive spirit. The subject of the monologue is flowers and nature - something that I have always loved and had a passion for. In the monologue, Perdita lists a lot of different flowers and speaks about their roles in nature, when they blossom, who she thinks they should be given to (e.g. spring flowers are for the youth because of their virginity).

A little bit about the play

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 12:40:08 UTC

It was originally published in 1623, it is grouped as a comedy however some people believe that it is one of Shakespeare's late romance. The first 3 acts are full of psychological drama and the last 2 acts are comedic; there's a happy ending.

About Perdita

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 12:42:06 UTC

Perdita is the Latin name for lost. She is the lost daughter of King Leontes and Queen Hermione. She was dumped as a baby in a field but luckily a shepherd found her. She was brought up by the shepherd at his home. When she was 16 years old, she got into a secret relationship with Florizel. Florizel is King Polixenes son. It is forbidden love because Perdita, like everyone else, doesn't know that she's royal.

Shakespeare's inspiration

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 12:48:24 UTC

The winter's tale is an adaptation of Robert Greene's Pandosto. Shakespeare took the storyline and changed it slightly, he also changed some of the names and roles of the characters. Greene's version has a lot more darker elements such as suicide whereas Shakespeare's version is a more uplifting version with events such as a resurrection.

How has my research helped me?

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 12:53:28 UTC

The information that I found was useful to me because it helped me get a better understanding of the time when it was written. It also helped me gain an understanding of my characters personality and characteristics such as the way she would talk to people and the way she would stand.

Perdita by Anthony Fredrick

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 13:02:12 UTC

- Wikipedia

Sources:

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 13:05:14 UTC

+ http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/winterstale/summary.html

+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLUt699x-FM

+ http://shakespeare.mit.edu/winters_tale/winters_tale.4.4.html

+ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLUt699x-FM (19:32)

+ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandosto

+ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter's_Tale

The cast of Sheffield Crucible's production of The Winter's Tale

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 13:09:25 UTC

Photo by Mark Douet

A review that I found:

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 13:15:27 UTC

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/regional-shows/10385241/The-Winters-Tale-Crucible-Theatre-Sheffield-review.html

This review, videos and pictures that I found have helped me to imagine the scenery and amount of people that would be surrounding Perdita.

Why is there an extra copy of my monologue with some notes on it included in my portfolio?

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 13:23:59 UTC

I have included My printed out monologue with the bits of research that I have wrote down because everything on the piece of paper has helped me to interpret both my character and the monologue. I translated part of the monologue into modern day language which helped me to understand what Perdita is talking about. I also found out that Proserpina is an old myth; I wrote the myth down on the back of the monologue. I felt that I needed to know who Proserpina is so that I was interpreting the monologue right. I also needed to know who Proserpina is so that I knew who I would have been talking to."Oh Proserpina for the flowers now that frighted though let'st fall from Dis's waggon" At this point I originally thought of Perdita talking to the sky because Proserpina is the daughter of the goddess and gods are usually seen as a higher being living in the sky. I then realised that Proserpina was snatched by the God of the underworld therefore that would lead me to think that Perdita would be speaking to the floor.

Why is this monologue suitable for an audition?

lmgledhill — 2014-12-07 15:38:54 UTC

I think that this monologue is suitable for an audition because when I have spoken to people, they have mentioned that their first impression of me is that I am sweet and innocent. Therefore this monologue suits the part of my personality that people first pick up on.

Character profile

lmgledhill — 2014-12-15 22:02:01 UTC

Punctuation

lmgledhill — 2014-12-15 22:18:50 UTC

We spoke about punctuation during one of our rehearsals. I had learnt that each punctuation mark has a number of beats to wait:

!?.: = 3 beats

; = 2 beats

, = ½ beat (snatch breath)

- = Turbo boost (sudden realisation or need to speak)

Diphthongs

lmgledhill — 2014-12-15 22:27:18 UTC

If two vowels are next to each other in one word then they create 1 sound; e.g. 'Tear' has 'ea' next to each other so it is called a diphthong and the word 'Tear' only has 1 syllable. Also, if there is an apostrophe inbetween two vowels in one word then it is still classed as a diphthong; e.g. O'er - Shakespeare has taken the 'v' out of 'over' and made it 'O'er', this means that the 'o' and the 'e' are next to each other to make it one syllable.