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A review of the course A100, each chair outlining the aims of his particular aspect of the course.
Subtitle Number Time In Time Out Subtitle Text
100:00:07,00000:00:12,000Well of course the whole point is supposed to be that it increases the enjoyment.
200:00:13,00000:00:18,000But a whole number of students have asked me – at Summer Schools and study centres –
300:00:18,00000:00:22,000exactly what we mean, in the literature parts of the course,
400:00:22,00000:00:27,000when we ask students to pay special attention to the way a particular writer uses language.
500:00:28,00000:00:31,000Well, here's a pretty well-known bit of language:
600:00:38,00000:00:46,000Hamlet: To be, or not to be... that is the question.
700:00:48,00000:00:53,000Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
800:00:54,00000:01:03,000or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: to sleep…
900:01:03,00000:01:09,000..no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks...
1000:01:09,00000:01:15,000..that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
1100:01:18,00000:01:24,000to sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
1200:01:25,00000:01:27,000for in that sleep of death what dreams may come...
1300:01:28,00000:01:32,000..when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause: there's the respect...
1400:01:33,00000:01:42,000..that makes calamity of so long life; for who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
1500:01:43,00000:01:47,000the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, the pangs of despised love,
1600:01:47,00000:01:50,000the law's delay, the insolence of office and the spurns…
1700:01:50,00000:01:53,000..that patient merit of the unworthy takes, when he himself might…
1800:01:54,00000:01:56,000Hamlet: ..his quietus make with a bare bodkin?
1900:02:00,00000:02:03,000Arnold Kettle: Is this question of attention to language a formal thing?
2000:02:04,00000:02:05,000Do we want people to say to themselves…
2100:02:06,00000:02:09,000.."Oh, what a splendid example of a metaphysical conceit!" or...
2200:02:09,00000:02:15,000.."Just listen to that subtle dissonance!" Well, I don't think that is the main point,
2300:02:15,00000:02:18,000though of course it is good to recognise a conceit when you see one…
2400:02:18,00000:02:24,000..and to be aware of terms like internal rhyme. Being aware of these terms helps you…
2500:02:25,00000:02:30,000..to recognise the things and so formulate your more instinctive reactions.
2600:02:31,00000:02:36,000But the main point is to be aware that words aren't to be taken for granted,
2700:02:37,00000:02:41,000that good writers use words in ways that help you to be aware…
2800:02:41,00000:02:46,000..of the full force (and often complexity) of their meaning.
2900:02:47,00000:02:50,000When – in the "To be or not to be " speech – Hamlet asks…
3000:02:50,00000:02:55,000.."Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune",
3100:02:56,00000:03:00,000he isn't just asking himself whether it's better to put up with…
3200:03:00,00000:03:03,000..pieces of exceptionally bad luck , even though…
3300:03:04,00000:03:06,000..that's a fair enough paraphrase of his meaning.
3400:03:07,00000:03:10,000But Shakespeare wrote 'nobler' not 'better'.
3500:03:11,00000:03:13,000If he'd meant 'better' he could have written it.
3600:03:14,00000:03:18,000'Nobler' brings in all sorts of associations 'better' wouldn't.
3700:03:19,00000:03:25,000It makes us realise that because Hamlet is 'noble', he has special problems of how to act.
3800:03:26,00000:03:31,000It makes us realise even that there's a difference between the social sense of 'noble'…
3900:03:31,00000:03:34,000..(someone who belongs to the nobility that's to say) and…
4000:03:35,00000:03:38,000..the more abstract sense of the word to convey a high-minded,
4100:03:39,00000:03:44,000morally exalted sort of feeling. ( Are nobles always noble?)
4200:03:45,00000:03:49,000What I'm getting at is that to read the sentence – "Whether tis nobler" –
4300:03:50,00000:03:55,000for all it's worth means to get the full force of the actual words…
4400:03:55,00000:03:59,000..(those words and no others) that Shakespeare's using:
4500:04:00,00000:04:04,000and to ask you to pay that sort of attention to language is one of the chief things…
4600:04:04,00000:04:08,000..we've been trying to do in the literature aspect of the course.