Althouse: "Nymph, in thy orisons/Be all my sins remembered."

November 11, 2011

"Nymph, in thy orisons/Be all my sins remembered."

Courtney Welbon gets an A+ in English and a viral video:

23 comments:

traditionalguy said...: I loved that.Light hearted and up beat.

(Secret:Hamlet is a comedy when it is played correctly.); 11/11/11, 4:01 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Better modern ukulele, with original lyrics.; 11/11/11, 4:02 PM
Triangle Man said...: That was my favorite line from Hamlet. We decided that orisons must mean something like "nethers".; 11/11/11, 4:02 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Needs more Elvis.; 11/11/11, 4:04 PM
edutcher said...: I've also heard a woman yodel the William Tell Overture.; 11/11/11, 4:05 PM
Kensington said...: "(Secret:Hamlet is a comedy when it is played correctly.) "

I don't think this is so, but it is the secret to good Chekov.

People who say that Chekhov is too depressing have never seen a well done Chekhov play.; 11/11/11, 4:08 PM
William said...: Thanks for that sweet smile on a Friday afternoon; 11/11/11, 4:09 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Seems like a good place to mention The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.; 11/11/11, 4:10 PM
MadisonMan said...: Grade Inflation.; 11/11/11, 4:11 PM
Irene said...: MadisonMan, of course: it's "AP English." Everyone gets an "A+."; 11/11/11, 4:19 PM
MadisonMan said...: Yes, and this way she can get >4.0 out of 4.0.; 11/11/11, 4:20 PM
Methadras said...: She's cute, but not worth an A+. Sorry.; 11/11/11, 4:30 PM
Pastafarian said...: She's a lovely girl with a lovely voice; but she's just a little too cheerful. Her cheerfulness annoys the shit out of me.

I need some Fiona Apple as a palate-cleanser.; 11/11/11, 4:35 PM
Lincolntf said...: That was damned good. Clever, talented woman.; 11/11/11, 4:39 PM
Banshee said...: Good playing, decent singing, good stage presence and ability to put across a song; but obviously not interested in the meaning of the lyrics. At all.

However, a teen who's not really able to relate to suicide musings is actually a good thing.

The Ophelia ending is cute.d; 11/11/11, 4:55 PM
ricpic said...: She's good!; 11/11/11, 5:00 PM
ricpic said...: To be or not to be, that is the ques....crikey! looka the pins on that bird!; 11/11/11, 5:05 PM
Psychedelic George said...: It's very weird that you should post this. I've spent the last week working on memorizing this soliloquy. Just fer kicks.

Some tips:

Contumely = scorn
Bodkin = dagger
Fardels = burdens
Bourn = boundary
Quietus = death
Pitch = the rapid dive of a raptor

Some scholars think the word "slings" should be "stings."

The hardest thing about learning the lines is not the archaic terms but some of Shakespeare's constructions which sound odd to the modern ear: "For in that sleep of death such dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause." That would be better if rewritten: "For when we have shuffled off this mortal coil and are in that sleep of death, such dreams may come that must give us pause." As written the line is hard to recite.

The most difficult line to express, for me, is "To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream." That's the moment when Hamlet starts to worry that as bad as his waking woes may be, the horrors of the afterlife may be worse.

The most incomprehensible line? "The spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes...." It means something like "the insults that a long-suffering good person receives from someone less worthy."

The Kenneth Branagh version is super.

Brush Up Your Shakespeare "If she says your behavior is heinous, kick her right in the Coriolanus...."; 11/11/11, 5:24 PM
ricpic said...: The spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes...

Shakespeare was such a master of concision!; 11/11/11, 5:52 PM
Synova said...: I liked it. Very nice.

But I think that someone needs to one-up her with a banjo.

;-); 11/11/11, 6:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Hamlet isn't a comedy.

It isn't ever a comedy. The only thing that is remotely comedic is Hamlet's relief when the players show up because it allows him to set the stage to trap his uncle.

This isn't in response to anybody:

It amazes me the number of people who misinterpret Hamlet. I still remember my high school English teacher getting Hamlet completely wrong to the point where I was wondering if we were discussing two completely different plays.

She thought he was crazy who suddenly pulled everything together at the end due to luck.

Basic reading of the play shows that this was Hamlet's strategy for remaining alive. As long as he pretended to be crazed his uncle could ignore him safely. Which was true in the sense that when Hamlet dropped the pose his uncle tried to have him poisoned.; 11/11/11, 10:38 PM
sakredkow said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/12/11, 7:41 AM
sakredkow said...: Way better recitation than some of the old actors chewing on the carpet. Didn't really lose a thing in this translation, "purists".; 11/12/11, 9:22 AM