For my assigned scene (the bedroom scene) I will need to find and chose relevant texts that I want to include alongside the movement. These texts don't necessarily have to be from our original play ' much ado about nothing' but can include other Shakespearian plays and sonnets. As seen from my scene outline ( shown in a separate post) I want to include two contrasting pieces of text- one which shows the love that was once present between Claudio and hero (spoken by Claudio to Hero) and one that is spoken by Claudio to the individual death/ revenge Hero. Within this scene I want the audience to witness the love that Claudio and Hero once shared (love Hero's and Claudio) and how this love was corrupted (Claudio and death/ revenge Hero). The fight between death hero and Claudio will perhaps give a further insight as to the reasons why this relationship fell apart and what led Hero to kill herself ( as this is not specified earlier, only suggested).
To begin researching possible texts for the love section, I researched scenes from Romeo and Juliet- particularly the balcony scene. However, this doesn't completely fit or make sense in context to our piece and both characters had a different attitude/ values towards love that wouldn't have been relevant within our modern adaptation. I have also watched and read much ado about nothing to search for possible texts however there were no long pieces of speech ( the comments of love towards Hero don't match what I am trying to achieve in this scene). Finally, I have research into sonnets and have found some possible speeches for Claudio - and their translations! Through doing this, there are also some sonnets which may be relevant to other scenes too which I can share with the rest of the group next rehearsal.
There was a scene from the visit where Ill and Clara are alone in Conrad's village wood, where Ill reminisces of the days they used to spend together when they were young. We staged this so that Ill would talk to one Clara at a time ( whilst the others reacted, giggled and ran around him as though they were still one person- and Ill only saw her as one person). I want to use this idea again for the love Hero's. Claudio will direct his sonnet and attention to one love hero at a time yet the others will still react and 'dance' perform around him.
Sonnet 132- (love section with the love Hero's)
Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black, and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain;
And truly, not the morning sun of heav'n
Better becomes the gray cheeks of the east,
Nor that full star that ushers in the ev'n
Doth half that glory to the sober west,
As those two mourning eyes become thy face.
O let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me, since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.
I love your eyes, and they seem to pity me, knowing I’m tormented by your disdain. In black, they look like mourners at a funeral, gazing at my pain with pretty compassion. And to tell the truth, the morning sun doesn’t look as good in the gray eastern sky, nor does the evening star look half as good in the western twilight, as those two mourning eyes look in your face. Oh, then I hope it would be just as beautiful for your heart to pity me, too, since mourning suits you so well, and for you to pity me with every other part of you to match. If you take pity on me, I’ll swear beauty itself is black, and everyone who doesn’t have your dark complexion is ugly.
Sonnet 71- before Claudio commits suicide or when he is alone in the bedroom?
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vildest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O if, I say, you look upon this verse
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay,
Lest the wise world should look into your moan
And mock you with me after I am gone.
When I am dead, mourn for me only as long as you hear the funeral bell telling the world that I’ve left this vile world to go live with the vile worms. No, if you read this line, don’t remember who wrote it, because I love you so much that I’d rather you forgot me than thought about me and became sad. I’m telling you, if you look at this poem when I’m, say, dissolved in the earth, don’t so much as utter my name but let your love die with me. Otherwise, the world, in all its wisdom, will investigate why you’re sad and use me to mock you, now that I am gone.
This sonnet is like the acceptance stage in the five stages of grief. Claudio has come to accept his fate and making the final choice- to kill himself and accept that this is the right choice. Considering that the final suicide scene is acceptance, Claudio could say this - perhaps to hero or himself before he dies ( as though hoping hero will be able to hear and acknowledge.
Sonnet 43- bedroom / love Hero's
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright—
How would thy shadow’s form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so?
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessèd made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay?
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.
My eyes work best when I’m asleep, because all day they look at things I don’t care about. When I sleep, my dreaming eyes alight on you and glitter brightly in the dark, having found your bright image there. Given that your shadowy dream-image brightens even the dark, how bright might you appear in daylight, when your own light is so much clearer? How bright, when your shadow shines so brightly to my eyes blinded by darkness? What good would it do my eyes to see you in the daytime when they already look at your beautiful image in the dead of night, as I sleep? Every day is as dark as night until I get to see you again, and every night is as bright as day when I see you in my dreams.
Sonnet 44- Claudio alone in bedroom or after death hero has left.
If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then, despite of space, I would be brought
From limits far remote where thou dost stay.
No matter then although my foot did stand
Upon the farthest earth removed from thee,
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land
As soon as think the place where he would be.
But ah, thought kills me that I am not thought
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
But that so much of earth and water wrought,
I must attend time’s leisure with my moan,
Receiving naughts by elements so slow
If I were made of thought instead of slow, dull flesh, this wicked distance between us wouldn’t keep me from where I wanted to be. No matter the distance—from the farthest possible regions—I would bring myself to where you are. It wouldn’t matter that my feet were standing on the spot on earth farthest from you: Thought is nimble enough to jump over both sea and land as quickly as it can think about the place it wants to be. But, ah, it’s killing me to think that I’m not made of thought and can’t leap over the many miles when you are gone. Instead my body is made of so much EARTH AND WATER that I have to fill the long time without you with my moans. The leaden, deep earth and slow, wet water of which I am made give me nothing but heavy tears.
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