Iambic Pentameter - discovering hidden meanings

In this instalment, we will learn how to discover Shakespeare’s intended meanings in the text, by learning & using just one convention of Iambic Pentameter: its rhythm. Discovering the intended meanings is a step that many modern companies miss, sometimes radically changing part of the storyline!

We start with a definition of Iambic Pentameter ... er ... using my own terminology (sorry). 

Rule #1- a definition

A typical line in iambic pentameter has 10 syllables in the following pattern:

“dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum, dee-dum”.

Read this aloud: shorten each "dee" syllable, and put the stress on every “dum” syllable. If you read music, then this would be five beats of a 6/8 rhythm. (Ask a musical friend to explain this, if you need to). Shakespeare chose this rhythm because it most closely reflected the rhythm of typical English speech of the time (in fact, I claim, it’s quite the same today).

Be warned – you’ll find that extra "dee" syllables must be mashed together to fit the 5-beat pattern. So “Cordelia” sometimes counts as two syllables not three and would be stressed as “Cor-deelia” (“Cor” is the dee, and “deelia” is the “dum”). Similarly “Regan”, “Cornwall” and “Albany” will all (usually) count as a single “dum” syllable. Sometimes, you must mash two or more syllables or short words together to make a "dee" or a "dum" (more usually a "dee", in my experience). Trust me, you will quickly get the hang of when to mash syllables together and when not to. If you analyse a typical line and end up with five “de-dums” which are meaningful and pleasing to both say+hear, then you are almost certainly correct; well done.

Suggestion to actors

It is terribly important that you (the actor) start going through the script at the earliest moment, underlining all the “dum” syllables/words in your speeches. Do this before you start learning your lines. Having done that, you may be surprised at the intended meanings that the following rules will uncover. It would be best to learn these meanings now, before bad habits set in.

Don’t worry, I’ll mark-up all my following examples with dee-dum stresses, for your practice.

Digression 

Underlining is my personal method; it works well on all printed scripts. There is a standard method that you may come across (using cups and slashes). And here is an example. But, as you can see, it relies on the script being double-spaced, which they rarely are. So, I recommend underlining. QED.

Rule #2

When a dee-dum pair are both words, the “dum word” is more important than the “dee word”; its meaning carries more weight.  Such dum-words are stressed by the rhythm automatically, without any extra effort on the actor's part. Don’t fight the rhythm ... it disambiguates the meaning; there is no room to interpret the lines in any different way.

For example, there is quite a difference of meaning between...

 You know that I love you. ⬅ Stresses the relationship positively and assertively.

And... 

You know that I love you. ⬅ Stresses the emotion. Maybe a touch ‘whiny’? (Other tones are possible).

Practice these two different ways of saying this example (it may take a few goes to get both right), and you will then hear the difference in meaning shine through.

Rule #3 – the so-called 'end-line discipline'

Oh, how many times have I heard a director call out "keep the end-line discipline going; don't drop your voice!"? 
Often. 

The “dum” word at the end of a typical line of 5-dums is usually the most important word in that line.

Example

CORDELIA
Good my lord,
You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.

Just for this example, read out these four lines separately, with brief pauses after each one; do not try to run them together yet (we’ll cover that later). The idea is that you should hear & understand instinctively what I try to explain in the following...

• As said earlier, the dums indicate the rhythm.
• But the actress playing Cordelia should also slightly emphasis “Lord”, “I”, “fit” and “you”.
• Obviously “Lord” should  be emphasised - come on, she’s talking to a king!
• By saying “I” with some emphasis, she distinguishes her love for Lear, from that of her sisters’ so-called “love”. (That’s a lot of significance from stressing only one word)
• By stressing “fit”, she is pointing out the moral basis of her argument. “I do this because it is right”.
• And that brings us to “you”. By stressing "you", she is showing how his original parental love all comes back to Lear (if only he’d see it).

In fact, note that the word “you” is at the end of a line and a sentence. This is worth a special rule all to itself.

Rule #4 – line endings with a full-stop are critical.

If the fifth “dum” ends a line and a sentence too, then its meaning is often critical for understanding the whole sentence ... and maybe a whole lot more, as we’ll see.

17th Century English was a bit like German, where the last word of a sentence was usually the one that carried most of the sentence’s meaning.

This is quite unlike modern English where most people will stress the sentence as:

“... carried most of the meaning.”.

Elizabethans never did this, so neither may we. A word which ends both a sentence and a line is the one word that must always be stressed. No ifs, no buts. Always. The meaning of that word is vital for the meaning of the whole sentence / paragraph / characterisation / play. Hit it hard (and do not drop your voice).

Example

KING LEAR
... what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

According to this rule, “Speak” is now critically important. So how should we interpret it? ...by making it a peremptory command! That he talks to his most-loved daughter in this way is shocking! (Intentionally so). This already gives the audience a big clue to Lear’s pre-existing despotic character ... and maybe also a hint of his forth-coming decline into senility? That Cordelia comes back at him (despite his attitude) with no irritation, just love, implies that his senility is possibly only just starting. In fact, maybe she is as yet unaware of it...?
Discuss. :-)

Example

KING LEAR
...
Nothing will come of nothing: speak a-gain.

Ending with “again” indicates that Lear certainly is irritated. How do we know this? Because it ends both the line and the sentence. Say the line aloud, hitting that word hard, and you should hear it, or something as equally inspiring. 

On that theme, most parents of teenagers will know exactly how to articulate the following, but I have added some highly-mashed dee-dum stresses, just in case:

“You did not do it the way that I asked you; now do it again!”.

Example

KING LEAR
...
Since thou hast sought to make us break our vow,
Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride
To come between our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made good, take thy reward.

Say this speech out loud and emphasise “reward” more than the other dums. Hear it? Lear now clearly sounds sarcastic. He is not giving Kent a reward at all – he is about to banish him!

Oh, by the way, all that sentence should be delivered in one breath (yes, all four lines; try it). But more on that in a future tutorial. :-)

Rule #5 – 11-syllable lines

Example

GONERIL
Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;
Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

The four coloured lines all have 11 syllables. The first three we can dispense with – let’s call it ‘mashing syllables together’, and leave it at that.

But look at the final line...

Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

“Love” and “you” are not different syllables of the same word – this hints that mashing them together is maybe not what was intended.  So what was Shakespeare indicating here?

For a long time, I just thought it was an 'allowed exception'. But I've recently seen it argued that such extra dee-syllables around a dum (strictly an 'amphibrach') indicate that the character is unsure of what they are saying (here is an example), or even that they are being false.

But there is no getting away from the fact that the 5th dum just before a full-stop is still the critical word ... and for me the trailing dee seems to highlight it: the  ending "I love you." (stressing "love" and dropping away slightly on "you") makes Goneril sound to me like she is trying, and failing, to sound sincere; fooling no one...  except the king.

Discuss. :-)

Here endeth this tutorial post. Further posts will explain how Shakespeare indicated timing and emotion... and maybe other matters. Stay tuned.

If you have been, thanks for reading this far. I hope it was useful.

Enjoy your script-marking and the process of discovering your character and his/her plots.

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