Understanding Shakespeare’s Words: Functional Vocabulary
Introduction
Everyone knows what Enter means, but what about Enter, with train or Enter, attended? And why do the stage directions sometimes read [Enter]? In this pre-reading activity, students will discuss, define, and physicalize the high-frequency words that constitute the working vocabulary of Shakespeare’s stage directions.
Objectives
To understand the working vocabulary of Shakespeare’s stage directions using prior knowledge, dictionaries and lexicons; to grapple with the connotations of words; to explore multiple interpretations of a single stage direction.
Discussing and Defining Stage Directions
Display a list of common stage directions (without referring to them as such) and have students use their knowledge of words to define as many as they can:
| Enter | Alarum | Draws |
| Exit | Advances | Beneath |
| Exeunt | Attends | Hautboys play |
| Flourish | Within | Dies |
| Aside | Retires | Descends |
Once students have exhausted the possibilities, tell them (in case they haven’t figured it out yet!) that these words are stage directions common to Shakespeare’s plays. Encourage students to notice how this contextual knowledge influences their understanding of the words. Provide definitions (see the Functional Vocabulary Definitions Handout), or have students use dictionaries to complete the task of defining.
Extend the activity by adding more detailed stage directions:
| Enter, with train | Exeunt severally |
| Enter Chorus | Ordnance shot off within |
| Enter, attended | They retire without the door |
| The dumb-show enters |
Physicalizing the Words
Encourage students to experiment with ways of showing the stage directions by sketching or performing their ideas. See the Sketching Stage Directions Handout for an example.
Writing Stage Directions
Assign students to write their own stage directions, using people they know as characters and incorporating multiple words from the list.
Further Reading
For classroom activities that extend and enrich students’ understanding of stage directions, see Discovering Shakespeare’s Language by Rex Gibson and Janet Field-Pickering, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Lesson Handouts
This lesson includes two handouts. The Functional Vocabulary Definitions Handout defines some common stage direction terms used in Shakespeare’s plays. The Sketching Stage Directions Handout is a worksheet that helps students to begin to visualize how the stage directions could be acted out.