PROFESSOR: So the next step
that we want to examine is
follow the action.
And that's just what
it sounds like.
What is the character doing?
What is the action
taking place?
So here we have, we just saw
the clip, and you saw Romeo
crouched down there
at the window, or
looking up at the window.
What is he doing?
He's creeping.
He's stalking.
He's stalking a girl.
That's what he's doing.
Just knowing that much, knowing
what he's doing, gives
you a better way to interpret
the language that might be a
little funky, or weird,
or strange.
You can know he's doing that.
He's stalking this girl.
He's creeping.
He's trying to look
in her window.
He's a peeping Tom.
That's a really key piece
of information.
As you do that, you can think
about what is he doing with
the language?
So there's this action of he's
stalking, and as he does that,
he starts to speak.
And that speak, any
time a character
speaks, they want something.
They're doing something, there's
some form of action
occurring on the stage.
And we want to know
what that is.
Sometimes the speech is in
dialogue with another person,
so you need to think of
it in terms of action
with another person.
So there might be
a love scene.
Is that character wooing the
other person, or persuading
that person to go on a date
with them, or intimidating
that person?
Whatever might be happening,
you need to think of the
action in terms of
the other person.
But in a soliloquy moment, like
this one, you need to
think, what is the character
doing with these words?
So he's stalking the girl, and
as he stalks her, he's trying
to sort through these chaotic
emotions that he's having.
He's really excited
about this girl.
And as he does that, he uses the
language to sort out his
emotions, and come to some
clarity about what's going on.
And maybe to make a decision.
So any time you see a soliloquy
moment, you want to
think, OK, what emotions is this
character trying to sort
out, and/or what decision is
this character trying to make?
Sometimes at the end of the
soliloquy they're able to make
a decision.
Sometimes they're not.
Hamlet, to be or not to be.
He's making a decision.
Do I kill myself, do I not?
Here in but soft, what light
through yonder window breaks,
in that passage, Romeo
is trying to decide.
Should I speak to her?
Should I not?
Should I hang out here?
What do I do?
And as he does that, he sorts
through all of his emotions.
And that's what he's doing.
If you know that, you are,
again, very, very much closer
to understanding what the
language is doing.
