"Speak the speech" is a famous speech from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' (1601). In it,

offers

directions Direction may refer to: *Relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction Mathematics and science *Direction ...

and advice to a group of actors whom he has enlisted to play for the court of Denmark. The speech itself has played two important roles independent of the play. It has been analyzed as a historical document for clues about the nature of early modern acting practices and it has also been used as a contemporary guide to the performance of Shakespearean drama. While there is some justification for each of these approaches, they should be distinguished from other, far less valid assertions: on the one hand, that Hamlet expresses the opinions of Shakespeare on the art of acting in a straightforward and unproblematic way; on the other, that the speech offers a proto- Stanislavskian view of the art of acting. The first elides the difference between author and character, while the second ignores the historical specificity of the discourses and meanings attached to theatrical performance." l theatre is '

mimetic Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including '' imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the ...

' to some degree--but what Shakespeare understood by the requirement (voiced through Hamlet) that the stage "Hold a mirror up to Nature" is very different from the aims of

19th-century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...

naturalistic playwrights" (Innes 2000, 5). Joseph Roach offers a detailed critique of this ahistorical approach to acting theory in ''The Player's Passion'' (1985), especially, with reference to the early modern period, the first chapter.

Notes

Works cited

* Edwards, Philip, ed. 1985. ''Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'' by William Shakespeare. The New Cambridge Shakespeare Ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Hall, Peter. 2004. ''Shakespeare's Advice to the Players''. London: Oberon. . * Innes, Christopher D. 2000. ''A sourcebook on naturalist theatre''. London: Routledge. . * Merlin, Bella. 2007. ''The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit''. London: Nick Hern. . * Rodenberg, Patsy. 2002. ''Speaking Shakespeare''. London: Methuen. . * Roach, Joseph R. 1985. ''The Player's Passion: Studies in the Science of Acting''. Theater:Theory/Text/Performance Ser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. .

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