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Shakespeares Use of the Renaissance Theory
of Composition

• By Sister Miriam Joseph

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About Sister Miriam Joseph

• Lived from 1898-1982
• Earned her doctorate from Columbia University
• Had additional degrees from Saint Marys College
  in Indiana University of Notre Dame
• A member of the Sisters of the Holy Cross
• A professor of English at Saint Mary's College
  from 1931 to 1960.

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Additional publications

• The Trivium The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar,
  and Rhetoric
• Discerning the Ghost in Hamlet
• Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language
• The Trivium in College Composition and Reading
• Many other articles in scholarly journals
  including Shakespeare Quarterly

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Renaissance writers

• The Renaissance was a time of intense ferment in
  all areas of life religion, science, politics,
  domestic relations, culture. That ferment was
  reflected in the literature of the era, which
  also registered a heightened focus on and
  analysis of the self and the personal life
• These new elements of Shakespeares day have been
  implemented into our everyday writing
• Shakespeare implemented his knowledge of terms,
  the forms, and the processes of argumentation
  into his plays

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History of the Renaissance Theory

• Began as a co-requisite of the mathematical
  persuasion such as geometry, astronomy, music
  grammar and dialect
• Defined as a penetrating and comprehensive
  analysis of thought and its expression
• Elements of logos, pathos, and ethos are
  encouraged as important entities of composition
  during this time like no other in its past

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Main influences on Shakespeare

• His creative art illustrates most fully the
  variety and compass of the Renaissance theory of
  composition
• His writing possessed the perfect blend of logic,
  grammar, and rhetoric
• Logic is the art of thinking grammar, the art of
  inventing symbols and combining them to express
  thought and rhetoric, the art of communicating
  thought from one mind to another, the adaptation
  of language to circumstance

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Group Work

• Translate the following famous soliloquy from
  Hamlet in modern language for the modern student.
  Suppose Shakespeare was writing it now.
• How would his audience analysis change?
• Available
• http//the-tech.mit.edu/
• Shakespeare/hamlet/hamlet.3.1.html

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Passage

• To be, or not to be that is the
  questionWhether 'tis nobler in the mind to
  sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous
  fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of
  troubles,And by opposing end them? To die to
  sleepNo more and by a sleep to say we endThe
  heart-ache and the thousand natural shocksThat
  flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

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• Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleepTo
  sleep perchance to dream ay, there's the
  rubFor in that sleep of death what dreams may
  come To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But
  that the dread of something after death,The
  undiscover'd country from whose bourn
• No traveller returns, puzzles the willAnd makes
  us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to
  others that we know not of?Thus conscience does
  make cowards of us all

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• And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied
  o'er with the pale cast of thought,And
  enterprises of great pith and momentWith this
  regard their currents turn awry,And lose the
  name of action. Soft you now!The fair Ophelia!
  Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins remember'd
• When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must
  give us pause there's the respectThat makes
  calamity of so long life

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• For who would bear the whips and scorns of
  time,The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's
  contumely,The pangs of despised love, the law's
  delay,The insolence of office and the
  spurnsThat patient merit of the unworthy
  takes,When he himself might his quietus
  makeWith a bare bodkin? who would fardels
  bear,To grunt and sweat under a weary life,But
  that the dread of something after death,The
  undiscover'd country from whose bourn

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• No traveller returns, puzzles the willAnd makes
  us rather bear those ills we haveThan fly to
  others that we know not of?Thus conscience does
  make cowards of us allAnd thus the native hue
  of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast
  of thought,And enterprises of great pith and
  momentWith this regard their currents turn
  awry,And lose the name of action. Soft you
  now!The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisonsBe
  all my sins remember'd

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Follow up questions

• Because this passage was a well known soliloquy,
  did you find it easier to translate into modern
  day English?
• Do you think this passage has influenced orators
  in their delivery of speeches?
• Why or why not? If so, how?

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Discussion Questions

• Do you believe his writings are still relevant in
  the classroom today?
• Will the teaching of Shakespeare ever be
  obsolete?

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• Paul Oskar Kristeller stated, Rhetoric is
  important, as it always was, as a technique of
  expression, for we wish and try to write and
  speak well and clearly. Yet our universe of
  discourse, and in system of education that should
  reflect this universe,
• rhetoric should not occupy the center, but be
  subordinated, not only with philosophy, but also
  to the sciences as well as to poetry and the
  other arts.(228)

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Group Activity

• Get back into your groups and discuss one
  following questions
• Is your own personal writing influenced by
  Shakespeares work? How specifically?
• When was your first exposure to Shakespeare? What
  was your initial reaction?
• As we emerge ourselves into a more multimedia
  society, how will we be able to incorporate the
  more traditional media?

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Reasons for choosing selected topic

• I feel it is always important to know where your
  writing derives it gives you a better sense of
  yourself
• Shakespeare undoubtedly is one of the most well-
  renowned authors of all time
• Curious to know the level of influence his
  writing has made on peers

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Final thoughts

• the function of the trivium is the training of
  the mind for the study of matter and spirit,
  which constitute the sum of reality. The fruit of
  education is culture, which Mathew Arnold defined
  as 'the knowledge of ourselves and the world.
  Sister Miriam Joseph

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Either hand in or e-mail written prompt
tokyger_at_purdue.eduSubject English 470 Prompt/
yourlastname