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ENGLISH 10 / GALLIN DIALOGUE: AFTER THE MURDER Dialogue is verbal exchange between two or more characters. There are dialogues of all kinds in Shakespeare’s plays: the tender exchange of love between Romeo and Juliet in the balcony scene; Romeo and Mercutio joking together; Friar Lawrence advising the young lovers; Romeo’s brief but bloody encounter with Paris outside the tomb of the Capulets; and so on. Every exchange has different tones, rhythms, and moods. For example, in Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the technique of rapidly alternating single lines (stichomythia). Hamlet and his mother respond to each other’s words in a head-on clash, each intensely sensitive to the other’s thoughts and feelings: HAMLET: Now mother, what’s the matter? GERTRUDE: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended. GERTRUDE: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. (348-12) But when four

lovers echo each other as in As You Like It, the effect is quite different, more like a chorus than a conversation. Each character seems to be speaking more to himself or herself than developing a dialogue: PHOEBE: Good shepherd, tell this youth what ‘tis to love SILVIUS: It is to be all made of sighs and tears, And so am I for Phoebe. PHOEBE: And I for Ganymede. ORLANDO: And I for Rosalind. ROSALIND: And I for no woman. (5378-83) In Act 2.2 of Macbeth, it is shortly after midnight Macbeth has just murdered Duncan He returns to the waiting Lady Macbeth. His conscience strikes Assign parts and speak their dialogue (lines 18-46 only) several times, and then respond to the following questions: 1. Identify the features which suggest the characters are really listening and responding to each other, or not. Is either character leading the conversation, or are both speakers “equal”? 2. Suggest how each exchange of lines might be staged to greatest dramatic effect: changes in

mood, tone of voice, pace, pauses, movement around the stage, gestures and facial expressions, etc. 3. From this brief passage, what can you deduce about each character’s motivations and personality, and the relationship between the characters? 4. How does this particular dialogue between Lord and Lady Macbeth differ from their previous ones? Has the tone changed? The rhythm? ENGLISH 10 / GALLIN THE “BEAT” GENERATION Beats are “changes within the scene, signaling that some kind of transaction has been completed and a new one is startingfor example, a topic of conversation is changing; another attack is being tried; a new person is changing the direction of the conversation; or a new objective is being pursued.” (Robert Barton, Acting: Onstage and Off) According to Barton, a change or “beat” occurs within a scene when: • • • A topic of conversation changes A character changes the direction of a conversation A character is not getting what s/he wants and

attempts a new approach In addition to these reasons, a new beat may begin when: • • • • A character enters or exits A character’s emotional state changes A shift in power occurs between two or more characters A character finally gets what s/he wants Entitle Beats Write a title for each beat that summarizes the changes or transitions in the scene. For 22, beat the scene according to changes in the dynamics between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Act/Scene/Lines Summary Title 2.21-17 Lady Macbeth waits anxiously for Macbeth to return with news of a successful murder. Hating the Waiting 2.218-46 Macbeth, horrified by what he has done, laments the sight of the slain Duncan. Lady Macbeth tells him not to think so much. Attack of the Killer Nerves! 2.247-56 2.257- 2.2 -