"LO QUE APRENDEMOS CON PLACER NUNCA OLVIDAMOS" Alfred Mercer
A Escuela de idiomas My Cup of Tea, no solo te enseñamos el idioma si es catalán, Inglés, francés, Italiano o español por sus razones personales y profesionales y también lo ayudaremos con sus habilidades de pronunciación!
SHAKESPEARE!
Seeing as it was Sant Jordi – a celebration of love and literature – last weekend in Catalunya, we thought we’d share our love for one of the English-speaking world’s literary giants, William Shakespeare (who, coincidentally, is widely believed to have been born on 23rd April)
We’re sure you’ve heard of his famous plays like 'Romeo y Julieta', ‘Macbeth’, and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Even if you don’t recognise these titles, it’s very likely you’ve seen modern interpretations that are based on his works. Let’s take a look at some of them and see if we can tempt you into exploring the wonderful world of Shakespeare…
Disney’s ‘The Lion King’, Recomendamos hacer un curso intensivo de preparación para el examen para que te acostumbres al diseño y la estructura del examen y sepas exactamente lo que las preguntas requieren que hagas., is based on Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ – the story of a king who dies and then his ghost tells his son (Hamlet) to avenge him by killing the new king (Hamlet’s uncle). The uncle finds out about this and makes his own plan to kill his nephew, Hamlet. Of course, as in every Shakespeare tragedy, pretty much everyone dies in the end. Although, predictably, the heroes survive in the Disney re-imagination of this famous play, we’re sure you can see some similarities between the tragic tale of Hamlet’s family, and the sad story of Simba and Scar. We know you’ve all seen the film, so why not challenge yourself and try reading a bit of Shakespeare. This wonderful website (https://myshakespeare.com/hamlet/act-1-scene-1) allows you to read the play and provides icons to click on and they tell you the meaning of a word, the significance of an expression, and you can even press the audio button to hear it read aloud. The language looks complicated but give it a try! If you get confused, you can always read a plot summary on the trusty website Sparknotes (https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/summary/).
If you don’t fancy Disney, how about the beloved teen rom-com ’10 Things I Hate About You’ – a personal favourite of ours – that is based on Shakespeare’s comedy ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. In theatre, for a play to be a comedy, debe incluir una variedad de los siguientes: a light and humorous tone; lenguaje inteligente y bromas ingeniosas; engaño, disfraces, y casos de identidad equivocada; amor joven que debe superar algún tipo de lucha; drama familiar; muchos giros y vueltas; y múltiples tramas que al final confluyen – lo que siempre pasa por la reunificación de la familia y/o un matrimonio. Esta obra y su versión modernizada, ciertamente tienen estos! Ambos cuentan la historia de dos hermanas., one beautiful and charming and the other outspoken and ‘shrewish’ (meaning bad-tempered or aggressively assertive). The beautiful sister wants to marry (‘date’ in the modern version) a man, but the girls’ father says she is not allowed to until her older sister does too. The story ends with a contest to see who is the most obedient wife and the finale might just surprise you. We definitely recommend watching ’10 Things I Hate About You’ EVEN IF it’s just to see the incredible declaration of love scene that involves Heath Ledger singing ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ ❤️
‘She’s The Man’ is another teen favourite that is based on another one of Shakespeare’s comedies, ‘the Twelfth Night’. The story follows Viola, a young woman, who dresses as a man in order to gain the approval of the leading man – Duke Orsino in the original and Duke in the modern film. As in all comedies, the play and the film contain a string of humiliating yet hilarious misunderstandings and mistaken identities that ultimately culminate in a happy ending. If that’s not enough to tempt you, there’s also an unforgettable scene where Channing Tatum’s character sticks tampons up his nose to stop a nosebleed. It’s definitely not the most critically acclaimed of all the modern versions of Shakespeare’s works, but ‘She’s The Man’ is worth a watch if you fancy some light-hearted entertainment.
Finalmente, posiblemente el mejor y probablemente el más amado por los críticos, es el 1996 versión cinematográfica de 'Romeo y Julieta' dirigida por Baz Luhrmann y protagonizada por Leonardo DiCaprio y Claire Danes. Esta versión moderna de Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is a real treat for the eyes and the ears as it’s a combination of a modern setting, moda contemporánea y actores que todos reconocemos, pero hablan en Shakespeare’s Inglés, que suena muy poético y anticuado para los oídos modernos. pero no temas, lectores... aunque el lenguaje puede sonar extraño al principio, te prometemos que después de los primeros minutos te acostumbrarás Shakespeare’s estilo y seguirás la trama con facilidad.
Esperamos que mires (algunos de) estas películas y obtenga una idea de la literatura que es una parte clave de la base del idioma inglés que usamos hoy.
En honor a San Jordi, terminaremos con una cita célebre de 'Romeo y Julieta' sobre una rosa:
Lo que hay en un nombre? Eso que llamamos rosa
Con cualquier otro nombre olería igual de dulce.
¿Por qué no miras la película y nos dices qué crees que significa?
