What Shakespeare Knew

Another lesson from the bard

It’s Shakespeare’s birthday on 23rd April (he’d be 456). I would need volumes to relate what he’s contributed to English literature but, as I am currently wrestling with a prologue, I thought I’d look at the way Shakespeare begins some of his plays to see what I can learn. Often he starts in the middle of a conversation. Here, for example, is the beginning of Othello:

Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this. 

The speaker in question is Roderigo, a ‘gentleman of Venice,’ who is paying the wily Iago to arrange a match between him and the beautiful Desdemona. The only problem is that Desdemona is already married to Othello. We aren’t aware of it at this stage though – the only hint that something is up is the vague reference to ‘this.’ But immediately our interest is piqued: what is the ‘this’ that Roderigo refers to – and why has it made him so upset? Clearly there is a mystery here and we are agog to discover what that is.

 The opening of Hamlet is even more mysterious – just two words: Who’s there? The answer: Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself. Clearly there is a power play at stake: Two people, both trying to ascertain the other’s identity, are demanding that the other person reveals himself first. Intriguing!

Another tragedy, Macbeth, starts with the famous lines of the three witches:

When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When the hurlyburly’s done
When the battle’s lost and won. 

Again the audience has a number of questions. Who are these witches? What is the battle they refer to? What is the ‘hurly burly’ they mention? We are compelled to keep reading – or watching.

If you enter a writing competition or read any writing advice, most ‘experts’ will suggest you start your story with a hook – a question, a mystery, an intriguing event or remark – anything to convince a reader to keep going.

Shakespeare was aware of that advice over 400 years ago. Whenever he started a new play – and there are loads more examples – he started with something that piqued the reader’s interest – and he wouldn’t let it go until the last word.

We would do well to follow his example.