Our Vision: Educated Accessibility

Work: Macbeth
Audience: High School Seniors/College Freshman

Goals:

1. Being as our edition will be oriented towards high school senior/college freshmen, the footnotes in our edition will largely be intended for the clarification of archaic or out-of-usage terms. The etymology is not our concern, but rather the meaning; for example we will assume that our audience has a basic knowledge of the Greek and Roman pantheons and will not waste footnote space on explaining that Venus is the goddess of love and that anything that appears in conjunction with her is likely to denote such a subject. We will explicate such terms as one would not commonly see today, such a “caitiff” or “puissance”, or terms that have changed in their meaning since the first printing or have different meanings within the text. The aim is to create an edition that does not overwhelm the reader with footnotes, but still provides clarification necessary to the greater enjoyment and comprehension of the text.

2. Because our audience is just getting introduced to Macbeth as high school seniors/college freshmen, we have decided to focus any “extra” materials on the text itself. We want these materials to help the reader better understand and comprehend the plot, characters, and themes in the play. We do not want our extra materials to be overly complex or to veer off into subjects that our readers would find confusing or irrelevant. So, while an essay on the character of Macbeth would be totally appropriate, an essay on the different ways Macbeth has been staged (with reviews of several actors who have played Macbeth) would not be. We want our edition to be friendly to new readers and to give readers enough information to become interested, but not overwhelmed.

3. People in our intended audience often go to websites such as Sparknotes for help with reading Shakespeare. We want our edition to be like a sophisticated Sparknotes: an academic edition that students can read to understand Shakespeare at a basic, but still intelligent, level. We want to use our edition to explain plot, characters, themes, symbols, motifs, etc. These are the main things that we believe our audience will be able to and want to understand this early in their Shakespeare knowledge. Our edition will be a sort of Sparknotes that students can reference in a formal academic paper.

4. All three of the above points are there for one main reason: accessibility. Accessibility is our main goal for this edition. While reading editions intended for more experienced audiences in this class, we realized that many editions had things that even we, as English majors, had trouble understanding or felt were unnecessary. However, other editions seemed as though they were written for people far, far below our level. We want create an edition for the middle point in Shakespeare knowledge. We want this edition to be something that people can pick up and read with no fear; an edition that students can use to more easily learn a lot about a Shakespeare play.

Annotations and Their Intended Audiences

Macbeth

The footnotes included in the Pelican Shakespeare Edition of Macbeth seem to be suited to a high school/casual reader. The footnotes, while helpful in understanding some of the archaic language in the text, were at times obvious. A few of the phrases the editors chose to define—for example “catalogue” is defined as “inventory, classification” and “mummy” means “mummified flesh”—were unnecessary. The footnotes became distracting and cumbersome at places like this. Other phrases, however, were very useful when trying to understand the text. (For example, I had no idea that “chawdron” means “guts.”) I think a basic understanding of the text is what this edition was ultimately trying to accomplish. The footnotes, while not abundant or particularly in-depth, seem geared toward giving the reader a clear picture of what is happening in the text and what the text, at its most basic level, means. That is why I think this text would be best suited for the casual high school reader who has no background in Shakespeare and who, with their teacher’s guidance, is slowly making their way through their first Shakespeare.

As You Like It

The footnotes in The Arden Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” are in-depth, to say the least. Context notes, entries from the OED, explanations of archaic language, notes on the printing of the text, and much more are included in the footnotes. This edition seems more geared towards an academic, scholarly audience than a high school or even an undergraduate audience. The footnotes take up half the page and don’t just explain what the language of a line means but often they cross-reference other works or take a moment for a cultural explanation of that line. The footnotes seem almost as important as the actual text, in this edition, which makes it obvious that the editors expect the readers of this edition to be people who are well versed in Shakespeare and who are coming to their edition for an even deeper understanding of a play they already know well.

The Tempest

The footnotes of Gerald Graff and James Phelan’s edition of The Tempest are overall fairly basic, providing essential definitions for your average undergraduate student to understand the text. A few definitions throughout the footnotes include not only a definition, but an explanation with relation to the text, which can be very helpful when trying to understand and translate the Shakespearean text. At times, some definitions and explanations seemed a bit cumbersome and overbearing for the text, addressing some words and phrases that need not be addressed. However, most annotations made would most likely be useful to an average undergraduate student. The annotations in this edition, however, do not match the audience of the essays included after the text, many of which seem above the understanding of an undergraduate audience. This edition does not seem to be able to decide what its intended audience is, but the annotations appear to have decided on an undergraduate student.

Richard III

In the Norton Critical edition of Richard III, the footnotes are perfectly suited for your average undergraduate Shakespeare reader. The annotations are made with the understanding that those reading probably have some background Shakespearean knowledge and a fairly wide vocabulary, but still basically defines the words and phrases that the average undergraduate student may not know. The footnotes are not overdone for its intended audience; in fact, a few defining footnotes included probably did not have to be. If you were looking for a deep scholarly view of the play during your reading, then this edition would not be for you. However, for an undergraduate student probably just looking to understand the play at a basic but educated level, the Norton Critical edition is perfect.

Measure for Measure

This Bedford Shakespeares Series edition’s purpose is to help connect students with the text through exploration of other texts and documents of Shakespeare’s time. The edition seems catered to an undergraduate audience and is probably more suitable for a class or student more focused on Shakespeare’s works, perhaps more of an upper-level course. There are a significant amount of annotations, which seems appropriate for an undergraduate audience. College students would be more willing to put in the work (as opposed to say high school students) and seek for a fuller understanding of the text. The advantage for the undergraduate student is to be able to delve into the words of the text so as to understand the words as Shakespeare intended, to understand his word usage. However, some of the annotations might be already clear to an upper-level undergraduate student. The disadvantage of so many annotations might influence the reader to either become frustrated with so many footnotes or to see the meaning in the particular way in which the editor annotes it. In the About This Volume section of the edition, the editors note that they have “silently modernized spelling and punctuation...but we have also limited our editorial intervention to preserve their early modern flavor” (IX). All in all, it seems appropriate for their intended audience because it aids in the reader’s understanding of Shakespeare’s meaning in a context that’s slightly modernized.

Ways of Annotating 

There appear to be two schools of thought with regards to annotations: the first that footnotes be used to translate and explain the meaning of words that may have otherwise changed in their usage since the time they were written; and the second, that footnotes be used to provide commentary on a given phrase, or provide cultural and background context for the phrase/word. Naturally, the latter consumes far more space than the former, since the first method entails only clarification, while the second provides explication.

Some editions employ only clarification, while others delve into explication, and a number employ both in a mix. Depending upon what one desires from reading an annotated text, one or the other may be preferable; say, for example, a college freshman or high school student is delving into a Shakespearean work; they will likely want the annotated version of the text that explains the multitude of words and phrases that they have not encountered yet. Conversely, a graduate student or a college senior may desire the edition of the text that annotates with cultural context and explications for certain phrases, as they likely understand the more basic terms present in the text and will find the explication annotations to be useful and citable in a paper or dissertation. Depending on one’s audience and the anticipated usage of the text in concern, one may prefer one style of annotation

Final Point 1: Audience, Audience, Audience

Macbeth, ed. Stephen Orgel (Pelican Shakespeare)

The Pelican edition is most certainly designed for a beginning reader of Shakespeare. Though it does incorporate material from the most recent scholarships of the play, the introductory material consists of three main parts: “The Theatrical World,” “The Texts of Shakespeare,” and an “Introduction.” The reader is given a basic context of the theaters, plays, and playwrights in Shakespeare’s time. It gives a basic biography of Shakespeare and highlights key points of interest in scholarship, which a person more familiar with Shakespeare would have a ready knowledge of. The footnotes are more accessible to a lighter study of the play and not so indepth that they would discourage those new to Shakespeare. Although this edition indicates an audience less knowledgeable of Shakespeare, it is not so basic that it would intended for students younger than high school perhaps. It seems that the intended audience would be high school English classes or beginning college courses of Shakespeare or English literature.

As You Like It, ed. Juliet Dusinberre (Arden Shakespeare, 3rd series)

The Arden Shakespeare edition goes much more in depth to the play and the context, indicating that its intended audience is one of a higher scholarship and understanding of Shakespeare. I couldn’t see this edition being used in anything less than an undergraduate course. The detailed introduction and appendices assume a knowledge of Shakespeare plays as well as history. It would be helpful for a graduate student or scholar of higher education in writing or research. It’s details about the history of productions and actors might also be helpful for directors or actors interested in a more comprehensive study of the play.

The Tempest, ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan (Case Studies in Critical Controversy, 2nd ed)

This edition of the play, “A Case Study in Critical Controversy,” is direct in its intention towards an undergraduate audience. In the preface, the editors clearly state their purpose in “closing the gap between literary critical discourse and student discourse” in a humanities education. They include basic biography and context of the play as well as over twenty essays seeking to help place the reader in context of the play’s literary critical discourse. Their intent is to enable undergraduate students to be better equipped to enter into the literary discussion, perhaps aimed towards humanities students in general, not just those specifically interested or already studying Shakespeare.

Measure for Measure, ed. Ivo Kamps and Karen Raber (Texts and Contexts)

The Bedford Shakespeare Series edition of Measure for Measure aims to make the context of the play clear to undergraduate students by providing them with material written about the same time as Shakespeare’s play. The editors state that they expect the students reading to come to their own conclusions using the materials provided. The edition begins with a brief introduction (about 15 pages long), followed by the play. The play is then followed by a second part entitled “Cultural Contexts.” This “Part Two” is divided into 4 chapters: “Governance”; “Marriage, Sex, and Society”; “The Underworld”; and “Geography and Religion”. Each of these chapters begin with a critical overview and are followed by contextual material.      This edition seems effective in its claim towards helping students think about the text. There is a lot of information, but the way the book is organized would make it easy for a professor to assign, or a student to go to, the information they are interested in. It would provide a useful starting point for papers where research is required and overall seems an appropriate text for its undergraduate audience.

Richard III, ed. Thomas Cartelli (Norton Critical Edition)

The Norton Critical Edition of Richard III is essentially geared toward an undergraduate audience. The main purpose of this edition is to provide the reader with as wide a scholarly view of the play as possible, while still remembering that its readership is still in the education process and would probably not describe themselves as professional “Shakespeare scholars.” Things that a Shakespeare scholar might know, but that the average undergraduate student probably would not, are well taught and explained. With the vast number of scholarly essays and articles taking up more than half of the entire book, the Norton would probably not be appropriate for an average audience only interested in the play itself, but would successfully aid an undergraduate student with their learning, a paper, etc.

Our Focus
As undergraduate students seeking to develop a greater understanding and connection with Shakespeare, we want to focus on developing an edition thats more accessible and beneficial for an undergraduate audience. Having dealt with different editions and taken classes that teach Shakespeare’s works, we want to create a edition that we would like to use in a college course.