Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

10 The man and the myth Before you read Think about the following questions: • Have you ever been in contact with a person and didn’t know what they looked like? • Do you turn on the video camera when you chat with others on the internet? Why? Why not? • What difference does it make if you know somebody only through their voice and/or writing? Reading: A picture of the Bard a) Read the text about the Shakespeare portrait. Complete the sentences (1–6) using a maximum of four words. Write your answers in the spaces provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. The Shakespeare portrait 1  2  The Chandos portrait If William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, were alive today, paparazzi would be stalking his mansion day and night to take exclusive pictures of him and his lovers. If he were alive today, his image would flash across TV screens around the globe, his clothes would sell at auction to raise money for good causes, and his new plays would jump right from the stage to the silver screen. He would create the roles with certain actors and actresses in mind and he could write the screenplays himself so there would be only one authorised version of his works, one accepted interpretation. The best actors, directors and studios would be at his disposal – and we would see him in advertisements for computers, after-shave, anti-balding creams and anti-hunger campaigns: “All the world’s a stage for helping the developing world.” He would debate his political, sociological, religious, and psychological views on TV talk shows. He would write sonnets for a greeting card company, and excerpts from Romeo and Juliet would appear on heart shaped pillows every February. So how dead is Shakespeare really? His serene likeness slips in and out of money machines quite as often as young students curse his “old-fashioned, difficult” language. Stars such as Al Pacino, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson have dedicated years of their careers to the world’s most famous writer, while generations of new fans have been won at the box office. Indeed, nearly anything associated with Shakespeare turns to gold. In this era of visual overkill, it seems increasingly important to be able to put a face to the name. So what did Shakespeare actually look like? The only authenticated portrait of Shakespeare was a brass engraving by Martin Droeshout that was printed on the First Folio of his works in 1623. The contemporary poet Ben Jonson printed the following next to the engraving: This figure that thou here seest put, It was for gentle Shakespeare cut; Wherein the graver had a strife With Nature to out-do the life: O, could he but have drawn his wit As well in brass as he hath hit His face, the print would then surpass All that was ever writ in brass. But since he cannot, reader, look Not on his picture but his book. Disregarding what Jonson and lovers of literature considered to be important about Shakespeare, the National Portrait Gallery in London spent three and a half years researching six portraits said to be of the Bard. The tests proved that the first portrait ever presented to that museum shows the true face of Shakespeare – probably. When it opened in 1856, the gallery was given what is known as the Chandos portrait, so named because it had been owned by the 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 138 Shakespeare live Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv