Madmen Have No Ears

By J. Aldric Gaudet

This classic story starts with a feud between two households, alike in dignity.

Romeo, a passionate romantic besotted with Rosaline but rejected by her, meets Juliet, another passionate romantic. The two fall hopelessly in love before discovering their households are mortal enemies.

They marry in secret but when Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo and he refuses, Romeo’s best friend takes the challenge and dies for it.

Enraged, Romeo fights Tybalt and kills him.

Banished from the gated city of Verona for killing Tybalt, and Juliet promised to another by her father, the lovers become desperate to be together or die.

A plot hatched by a friendly friar goes awry and Romeo believes the drugged Juliet is truly dead. He journeys to her tomb and kills himself there to join her in paradise.

Juliet awakes from her comatose state to discover Romeo dead and kills herself to join him in paradise. Only then do the two households finally bury their hate.

What happens in between is Shakespearean.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312513914

Book preview

Madmen Have No Ears

MADMEN HAVE NO EARS

William Shakespeare

Edited by

J. Aldric Gaudet

Madmen Have No Ears

©2008, 2014 by J. Aldric Gaudet. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of J. Aldric Gaudet, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

ISBN 978-1-312-51391-4

Dedicated

to

Candace

Always

PREFACE

Madmen Have No Ears is a fresh look at an old story beloved by millions.

It is the story of Romeo and Juliet as Shakespeare presented it, written in prose form, using language adjusted for four hundred years of discovery, commerce, industry and invention which have influenced the words we use and the way we use them.

The legend of Romeo and Juliet clutched at the hearts of lovers long before Shakespeare immortalized it. The story of this tragic couple came to life a hundred years before he was born but he refined the story to perfection.

Just as Shakespeare transformed Arthur Brooke’s 1562 narrative poem into his famous tragedy of 1595, I transformed Shakespeare’s sixteenth century play into twenty-first century prose in order to carry the story forward.

The story need not get bogged down by phrases and sayings which are four centuries old and mean nothing today without reference notes. But to some, Shakespeare's every word must be cherished, studied, immortalized and analysed.

There is no denying the brilliance of his language skills, yet archaic words, unfamiliar phrases and outdated references make it all difficult to digest the first time through and requires serious study before there is clear understanding.

Determined to rid the language of its archaic clutter without robbing it of its Shakespearean flavour, I offer the story back to the people. Poetic imagery was favoured always, although verse and metre were sacrificed for clarity.

Referencing the most important scholars on Shakespeare and the English language, I painstakingly removed the stumbling blocks for a modern audience - the thees and thous, the theatrical ‘in’ jokes, the local sayings - in order to reveal the magnificent imagery and imaginative language twists.

In the process I uncovered a minefield of differing opinions about those cherished words. Shakespeare never published his plays. They were published years after he died. And several differ in text from copies made during those first performances.

There are many disagreements between Shakespearean scholars, not simply about the interpretation of a particular word but whether or not that word may have been an error of the copyist or the printer. Basically it comes down to the fact that many of those cherished words are well educated guesses.

So, studying the text with the eyes of a dramatist, I made alterations when necessary based on the opinions of experts and what would have meaning today.

A Shakespearean scholar may not appreciate what I have done but I trust the reader will. My wink back at the scholar is this: The more who enjoy what they experience on first exposure, the more who will be encouraged to look deeper into the original.

This tale of youthful passion and star-crossed love often gets lost in the Shakespearean pomp. Shakespeare wrote for the enjoyment of everyone, not simply students of dramatic literature.

And one final note to all Shakespeare enthusiasts. It is impossible to reproduce the genius of this maestro of language, because to interpret for the sake of a modern audience it was often necessary to sacrifice the intricate word play that went with the archaic phrasing. A sequence which makes perfect sense when interpreted for the 21st century, in its original archaic style has a quality that reaches beyond its meaning.

Show me a mistress that is passing fair,

What doth her beauty serve but as a note

Where I may read who passed that passing fair?

Act I Scene I, Romeo

- passing (adv.) very, exceedingly, extremely.

- fair (adj.) fine, pleasing, excellent, beautiful.

JAGaudet, 2014.

INTRODUCTION

Verona, Italy, 1595

Italy, where the Roman Empire rose and fell, where the Renaissance flourished and faded with the recent passing of Tintoretto, its last great painter.

Just five years ago the development of glass lenses ushered in a new era of scientific discovery thanks to the first compound microscopes and telescopes.

Two years after that, Galileo, the man who will make inventive use of the telescope to alter our view of the world, was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Padua, a day’s journey from Verona.

Wind up watches, worn on the wrist or on a chain, are very new, more fashion accessory than timepiece. They hardly ever keep the correct time due to the rusting of their metal workings in the relentless humidity of Verona.

1595 is life without electricity. No central heating to combat the winter cold and no air conditioning to escape summer’s stifling heat.

When the sun goes down, aside from a few flickering torches on palace gates, or lanterns carried by horsemen or pedestrians, Verona is dark. On cloudless nights, moonlight helps soldiers, rogues, and lovers move around after sunset, but daylight hours are most precious.

Without the constant roar of modern traffic noise, sounds drift easily over the city, as parents call and scold their exuberant children, as friend and foe hurl greetings and challenges, debating eternal questions.

There are the lows and mewlings of livestock, the continuous whine of the cicada, the piercing call of summer swallows and the regular clamour of church bells.

The musical instruments of the day are mostly strings and flutes. There are always drumbeats and trumpet flourishes to announce anything from official processions to travelling pedlars. Musicians play at dinners, dances and every possible social occasion.

Verona is the gateway to the Veneto region of Northern Italy, at the foot of a major Alpine pass and snaked round by an easily navigable river. The Romans colonized the town in 89 BC and fortified it with walls. Caesar came here to vacation. The only entrance to the city is through the Borsari gate.

1595 is a time of gated cities. A time threatened by plague and war. A time when men wear swords and women carry daggers whenever venturing outside. A time when the illiterate significantly outnumber the literate. A time when social mores are imposed by the church.

In most cities in Italy it is common for several streets to meet at an open courtyard or public square known as a Piazza. It is where shops and small businesses set up.

In Verona the largest of these is Piazza Bra and although the sun is barely up, its merchants are preparing their shops and putting out their stalls and merchandise.

The warm odours of baking and frying fill the air, competing with the general smells of alleyway trash, animal droppings and unwashed bodies.

A feud between two influential families, the Montagues and the Capulets, has been going on so long no one remembers how it started. Recently it has escalated into street skirmishes and public quarrels between servants and gentlefolk alike.

I

Two servants of the Capulet household walk along the Decumano road toward the Piazza in lively conversation.

Sampson boasts to his companion, Gregory, on my word we’ll not bear insults.

No, for that would make us barriers, Gregory quips.

I mean, if we’re provoked, we’ll draw, Sampson continues.

Gregory laughs at the qualification, Right, draw your neck from the noose.

I strike quickly, if I am moved to, declares Sampson.

But you’re not quickly moved to strike.

A dog of the house of Montague moves me.

To move is to stir, Gregory says. To be valiant is to stand. Therefore, if you are moved, you run away.

A dog of that house shall move me to stand, Sampson replies. I will not yield the wall for any man or maid of Montague’s.

That shows you to be a weak slave. The weakest go to the wall.

Sampson tries to turn it, It’s true, and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are always thrust to the wall. Therefore, I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall.

The quarrel is between our masters and us their men, Gregory reminds him.

It’s all the same, Sampson says. I will show myself to be a tyrant. When I have defeated the men, I will be cruel with the maids. I will cut off their heads.

The heads of the maids? Gregory asks.

The heads of the maids, or their maidenheads. Take it in any sense you wish.

They must take it in the sense that feels it.

Me they shall feel as long as I am able to stand. It is known I am a pretty piece of flesh.

It’s good you aren’t a fish. If you were you’d be a flounder.

Ahead of them is the Piazza where most of the merchants have completed their set up and are ready for business.

Gregory sees two Montague servants coming the other way and nudges Sampson alert, Draw your tool. Here comes two of the house of Montague.

Sampson pulls his sword from its sheath and holds it at his side, against the leg. My weapon is out, he urges Gregory. "Quarrel. I will back