I decided to listen to an audio recording of Troilus and Cressida rather than read it. This has not worked out too well for me in the past, because my mind wanders and then I miss things and end up only paying half attention – especially when it’s work I’m not already familiar with, like this play. And that’s exactly what happened this time.
So instead of talking about details of the plot or characters, I thought I would talk a little about how the medium affects the way we experience something.
When I think about the plays that I first watched on stage or on film (without reading them), I know I am much less likely to look for themes, devices, and meaningful nuance. I am more involved with following the story and getting a sense of the mood of the piece. It is more of an experience about entertainment than analysis.
When I read the play first, however, themes, devices, wordplay, and word choice are exactly what I look at. I’ll look at how the text interacts with itself – noticing motifs or themes that appear repeatedly throughout. I’ll analyze it more, look things up, and generally treat it as a more academic experience.
Neither way of experiencing a text is wrong, and there’s a lot you can learn from both methods. It says a lot about the power of art that the exact same words and story can be experienced completely differently just based on whether you read, watch, or listen to them.
Have you noticed this? Is there a Shakespeare play that you thought about completely differently when you experienced it through a different medium?
