Kokoro o sasaeru Shakespeare no Kotoba (Food for the Soul: The Words of Shakespeare)

This book provides explanations of 110 selected famous sayings from Shakespeare. However, the explanations also delve into the stoic philosophy, humanism, and theatrum mundi that underly Shakespeare’s works and lead readers deeper and deeper into Shakespeare’s profound world as they continue to read. Although the reader might feel a little intimidated by the use of special terminology such as theatrum mundi, the same idea is much more simply conveyed by the words “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player” uttered by Macbeth. Shakespeare was a man of the theater, and his works were written in language that could be understood by the public at large. That said, his words are backed by profound thinking.
 
What is the most important thing for life? Albert Einstein famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas the imagination embraces the entire world.” Imagination is also essential to the development of scholarly pursuits. That is because advances in science and technology are nothing else than the realization of dreams, and theories are a type of imagination. Shakespeare was profoundly aware that imagination is what creates new worlds. Why did Shakespeare dedicate his life to the theater, which is created through imagination? What was it that the theater offered? By reading this book, the reader will find hints leading to answers to these questions.
 
As the book’s purpose is not to introduce popular aphorisms, readers will not find famous passages such as Juliet’s “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” or “Fair is foul, foul is fair” from the opening scene of Macbeth. Instead, the type of passages that the book deals with are passages such as “Things without all remedy should be without regard: what’s done is done” uttered by Lady Macbeth. This is a life lesson that one should not fret endlessly about things in the past but, rather, live life with an eye towards the future. At the root of this lesson is a comparison of the approach to life represented by Hamlet who thinks before acting and that represented by Macbeth who acts before thinking. Whereas Hamlet gets caught up in thinking and is unable to act, Macbeth acts before thinking and lives to regret it. Everyone experiences regret in their life. But, does that mean that we should live in such a way that we have never felt regret? Shakespeare does not provide a simple answer to this question. This is because people are paradoxical beings whose feelings constantly change.
 
The book has a consistent layout throughout, with profound sayings that reveal Shakespeare’s life wisdom being presented on right-hand pages and explanations on left-hand pages. The book also provides synopses of all 40 Shakespeare works at the back of the book.

 

(Written by KAWAI Shoichiro, Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2020)