Refudiating Sarah Palin's Refudiation

As the Bard wrote in Measure for Measure, "This news is old enough, yet it is every day's news." Sarah Palin made Twitter-headlines when she used the term "refudiate," and then defended herself by pointing out that George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and William Shakespeare all used new words themselves.

The real news is far more surprising: Though my word processor is yelling at me that this is not a real word, Shakespearian or otherwise, the First Folio tells a different story. Shakespeare used "refudiate" in at least a dozen passages from one of the errant copies circulating in Renaissance England! Palin shouldn't be defending herself. She should be reveling in her apparent mastery of Elizabethan vocabulary! Just look at these examples I found:

"Good Master Vernon, it is well refudiated:
If I drilleth not, I consume oil in silence."
--Henry VI Pt I

"A thousand lamentable refudiations there,
In scorn of nature, art gave lifeless life..."
--The Rape of Lucrece

"We must not only arm to invade the French,
But lay down our proportions to refudiate
Against the Scot, who misunderestimate
Us, you betcha."
--Henry V

"Too cruel any where.
Dear Duff, I prithee, refudiate thyself,
And say Bristol be not married to Levi."
--Macbeth

Rejected Lesson Plan #45: "Macbeth" and the Deeper Meaning

Assignment: Create a lesson plan for William Shakespeare's Macbeth that doesn't totally suck.

Goals: Students will be able to read at an eighteenth-grade level, memorize a Shakespearean speech, and cure world hunger.

Assignment:

1) Give students the following definition: "A double entendre is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué, inappropriate, or ironic."

2) Belittle your class for not already knowing this.

3) Read the following paragraph to your class:

Macbeth is a play with lots of deep meaning. You have to go really deep into it to get it out. I mean deep inside. You need to be deep inside Macbeth, and then pull out in order to see what you're doing. Go in, and then go out. Never stop. Keep pushing into it until eventually, your insight will explode.

4) Tell students, "Oh now, wasn't that nice?" Maybe light a cigarette here.

5) Assign the Porter's Speech in Macbeth (Act II, Scene iii). Tell them to find all the double entendres they possibly can.

6) Consult the Want Ads and begin looking for another job.

Special Features: Macbeth's Comedy

Assignment: Watch the Special Features on Macbeth and examine the piece on adding comedy.

What is the purpose of this special feature, that is, what is it seeking to do for students and/or how is it helpful for students?

It seems to me this feature knocks a few preconceived notions out of the ballpark: that Shakespeare leaves no room for improvisation, additional comedy, comedy where perhaps a cold read would not lend itself, and the like. I caught that, after Macbeth wigs out upon seeing Banquo's ghost, Lady Macbeth's line "You have displaced the mirth" gets laughter, presumably, I imagine, because her response seems blatantly obvious in the face of Macbeth's hysteria. That's the kind of comedy I love, by the by--a performer in some way oblivious to his/her surroundings.

I'd love to show this scene to the students after studying the Porter scene, but something tells me my colleagues are going to urge me to show it beforehand. So as to lead the reading, perhaps, or so as to give them a taste of what's to come and psych them up. In lieu of the Youtube video we watched, maybe giving some of the Porter's dialogue as an introductory scene would make this video a better transition to the actual meat and potatoes of the scene itself.

As to other plays in which this would work, I can't see why Titus Andronicus couldn't be hammed up without losing the mayhem and what not: "Villain, I have done thy mother," for example, could induce a bout of laughter, which wouldn't necessarily destroy the tension of the scene, but maybe hype it up (unlike the Porter's scene, depending on how it was played). Then, there's the Cinna the Poet scene, where his bewilderment at the whims of the mob could be laughed at, however momentarily, before we descend once again into the horror of mob rule.