A Voice for Those Unheard

1. How is the meaning of Shakespeare’s sonnet transformed or enhanced by Catherine Tate’s classroom performance?

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, the speaker does not include his lady’s thoughts, and yet claims to “love to hear her speak” (line 9). This “mistress” plays a passive role because she cannot speak to us in a poem that is entirely from his perspective. The speaker also does not address the subject of this sonnet directly. He writes about his love, but his audience is a third party (and not her). Despite this, the speaker found a love that is incomparable to anything. He explains that his love is human yet beyond the sun, coral, snow, roses, perfumes, music, or goddesses. He ends the sonnet by saying that his “love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (lines 13-14). Cheap clichés would not suit this lady. She cannot be compared to anything because that comparison would result in a false simile. 

In comparison, Tate’s performance of the sonnet is vocal, angry, and defiant. Tennant’s character claims that Tate’s character is “not even worthy to mention [Shakespeare’s] name”. The student proves her knowledge of Shakespeare by defying her teacher’s order to be quiet and reciting “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”. Her voice is firm and even forceful at moments. Tate speaks rapidly, takes quick breaths, and adds hand gestures throughout the poem. (Seen at “I have seen roses damasked, red and white”, “Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”, and “I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress” (lines 5, 8, 11-12)). Her performance is not just through her voice. She embodies the sonnet through her hands, head movements, eye contact, and raised eyebrows. She puts her whole body into a passionate performance. Towards the end of the sonnet, she disregards the punctuation and recites the lines without pauses, “My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. / And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare” (lines 12-13). The student wastes no time on the last lines of the poem because she is only reciting it to prove her teacher wrong. Although Tate’s character knows the sonnet by heart, she makes pacing modifications to suit her point. If we assume the volta is between lines 12 and 13, then Tate has sped through it. Since this student dislikes Shakespeare, she does not care about this element of his sonnet. Her performance adds a layer of aggression and anger that is not present in the words alone. The student employs Shakespeare’s sonnet as a vessel for her anger towards her teacher. She uses her voice and body to transform this one-sided love confession into a bold act of defiance. In the end, Tate gives voice to an objectified woman only for Tennant’s character to objectify her. When he turns her into a doll, it is his attempt to silence her and render her powerless.

~Miki Chroust