LEMDO: Encode Character Lists in Modern Texts

Encode Character Lists in Modern Texts

¶ Introduction

LEMDO produces a character list only for the modern texts. See narrative on speech prefixes to see how LEMDO handles speech prefixes in the semi-diplomatic transcriptions. The character list is meant to be a truthful list of all the characters in the play. LEMDO uses the list to generate the online and printed Character List in your edition. LEMDO also uses the list to cross-check the speech prefixes in the play and ensure consistency of name and spelling. You can add notes on the characters to this list.

¶ How to Encode a Character List

¶ Locating the Character List

You will receive a template file for your modern text based on the semi-diplomatic transcription of your choice. The character list belongs in the


                                             <particDesc>

(“participation description”) of the


                                             <teiHeader>

of this file. Inside the


                                             <particDesc>

, you will find a


                                             <listPerson>

element with one sample


                                             <person>

entry. If you are not starting from a template, then you may need to add a


                                             <listPerson>

inside the


                                             <particDesc>

yourself and follow the template below to add each character.

¶ Basic Template for a Character

The basic template for a single


                                             <listPerson>

with a single character is as follows. To create a full character list, add one


                                             <person>

element (and all of its child elements) for each character.

<particDesc>
  <listPerson>
    <person xml:id="id">
      <persName>
        <name>String that we want in the List of Characters online and in print</name>
        <reg>Allowed speech prefix</reg>
        <reg>Another allowed speech prefix</reg>
      </persName>
      <note type="editorial" subtype="onlineOnly">
        <p>Commentary to go in the online edition</p>
      </note>
    </person>
  </listPerson>
</particDesc>

¶ Breakdown of Elements in the `<person>` Entry


                                                   <person>

: Add one


                                                   <person>

element for each character. If a character speaks, they must have a


                                                   <person>

element in the


                                                   <particDesc>

. If the character does not speak, inclusion is optional. Discuss the appropriate strategy with your anthology lead. Add the attribute


                                                @xml:id

to the


                                                   <person>

element. Each character in your play must have a unique xml:id. Normally, the LEMDO team will work with you to create the xml:ids. If you want to have a first go at creating the xml:ids for your characters, notice that they are constructed formulaically as follows: emd + name of your file + underscore + character name or short form thereof: emdH5_FM_Warwick is the xml:id for Warwick in the folio modern text of Henry V.


                                                <persName>

: The


                                                <persName>

element allows us to capture various names. Each


                                                <persName>

element must contain one


                                                <name>

element and at least one


                                                <reg>

element.


                                                <name>

: Inside this element, type the name of the character and any information you want to appear about the character in the online and print Character List. Usually, you will want to include just the name of the character or the name and brief note. E.g.,

<name>Rosalind, daughter of the banished duke</name>


                                                <reg>

(“regularization”): Inside this element, type the exact wording of the speech prefix you want to use for this character throughout the play. If you want to change speech prefixes for this character (for example, if the character’s name or status changes in the course of the play), create one


                                                <reg>

element for each speech prefix. LEMDO has diagnostics to check your speech prefixes for consistency; these diagnostics will check the contents of each of your


                                                <speaker>

elements in the play against the contents of the


                                                <reg>

elements in your


                                                <particDesc>

. If the diagnostics reveal inconsistencies, you will need to fix either the


                                                <reg>

elements or the


                                                <speaker>

elements.


                                                <note>

: the


                                                <note>

element allows you to add an extended commentary on the character. Wrap the content of your note in the

<p>

element. Add the


                                             @type

attribute with a value of editorial and the


                                             @subtype

attribute of onlineOnly or printOnly. Keep in mind that annotations can be capacious in the online environment. Our print publisher does not encourage annotations on the characters in the print environment.

¶ Examples

<person xml:id="emdH5_FM_Warwick">
  <persName>
    <name>Earl of Warwick</name>
    <reg>Warwick</reg>
  </persName>
  <note type="editorial" subtype="onlineOnly">
    <p>Richard Beauchamp, thirteenth Earl of Warwick (1382-1439), also appears in <title level="m">1H6</title>. His presence at Agincourt is unhistorical; various sources have him either holding Calais for the English or returning to England with Clarence after Harfleur.</p>
  </note>
</person>

¶ Groups of Characters

Minor characters often function as a group. Common examples are lords, servants, soldiers, and officers. Rather than have a discrete


                                          <person>

element and xml:id for each of these minor characters, you may wish to group them into one


                                          <person>

element with multiple


                                          <reg>

elements.

In the following example, the play contains multiple unnamed servants. The editor wishes to have one entry on the character list for Servants. Sometimes one servant speaks, so we have a


                                          <reg>

element for Servant. Sometimes two or more servants speak together, so we havea a


                                          <reg>

element for Servants. This encoding allows the editor to use either Servants or Servant in the speech prefix without cluttering up the character list with multiple unnamed servants.

<person xml:id="emd2H4_M_Servants">
  <persName>
    <name>Servants</name>
    <reg>Servants</reg>
    <reg>Servant</reg>
  </persName>
</person>

<person xml:id="emd2H4_M_Officers">
  <persName>
    <name>Officers</name>
    <reg>Officers</reg>
    <reg>Officer</reg>
  </persName>
</person>

In the following example, the editor wishes to have one character list entry for all the lords, but number the lords in the speech prefixes. Sometimes two or more lords speak together.

<person xml:id="emdAYL_M_Lords">
  <persName>
    <name>Lords</name>
    <reg>Lords</reg>
    <reg>Lord</reg>
    <reg>First Lord</reg>
    <reg>Second Lord</reg>
  </persName>
</person>

Note that if our textual analysis tools count speeches or generate cue scripts, all of the speeches whose


                                       @who

attribute points to the same value will be counted together. Early modern performances probably assigned these parts flexibly, as do modern directors. It is logical to group the parts as a minor problem to be resolved in rehearsals.

In many cases, the decision to group characters is not trivial. For example, an editor will have to decide if the three witches in Macbeth constitute a group of indistinguishable witches or three distinct characters. In the following example, the editor treats the witches as a group. There will be one entry in the character list (Three Witches). The editor is expressing the belief that the speech assignments might well be adjusted with no impact on character.

<person xml:id="emdMac_M_Witch">
  <persName>
    <name>Three Witches</name>
    <reg>1 Witch</reg>
    <reg>2 Witch</reg>
    <reg>3 Witch</reg>
    <reg>All</reg>
  </persName>
</person>

In the following example, the editor distinguishes the three witches as individual. There will be three entries in the character list (1 Witch, 2 Witch, and 3 Witch.

<listPerson>
  <person xml:id="emdMac_M_1Witch">
    <persName>
      <name>1 Witch</name>
      <reg>1 Witch</reg>
    </persName>
  </person>
  <person xml:id="emdMac_M_2Witch">
    <persName>
      <name>2 Witch</name>
      <reg>2 Witch</reg>
    </persName>
  </person>
  <person xml:id="emdMac_M_3Witch">
    <persName>
      <name>3 Witch</name>
      <reg>3 Witch</reg>
    </persName>
  </person>
  
</listPerson>

If one takes the latter approach, then speeches where all three witches speak together will need to follow the encoding protocols for Special Case: Multiple Speakers

You want to think carefully about how to group characters because you are making an argument about the embodiment of character. The murderers in Macbeth present the editor with an interesting challenge. Editors Tony Dawson and Gavin Paul decided to have three entries in the character list for murderers. They distinguish the murderers of Banquo from the murderers of Macduff (even though in performance there is a good chance that the same actors embody these different groups of murderers). They also distinguish the mysterious third murderer from the other two murderers of Banquo:

<listPerson>
  <person xml:id="emdMac_M_Murderers_Banquo">
    <persName>
      <name>Two murderers employed by Macbeth</name>
      <reg>1 Murderer</reg>
      <reg>2 Murderer</reg>
      <reg>Murderers</reg>
    </persName>
  </person>
  <person xml:id="emdMac_M_3Murderer">
    <persName>
      <name>A third Murderer, employed by Macbeth</name>
      <reg>3 Murderer</reg>
    </persName>
  </person>
  <person xml:id="emdMac_M_Murderers_Macduff">
    <persName>
      <name>Two Murderers who kill Lady Macduff and her son</name>
      <reg>1 Murderer</reg>
      <reg>2 Murderer</reg>
    </persName>
  </person>
  
</listPerson>

¶ Multiple Character Lists

You might want to have multiple character lists. For example, James Mardock’s LEMDO edition of Henry V has three lists: one for the English, one for the French, and one for the Chorus who belongs to neither list. Consult with your anthology lead before you create multiple character lists. There have to be compelling editorial reasons for doing so.

In this case, the


                                          <particDesc>

has three child


                                          <listPerson>

elements, each with its own


                                          <head>

element. The following example gives three lists with one truncated


                                          <person>

element in each list. Notice the use of the


                                          <head>

element to name the lists of the English and of the French respectively:

<div>


  <listPerson type="castlist" xml:id="emdH5_FM_castList_01">
    <person xml:id="emdH5_FM_Chorus">
      <persName>
        <name>Chorus</name>
        <reg>Chorus</reg>
      </persName>
    </person>
  </listPerson>
  <listPerson type="castlist" xml:id="emdH5_FM_castList_02">
    <head>The English</head>
    <person xml:id="emdH5_FM_KingHenry">
      <persName>
        <name>King of England, Henry V</name>
        <reg>King Henry</reg>
      </persName>
    </person>
  </listPerson>
  <listPerson type="castlist" xml:id="emdH5_FM_castList_03">
    <head>The French</head>
    <person xml:id="emdH5_FM_FrenchKing">
      <persName>
        <name>King of France, Charles VI</name>
        <reg>French King</reg>
      </persName>
    </person>
  </listPerson>
  
</div>

Prosopography

Isabella Seales

Isabella Seales is a fourth year undergraduate completing her Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Victoria. She has a special interest in Renaissance and Metaphysical Literature. She is assisting Dr. Jenstad with the MoEML Mayoral Shows anthology as part of the Undergraduate Student Research Award program.

Janelle Jenstad

Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of The Map of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern Literary Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, Renaissance and Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives (MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate); New Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter); Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge); and Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.

Joey Takeda

Joey Takeda is LEMDO’s Consulting Programmer and Designer, a role he assumed in 2020 after three years as the Lead Developer on LEMDO.

Martin Holmes

Martin Holmes has worked as a developer in the UVicʼs Humanities Computing and Media Centre for over two decades, and has been involved with dozens of Digital Humanities projects. He has served on the TEI Technical Council and as Managing Editor of the Journal of the TEI. He took over from Joey Takeda as lead developer on LEMDO in 2020. He is a collaborator on the SSHRC Partnership Grant led by Janelle Jenstad.

Navarra Houldin

Project manager 2022–present. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA in History and Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. During their degree, they worked as a teaching assistant with the University of Victoriaʼs Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies. Their primary research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America.

Tracey El Hajj

Junior Programmer 2019–2020. Research Associate 2020–2021. Tracey received her PhD from the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the field of Science and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on the algorhythmics of networked communications. She was a 2019–2020 President’s Fellow in Research-Enriched Teaching at UVic, where she taught an advanced course on Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life. Tracey was also a member of the Map of Early Modern London team, between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, she was a fellow in residence at the Praxis Studio for Comparative Media Studies, where she investigated the relationships between artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and justice. As of July 2021, Tracey has moved into the alt-ac world for a term position, while also teaching in the English Department at the University of Victoria.

Orgography

LEMDO Team (LEMD1)

The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators, encoders, and remediating editors.

Metadata

Authority title	Encode Character Lists in Modern Texts
Type of text	Documentation
Short title
Publisher	University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform
Series	Linked Early Modern Drama Online
Source	TEI Customization created by Martin Holmes, Joey Takeda, and Janelle Jenstad; documentation written by members of the LEMDO Team
Editorial declaration	n/a
Edition	Released with Linked Early Modern Drama Online 1.0
Encoding description	Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines
Document status	prgGenerated
Funder(s)	Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
License/availability	This file is licensed under a CC BY-NC_ND 4.0 license, which means that it is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the author and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and/or data; (2) the content cannot be adapted or repurposed (except in quotations for the purposes of academic review and citation); and (3) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the editor and LEMDO. This license allows for pedagogical use of the documentation in the classroom.