* Directly. Shakespeare often addressed the groundlings directly in his prologues and epilogues, asking them to be quiet, to listen attentively, and to appreciate the play. For example, in the Prologue to *Henry V*, Shakespeare says:
>O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
>The brightest heaven of invention,
>A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
>And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
>Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
>Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
>Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire,
>Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
>The flat unraised spirits that hath dar'd
>On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
>So great an object: can this cockpit hold
>The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
>Within this wooden O the very casques
>That did affright the air at Agincourt?
>O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
>Attest in little place a million,
>And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
>On your imaginary forces work.
>Suppose within the girdle of these walls
>Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
>Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
>The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
>Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
>Into a thousand parts divide one man,
>And make imaginary puissance;
>Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
>Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
>For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
>Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
>Turning the accomplishment of many years
>Into an hourglass; for the which supply,
>Admit me chorus to this history,
>Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
>Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
In this prologue, Shakespeare asks the groundlings to pardon the imperfections of the production, to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps, and to be patient and kind in their judgment of the play.
* Through asides. Shakespeare also used asides to address the groundlings, often to provide comic relief or to give the audience insight into a character's thoughts or feelings. For example, in *Much Ado About Nothing*, Benedick says:
>"When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married."
This aside allows the audience to know that Benedick is not as opposed to marriage as he claims to be.
* Through soliloquies. Soliloquies are speeches in which a character speaks aloud to himself, and Shakespeare often used them to address the groundlings directly. For example, in *Hamlet*, Hamlet says:
>"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
>Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
>The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
>Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
>And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
>No more--and by a sleep to say we end
>The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
>That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
>Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep--
>To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
>For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
>When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
>Must give us pause. There's the respect
>That makes calamity of so long life.
>For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
>The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
>The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
>The insolence of office, and the spurns
>That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
>When he himself might his quietus make
>With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
>To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
>But that the dread of something after death,
>The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
>No traveller returns, puzzles the will
>And makes us rather bear those ills we have
>Than fly to others that we know not of?
>Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
>And thus the native hue of resolution
>Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
>And enterprise of great pitch and moment
>With this regard their currents turn awry,
>And lose the name of action."
In this soliloquy, Hamlet reflects on the meaning of life and death, and he shares his thoughts and feelings directly with the audience.
By addressing the groundlings in these various ways, Shakespeare was able to connect with his audience on a personal level and to create a sense of intimacy between the actors and the audience.