OR

Why can’t he just speak

English??

THE LANGUAGE OF

SHAKESPEARE

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Who hid my vowels?

•Shakespeare lived at a time when language was changing.

•Compare to compuspeak today

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Why d’ya do it that way?

Shakespeare used unusual word arrangements to:

•to create a specific poetic rhythm

•emphasize a certain word

•to give a character a specific speech pattern

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For example…

I ate the sandwich.

I the sandwich ate.

Ate the sandwich I.

Ate I the sandwich.

The sandwich I ate.

The sandwich ate I.

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•When you are reading Shakespeare's plays, look for this type of unusual word arrangement. 

•Locate the subject, verb, and the object of the sentence. 

•Notice that the object of the sentence is often placed at the beginning (the sandwich) in front of the verb (ate) and subject (I). 

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•Rearrange the words in the order that makes the most sense to you (I ate the sandwich). 

•It’s okay if you sound like Yoda. Try it you can.

•This will be one of your first steps in making sense of Shakespeare's language.

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Poetry, Schmoetry•W

e speak in prose (language without metrical structure).  Shakespeare wrote both prose and verse (poetry). 

•Blank Verse:  unrhymed iambic pentameter

•Iambic Pentameter:  five beats of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables; ten syllables per line

•Most like normal speech

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Omissions•A

gain, for the sake of his poetry, Shakespeare often left out letters, syllables, and whole words. 

•These omissions really aren't that much different from the way we speak today.  We say:

"Been to class yet?""No.  Heard Blanchard’s givin' a test.""Wha'sup wi'that?"

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You do it, too.•W

e leave out words and parts of words to speed up our speech.  If we were speaking in complete sentences, we would say:

"Have you been to class yet?" "No, I have not been to class.  I heard that Mrs. Blanchard is giving a test today." "What is up with that?"

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Examples…• 'tis ~ it is•o'er ~ over•gi' ~ give•ne'er ~ never•i' ~ in•e'er ~ ever•oft ~ often•a' ~ he•e'en ~ even

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Et tu, Brute!•t

hou = tu•F

amiliar v. formal – why it’s in the Bible – God as father, familiar

•Must be conjugated (or it would be like saying “I are”)

•So, we get “thou hast” instead of “you have”, but it’s the same thing.

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Words, words, words! I’m so sick of words!

•You will meet words that we don’t use anymore.

•You will also meet words that mean something different than they used to mean.

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Shakespeare the Show-off

•Shakespeare's vocabulary included 30,000 words. 

•Today our vocabularies only run between 6,000 and 15,000 words! 

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Elizabethan (QE1) Words

•An,and: If

•Anon: Soon

•Aye: Yes

•But: Except for

•E’en: Even

•E’er: Ever

•Haply: Perhaps

•Happy: Fortunate

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QE1 Words (cont.)•H

ence: Away, from her•H

ie: Hurry•M

arry: Indeed•W

hence: Where•W

ilt: Will, will you•W

ithal: In addition to•W

ould: Wish