Shakespeare’s Language
Introduction:
One of the most frequent problems students encounter when they first tackle a Shakespeare play is the words. Much of this is simply the passage of centuries: English is a continually developing language, and Shakespeare’s time was one of particular linguistic upheaval. The English spoken in Renaissance London differed widely from our version of it, and indeed from the versions spoken in other parts of England at the time. There have been grammatical shifts as well as a vast change in vocabulary since the end of the sixteenth century: we no longer add “eth” to the end of verbs like “go”, and there is no longer a distinction between the different forms of “you” represented by “thou” and “ye”.
It is not simply Shakespeare’s time period which makes his words seem odd, however. Shakespeare himself had an extremely unusual vocabulary. In his section on Shakespeare in 12 Books That Changed The World, Melvyn Bragg records that Shakespeare’s vocabulary apparently amounted to “at least twenty-one thousand words – possibly, when the combinations and different uses of these words are added, thirty thousand words.” He estimates that an educated person today, even with the vast additions to the language which have occurred in the four centuries since Shakespeare wrote, will have a working vocabulary between six and fifteen thousand words.
This incredible use of words has other implications. Historical novels set in the Renaissance often put readers’ teeth on edge when they attempt “ye olde dialogue” in Early Modern English. The effect frequently seems forced, awkward and embarrassing, grasping after some kind of “Shakespearean English”, when people in Shakespeare’s time wouldn’t have spoken anything like Shakespeare. When Shakespeare wrote, he wasn’t writing in his everyday English. This makes it’s extremely hard to translate what he wants to say in our everyday English. It is too often forgotten that Shakespeare wasn’t speaking Early Modern English. He was speaking Shakespeare.
Language:
Before you start to read Shakespeare's plays, you will want to take a look at some of the language uses that might stand in your way of understanding the script. In his book, Unlocking Shakespeare's Language, Randal Robinson breaks the language barriers into three main categories: Shakespeare's Unusual Arrangements of Words, Shakespeare's Troublesome Omissions & Words Not Quite Our Own. This guide will briefly cover each of these areas.
Unusual Word Arrangements:
Many students want to know if people really spoke the way they do in Shakespeare's plays. The answer is no. Shakespeare wrote the way he did for poetic and dramatic purposes. There are many reasons why he did this--to create a specific poetic rhythm, to emphasize a certain word, to give a character a specific speech pattern, etc. Let's take a look at a great example from Robinson's Unlocking Shakespeare's Language. Here he takes a basic sentence and changes the order or the parts. This is what Shakespeare did to get his sentences and ideas to fit into his poetic patterns.
I ate the sandwich.
I the sandwich ate.
Ate the sandwich I.
Ate I the sandwich.
The sandwich I ate.
The sandwich ate I.
Robinson shows us that these four words can create six unique sentences which carry the same meaning. 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). When you start to recognize this in Shakespeare’s language, rearrange the words in the order that makes the most sense to you (I ate the sandwich). This will be one of your first steps in making sense of Shakespeare's writing.
Troublesome Omissions:
Again, 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 Ulen's givin' a test."
"Wha'sup wi'that?"
We 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 Mr. Ulen is giving a test today."
"What is up with that?"
A few examples of Shakespearean omissions/contractions follow:
'tis ~ it is, ope ~ open, o'er ~ over, gi' ~ give, ne'er ~ never, i' ~ in, e'er ~ ever, oft ~ often, a' ~ he, e'en ~ even
Unusual Words:
Most of us run into problems when we come across archaic words that are no longer used in Modern English. Or worse, when we run across words that are still used today but have much different meanings than when Shakespeare used (or invented!) the words. This is particularly troublesome, because we think we know what the word means, but the line still doesn't make sense.
Although it is frustrating when we come across these unknown words, it is not surprising. In Shakespeare’s day the English language was very sparse. There simply wasn’t a word for “lonely” or “generous” so Shakespeare did what any person in search of the right word does in time of crisis: He made them up!
Yes, he made up over 3,000 words, although many of them didn't catch on, and today we've incorporated around 1200 of them in one form or another. Of course, today our language is far from sparse but here for your enjoyment is a list of the some of the words Shakespeare is credited with inventing:
· accused addiction advertising alligator amazement assassination
· bandit bedroom birthplace blanket blushing bloodstained
· cater champion cold-blooded compromise countless critical
· daunting dawn deafening dishearten dislocate dwindle
· educate elbow entomb excitement exposure eyeball
· fashionable fixture flawed frugal luggage
· generous gloomy gnarled gossip gust
· hint hurry impartial investment moonbeam
· jaded label lapse laughable lonely
· majestic marketable mimic misplaced monumental
· negotiate noiseless numb obscene outbreak
· pedant premeditated radiance rant swagger
· savagery scuffle secure submerge summit
· torture tranquil trickling undress unreal
· varied worthless zany
Some Reading Strategies:
• Read the summary of the scene before reading the scene. This will help you know what you are looking for in the language.
• Be prepared to re-read and remember that no one understands everything about Shakespeare (or any good text) on the first, second, or even tenth reading.
• Don’t begrudge (resent) the difficulty of the language—the language is the point!
Ordering Shakespeare Around
Word order in Shakespearean Writing
When Shakespeare wrote his prose, he often used a slightly different word order than we are used to. The subject, verb, and object (SVO) did not always follow in a 1, 2, 3 order. He often liked to use the OSV format: object – subject – verb. When words are switched from the normal pattern, this is called inversion.
Part 1:
Look at the following sentence. Rewrite the sentence four times, changing the word order each time. Put one word on each blank provided below the original sentence.
Original Sentence: I lost my homework.
Rewrite #1: ______.
Rewrite #2: ______.
Rewrite #3: ______.
Rewrite #4: ______.
Look at each of your rewritten sentences above. Has the meaning of the original sentence changed?
No matter how you word it...you're toast if your homework is lost!
Part 2:
Now, think about how Yoda spoke in the Star Wars Movies. Here are some of his lines:
“Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.”
“Size matters not ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”
“The dark side are they. …Luke, when gone am I... the last of the Jedi will you be.”
“Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”
We understood exactly what he was saying, even though the word order was slightly different than what we are used to hearing. It's your turn to makeup a short sentence like the one above and rewrite it several different ways. Does the meaning change with the rewrites? Be prepared to share your sentence changes.
Original Sentence: ______.
Rewrite #1: ______.
Rewrite #2: ______.
Rewrite #3: ______.
Rewrite #4: ______.