The English of Shakespeare’s Day

1. The English of Shakespeare’s Day Elizabethan English in its Historical Context

2. History • During Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, poetry, music and literature were strongly supported. • The Renaissance represented a time of growth, and an upheaval in social hierarchy.

3. Human Experience • The upheaval of social hierarchy allowed Shakespeare to explore the human experience. • All people, regardless of their social position, can possess human emotions.

4. Historical Context • No dictionaries in Shakespeare’s time • No grammatical texts until the 1700s • Word order, as the language shifted from Middle to Early Modern English, was still a bit more flexible. • Shakespeare wrote dramatic poetry, not standard prose, which gave some greater license in expression.

5. Shakespeare’s Vocabulary • Introduced nearly 3,000 words to the language • His vocabulary, as gathered from his works, varies in numbers; the most recent count is 17,677 words, but others have estimated it at 25,000. • This is more than double that of an average, well-educated conversationalist in the language.

6. Inverted Order • The natural order of sentence arrangement is the subject followed by the verb. • Sometimes Shakespeare will invert the verb and the subject. • For instance, he might write, “Went I to Bellarmine.” instead of “I Went to Bellarmine.”

7. Syntax • Syntax is the arrangement of words (word order) in a sentence. • Unusual word order in a sentence is called inversion. Shakespeare used inversion to create specific dramatic and poetic effects. Inversion can be used to emphasize key words, to create specific poetic rhythms, to give a character a specific speech pattern (think Polonius, for example), or for a variety of other purposes.

8. Syntax Here are some varieties in syntax for the sentence “Iate the sandwich.” I the sandwich ate. Ate the sandwich I. Ate I the sandwich. The sandwich I ate. The sandwich ate I.

9. Contractions • 'tis = it is • o' = on • th' = the • i' = in • 't – it • gi' = give • ne'er = never • e'en = even • ta'en= taken • 'em = them • 'a = he • o'er = over • oft = often

10. Puns • A punis a literary device that achieves humor or emphasis by playing on ambiguities. Two distinct meanings are suggested either by the same word or by two similar-sounding words. Example: • “From forth the fatal loins [lines]” (Romeo and Juliet, Prologue) • A double entendreis a kind of pun in which a word or phrase has a second, usually sexual, meaning.

11. Puns • A malapropismoccurs when a character mistakenly uses a word that he or she has confused with another word. Examples: • The Nurse tells Romeo that she needs to have a “confidence” with him, when she should have said “conference.” • Mockingly, Benvolio then says she probably will “indite” (rather than “invite”) Romeo to dinner.

12. Phrases We Owe To Shakespeare • "But love is blind, and lovers cannot see / The petty follies that themselves commit." – Jessica, The Merchant of Venice (this phrase also appears in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Henry V) • "Knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i' th' name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty. Come in time, have napkins enough about you, here you'll sweat for it." – Drunk or hungover porter, Macbeth

13. Phrases We Owe To Shakespeare • "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on.” – Iago, Othello • "Why then the world's mine oyster / Which I with sword will open." –Pistol, The Merry Wives of Windsor • "Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done; for thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five." – Mercutio, Romeo & Juliet

14. Phrases We Owe To Shakespeare • "And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em? How camest thou in this pickle?" – Alonso, The Tempest • "And if you break the ice and do this feat / Achieve the elder, set the younger free / For our access, whose hap shall be to have her / Will not so graceless be to be ingrate." –Tranio, The Taming of the Shrew • "Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part / And each particular hair to stand on end / Like quills upon the fearful porpentine." –Ghost, Hamlet

15. Elizabethan Language Becky, a 20-year-old English Lit geek living in London, scribbled out this list in her notebook at 3 am
one night in September. She posted it on her Tumblr page, and within 24 hours, more than 11,000 people had saved it in their favourites file.