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Shakespeare’s Language

Shakespeare’s Language. A Primer. Shakespeare’s Language. Why do people have trouble understanding his writing?. Shakespeare’s Language. A lot has happened to the English Language since the late 1500’s

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Shakespeare’s Language

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  1. Shakespeare’s Language A Primer

  2. Shakespeare’s Language • Why do people have trouble understanding his writing?

  3. Shakespeare’s Language • A lot has happened to the English Language since the late 1500’s • Shakespeare was a poet, as well as an actor and playwright, and thus interacted with language differently than most others

  4. Shakespeare as Poet / Actor • Used figurative language, slang, and word-play for effect • Wrote with poetic meter (rhythm of word sounds) in mind • Employed contemporary references • Was an actor in his own plays; employed soliloquy & aside

  5. Changes in language over time • Changes in Word Order: “These babes for Clarence weep” • Omission of words: “I’ll to Norway” • Apostrophe use: “Unless I have mista’en his colours”

  6. Changes in language over time • Grammatical Shifts: “One thing to rejoice and solace in” • Archaic words / Phrases: “Yet doth beauty, like a dial hand…” • Current words with older meanings: “A couch for … damned incest!”

  7. Changes in language over time • Poetic Meter: “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes” • Royal Plural: “Shall we wear these glories?” • Pronoun &Verb Inflection differences…

  8. Elizabethan Pronouns …just close enough to what we use to be confusing.

  9. Elizabethan Verbs • Inflections: • 3rd Person Singular: -th, not –s (eg: “she giveth,” not “she gives”) • 2nd Person Familiar: add –est, -st, ‘st (eg: “you givest,” not “you give”)

  10. Elizabethan Verbs • Present Tense: • Past Tense:

  11. Reading Tips • Shakespeare’s English is similar to, but different from ours • Read carefully, bearing the differences in mind; exploit the similarities • Use your glossary for explanations • Don’t try to pronounce words you already know differently

  12. FYI: It’s not “Old English” • Shakespeare writes in “Early Modern” English • “Old English” look like this: • Oft Scyld Scefing         sceaþena þreatum, • monegum mægþum,         meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas.         Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden,         he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum,         weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc         þara ymbsittendra • ofer hronrade         hyran scolde, gomban gyldan.         þæt wæs god cyning!

  13. Shakespeare & our English • Words: "advertising", "assassination", "bedazzled", "dishearten", "eventful", "eyesore", "moonbeam", "outbreak", "quarrelsome", "radiance", "reclusive", "stealthy", "submerge", "time-honored", "undervalued", "unmitigated", "unreal", "well-read", "watchdog" …

  14. Shakespeare & our English • Phrases: - All that glitters is not gold (The Merchant of Venice) - As good luck would have it (The Merry Wives of Windsor) - Bated breath (The Merchant of Venice) - Be-all and the end-all (Macbeth) - Refuse to budge an inch (Measure for Measure / Taming of the Shrew) - Dead as a doornail (2 Henry VI) - Eaten me out of house and home (2 Henry IV) - Elbow room (King John)

  15. Shakespeare & our English • Phrases: - Faint hearted (I Henry VI) - Forever and a day (As You Like It) - For goodness' sake (Henry VIII) - Full circle (King Lear) - Good riddance (Troilus and Cressida) - 'Tis high time (The Comedy of Errors) - In a pickle (The Tempest) - In my heart of hearts (Hamlet)

  16. Shakespeare & our English • Phrases: - In my mind's eye (Hamlet) - Kill with kindness (Taming of the Shrew) - Knock knock! Who's there? (Macbeth) - Laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor) - Live long day (Julius Caesar) - Love is blind (Merchant of Venice) - Melted into thin air (The Tempest) - Naked truth (Love's Labours Lost)

  17. Shakespeare & our English • Phrases: - Not slept one wink (Cymbeline) - Own flesh and blood (Hamlet) - Snail paced (Troilus and Cressida) - A sorry sight (Macbeth) - The short and the long of it (The Merry Wives of Windsor) - There's no such thing (Macbeth) - Too much of a good thing (As You Like It) - Wild-goose chase (Romeo and Juliet)

  18. As we start our Shakespeare study… • Enjoy Shakespeare’s work • Use the information from this presentation to further your understanding • Ask questions at any time

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