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Reading Shakespeare
His Dramatic Language
Shakespeare and Daily Language
Are you familiar with any of these expressions?
what’s done is done
in my heart of hearts
not budge an inch
Knock, knock! Who’s there?
good riddance
full circle
something wicked this way comes
William Shakespeare gave us these and many other
phrases.
Understanding Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare’s grammar and vocabulary are different from
the language we use today. Use these tips to get the most
from reading Shakespeare’s works.
•Read the text aloud.
•Don’t just look for meaning—listen for it, too.
•Read the text more than once if needed.
•Imagine that you are acting the part: what are you telling the
audience?
Understanding Shakespeare’s Language
•Let the punctuation guide your reading.
•Do not pause or stop at the end of a line unless you see
punctuation there.
•Do pause or stop for punctuation that occurs in the middle of
a line.
•Watch for footnotes as you read. Footnotes
•define archaic words or familiar words with unfamiliar
meanings
•explain idioms of the time and provide historical background
King Macbeth. The eye wink at the hand;°
°wink at the hand: be blind to the hand’s deed.
Understanding Shakespeare’s Language
•Watch for archaic words—words that are no longer
commonly used in modern English.
•Hither, thither, whither mean “to here,” “to there,” and “to
where.”
•Note how Shakespeare uses the pronouns thou and thee,
and ye and you.
•Th– forms were used in talking to one person who was an
intimate friend or to a person of a lower of rank.
•Y– forms were used in talking to several persons, to one
person who was a social equal but not an intimate friend, or to
a person of higher rank.
Understanding Shakespeare’s Language
•Paraphrase Shakespeare’s language using your own
words.
•Paraphrasing will help you check your understanding of an
important speech or scene.
Poetry vs. Prose
Dialogue in Shakespeare’s plays is presented in either
poetry or prose form.
•Pay attention to the form of characters’ speech, because it
can give you information about that character’s importance
or rank.
•Important or noble characters tend to speak in poetry.
•Less-important or lower-ranking characters tend to speak in
prose.
•In special situations, a high-ranking character may speak in
prose or a low-ranking character may speak in poetry.
Shakespeare’s Use of Poetry
Poetic dialogue may be either blank verse or rhymed verse.
•Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter.
ˇ ´ ˇ ´ˇ ´ˇ ´ ˇ ´
Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
•Sometimes, a line of blank verse is divided between two or
more characters.
ˇ ´ ˇ ´ˇ ´
Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir:
Macbeth.
ˇ ´ ˇ ´
Good morrow, both.
Shakespeare’s Use of Poetry
•Rhymed dialogue is usually written in iambic pentameter.
Rhymes may occur at the ends of alternating lines, or at
the ends of two lines next to each other (called a couplet).
•Rhymed dialogue may focus on love or other strong feelings.
•A rhymed couplet may summarize, foreshadow, or
dramatically close a scene.
ˇ ´ ˇ ´ ˇ ´ ˇ ´ˇ ´
ˇ face
´ must
ˇ hide
´ what
ˇ the
´ false
ˇ heart
´ doth
ˇ know.
´
False
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
Shakespeare’s Use of Prose
Prose lacks a consistent rhythm and sounds like ordinary
speech.
•Shakespeare usually used prose for common characters.
Notice the lack of consistent rhythm in the porter’s speech
from Macbeth.
Porter. Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell gate,
he should have old° turning the key. (Knock.) Knock, knock, knock!
Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub? ° Here’s a farmer, that
hanged himself on th’ expectation of plenty. . . . (Knock.) Knock,
Knock! Who’s there, in th’ other devils name? . . . (Knock.) Anon,
anon! (Opens an entrance.) I pray you, remember the porter.
°have old: grown old
°Beelzebub: the Devil.
Shakespeare’s Use of Prose
•Noble characters who usually speak in poetry may lapse
into prose to signal a change in tone, attitude, or emotion.
•In Act V of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, overwhelmed by guilt and
madness, speaks in prose.
Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One: two: why,
then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier,
and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can
call our pow’r to accompt?° Yet who would have thought the
old man to have had so much blood in him?
°to accompt: into account.
Let’s Practice
Read the passage aloud, paying attention to punctuation.
Note the general subject of the passage.
Lady Macbeth.
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal° thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature°
Shake my fell° purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it!
°mortal: deadly. °compunctious . . . nature: natural feelings of compassion.
°fell: savage.
Let’s Practice
Note what the use of poetry or prose tells you about the
character, subject, or tone.
Lady Macbeth.
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal° thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature°
Shake my fell° purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it!
°mortal: deadly. °compunctious . . . nature: natural feelings of compassion.
°fell: savage.
Let’s Practice
Then, pick out words or phrases that sound archaic or
confusing. Use any footnotes provided.
Lady Macbeth.
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal° thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature°
Shake my fell° purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it!
°mortal: deadly. °compunctious . . . nature: natural feelings of compassion.
°fell: savage.
Let’s Practice
Now, rephrase the passage in Modern English.
Lady Macbeth.
Come, you spirits that support deadly thoughts, take away my
feminine qualities and fill me, from head to toe with cruelty! Make
my blood thick. Don’t let me feel any remorse, and don’t let any
feelings of compassion ruin my savage plans or keep me from
doing what I plan to do!
On Your Own
Read the following passage from Macbeth following the
steps you just learned.
Macbeth.
I have almost forgot the taste of fears:
The time has been, my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell° of hair
Would at a dismal treatise° rouse and stir
As life were in’t. I have supped full with horrors.
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start° me.
°fell: pelt.
°treatise: story.
°start: startle.
The End