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Transcript
UNDERSTANDING SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE I can’t tell you how many times a student has remarked, “Why didn’t Shakespeare use normal language?!” Of course, part of the reason that his language sounds strange is that it’s hundreds of years old. But that’s not the whole story. Many of his (and his contemporaries’) plays are written in verse (poetry), and he certainly didn’t walk around spouting rhythm and rhyme to his greengrocer. But when the witches in Macbeth stir their evil, magic brew they chant: Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Can you imagine how much more boring and ineffective this message would be in prose? (“Work and problems will increase, while our fire makes the pot boil.” I don’t think so.) Simply put, poetry can do things that prose cannot. It goes deeper, is more vivid, more profound, prettier or uglier (as the case may be). It’s more “more.” In other words: it’s less prosaic! Most of Shakespeare’s poetry doesn’t rhyme, but it often follows a very steady BEAT, or rhythm: da DUH da DUH da DUH da DUH da DUH 5 beats (pattern units) of “short-long” (usually 10 syllables) is what is called iambic pentameter. (The same of “long-short” is called trochaic pentameter.) Iambic refers to the short-long bit, and pentameter means five meters (or feet). In other words, it is a rhythmic pattern that repeats itself 5 times. Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter all over the place. How can these things in me seem scorn to you? page 1 or...... Arise fair sun, and kill the en vious moon, Who is alrea dy sick and pale with grief That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. The metered pattern is why a character’s lines may start far from the left margin. Two characters may share one five meter line! (Cleo) Where is he? (Char) I did not see him since. (Antony and Cleopatra) As you read Shakespeare, concentrate on reading from period to period, and only give the subtlest of pauses at the end of lines. In fact, until you learn how to be really subtle, try only pausing fully at periods. Reading this way aloud (Even if your family begins to think you’ve become a little strange when they hear conversation in your bedroom when you’re alone in there), will definitely tease out the meaning of the text. Remember: Shakespeare wrote these plays as SCRIPTS for actors. I’m sure that the idea of becoming THE standard in our American high school canon was the farthest thing from his mind. The lines were written to be spoken, and the more you speak them, the better off you’ll be. Four hundred years ago in Elizabethan England, people used thee, thou, thine, thy in everyday speech. We can still hear traces of these words in certain formal ceremonies: Do you take this man to be thy lawful wedded husband? page 2 Thee - thou pronouns were used by certain kinds of people in certain situations, such as: Lovers: Wherefore art thou Romeo? Family Members: Thou hast a careful father, child. Masters to servants: Is not thy master with him? The following table should prove helpful: SINGULAR 1st 2nd PLURAL 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd Subject I thou he/she/it we ye they Object me thee him/her/it us you them Possessive my thine thy thine his/her/its our your their Pronoun mine thine his/her/its ours yours theirs As you do with verbs now, Elizabethans had to change verb endings to make verbs agree with pronouns. I laugh Thou laughest I am You are Thou art I do Thou dost page 3 I shall Thou shalt I give She giveth Thou givest MORE VERB INFLECTIONS Third person singular: often substitute th for s: She giveth for She gives Second person familiar: adds the endings est, ’st, or st. Thou givest. Thou sing’st. Some irregular verbs: You: (Today, present tense) are have will Thou (Elizabethan times, present tense) art hast wilt can shall do canst shalt dost (Elizabethan times, past tense) wast hadst wouldst couldst shouldst didst Since Shakespeare’s time, many other words have changed. There are two major types of changes: Words we don’t use anymore Who would fardels bear? The scrimers of their nation. He galls his kibe. With bisson rheum. Words that look the same but have different meanings I could fancy more than any other Examine well your blood I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me page 4 Shakespeare also knew a LOT of words—more than perhaps all educated people during his time. (Or ours.) Today, a very educated person might have a vocabulary of 15,000 words at best. Shakespeare used around 30,000 words in his writing! The more words a person knows, the better s/he can communicate. Why? Because true synonyms are practically nonexistent, so an extensive vocabulary can better express precise and subtle ideas. For example, one could say I like Shakespeare. But the word like is a rather broad swipe at meaning. Replace like with adore, admire, esteem, prize, appreciate, relish, fancy, value, cherish, savor, treasure, and you communicate similar but subtlety distinct ideas. Amazingly, during the late sixteenth century, the English didn’t have enough words for Shakespeare to do what he needed to do. No problem: he invented new ones and used familiar ones in new ways. (For example, it was Shakespeare’s idea to use the noun ferret as a verb meaning to seek and obtain with determined energy. Ever see a ferret at work? It makes a perfect and precise verb! Some of the hundreds of words that first appear in Shakespeare’s plays: accommodation assassination dexterously dislocate obscene reliance premeditate indistinguishable Shakespeare liked to play around with words. (There is no one more famous for puns! Look for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. Here, even as he is dying, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet jokes around with his friends who are unaware that Tybalt has stabbed him.) page 5 He also fooled around with the order of words by: REARRANGING That handkerchief Did an Egyptian to my mother give (Othello, III. iv. 55-56) These babes for Clarence weep, and so do I (Macbeth, II. ii. 84) Look I so pale, Lord Dorset, as the rest? (Macbeth, II. i. 84) SEPARATING All weary and o’erwatched, Take vantage, heavy eyes, not to behold this shameful lodging. (Lear, II. ii. 185-87) Instead of: Heavy eyes, all weary and o’erwatched, take vantage not to behold this shameful lodging. GRAMMATICAL SHIFTS This sickly land might solace as before (Macbeth, II. iii. 30) Instead of: This sickly land might give solace as before OMITTING I’ll to England (Macbeth, II. iii. 137) Instead of: I’ll go to England page 6 WHY? WHY? WHY? Sometimes to make the words fit five beats Sometimes to accommodate rhyme Sometimes to reveal a nuance Sometimes to spin the meaning of the words But more than anything else, I get the impression that Shakespeare loved to play with words, to revel in the joy and beauty of words, to bathe himself in the sound and sense of them. page 7 SOME REFERENCES Abbott, E. A. A Shakespearean Grammar, new ed. London: Macmillan, 1879. (A grammar textbook arranged by part of speech, rife with quotations from the plays and poems) Blake, Norman. Shakespeare’s Language: An Introduction. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983. Charney, Maurice. How to Read Shakespeare. New York: McGrawHill, 1971. Hussey, S. S. The Literary Language of Shakespeare. London: Longmans, 1982. Onions, C. T. A Shakespeare Glossary. Roberts, Marcia. Reading Shakespeare. New York: Harcourt, 1969. (A student workbook of 52 chapters) Tilley, Maurice Palmer. A Dictionary of Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950. Vickers, Brian. “Shakespeare’s Use of Rhetoric,” Chapter 6 of Kenneth Muir and S. Schoenbaum, A New Companion to Shakespeare Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971. (A technical rhetorical analysis for teachers and the most advanced students.) page 8