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LANGUAGE.NTS
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12
The language of Shakespeare's plays is a mixture of poetry and
prose. (See the notes later in this topic.)
It is full of powerful imagery and yet it can be direct and
crude. It shows his genius yet at the same time makes his
plays very difficult to read.
This often puts students off initially but you will find that
with persistence and practice 'decoding' Shakespeare's
language becomes easier.
The notes that follow go a small way towards helping - the
rest you must do for yourself.
14
There are three aspects of the language that make it difficult
for the student.
1. Shakespeare uses the language of his own time. In 400 years
English has lost many words and changed the meanings of many
others.
2. Shakespeare followed the conventions of his day in writing
his plays mainly in verse. The poetry demands careful reading
to understand the full meaning.
3. Many students are still struggling to master modern every-
day English. This makes it doubly difficult for them to
understand Shakespeare's Elizabethan language.
13
VOCAB & PHRASES
This list only includes the most common terms. Other difficult
words and phrases will already be explained in your text.
ELIZABETHAN MODERN
hence from here
art thou? are you?
thou you
thy your
dost thou? do you?
wherefore why
oft often
yea even
13
VOCAB & PHRASES (cont.)
ELIZABETHAN MODERN
doth does
what say'st thou? what do you say
'tis it is
'twas it was
ay yes
i' in
aught anything
thou hast you have
yond yonder that one there
would (he were) I wish (he was)
10
VOCAB & PHRASES (cont.)
ELIZABETHAN MODERN
thee you
marry a mild swear word
nay no
ye you
hie hurry
ere before
an if
13
SHAKESPEARE'S VERSE
Like the rest of Shakespeare's plays the main part of 'Romeo
and Juliet' is written in Blank Verse. However the lower
class characters such as the servants speak in prose.
Another section that is in prose is the lively battle of wits
between Mercutio and Romeo at the beginning of Act II scene iv
Presumably the jokes in this passage would not have been as
effective in verse.
So as in his other plays Shakespeare uses prose only for very
unimportant characters or to mark a different or untypical
passage.
14
BLANK VERSE
The verse form used by Shakespeare has the technical name
IAMBIC PENTAMETER
This simply means that each line has 10 syllables and is made
up of 5 pairs of syllables - with the second of each pair
carrying the stress.
If you look at a typical line from the play you will find it
is like this:
They are but beggars that can count their worth
. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
This line has 10 syllables (count them) and the marked
syllables carry the strongest stress.
14
BLANK VERSE (cont.)
This type of verse would be boring if it was used continuously
but Shakespeare was an expert at varying his rhythm to suit
the situation.
His lines also vary according to the speaker and the mood he
wishes to convey.
As in other poetry imagery is very important. See the separate
notes on this topic.
Although this type of verse rarely rhymes this play is an
exception. Much more than in his other plays Shakespeare does
end the lines with rhyme making this a more 'poetic' play.
13
BLANK VERSE (cont.)
The subject of Shakespeare's poetry is too complex to cover in
greater detail here. For more information consult your
teacher or go to the library for more research.
For exam purposes you don't need to study the verse structure
in great detail but a basic understanding of what Blank Verse
is will be an enormous help in making sense of the text.
Whatever you do don't let the language of the play put you
off. Remember that Shakespeare was writing for ordinary
people not university scholars.Often a little thought can
make the meaning clear.