About Me (and my blog)

Hello! My name is Claire. I'm a 19 year-old Shakespeare nerd in her second year of college. This blog is intended to assist any budding Shakespeare lover (or those of you who have to read Shakespeare in class and just want to get it over with) in understanding the more difficult aspects of his works. This blog will summarize plays--by act and scene--in modern terms, helping you to better understand what exactly is happening on that stage.
I'm not a professional translator by any means, but I sincerely hope that my blog helps with all your Hamlet and Othello woes. Good night and good morrow, everyone!

Monday, October 24, 2016

A Guide to Speaking like Shakespeare

So, let's talk Shakespeare--or, more specifically, how to talk Shakespeare.

All of Shakespeare's tragedies, sonnets, and other works, were written during the Elizabethan Era of the Renaissance (around the late 1500s, early 1600s). His words are old, classic, and, quite frankly, confusing.

 Shakespeare is hard. It's difficult to read and to understand. Sometimes it's boring or the humor is lost or some long-standing metaphor just makes no sense. Some of this is due to the time difference (400 years of language change is a lot to compensate for), but a lot of the confusion is because the most commonly used words in Shakespeare's writing are no longer common vernacular or they mean something very different.

 This post is a basic (VERY basic) guide to some words and other grammatical rules that you may see frequently in Shakespeare's works.

 1) Shortening 'it': 'It' is usually shortened in Shakespeare, usually to just "'t". For example, "it was" becomes "'twas" .

 2) Verb Endings: Verbs can often end in -st or -th. So "DO" can become "dost" or "doth".

 3) Use "Shall": Shall is a word that expresses obligation. It is also expressed as "shalt" when used with specific words, similar to how "will" becomes "wilt". The rules of the grammar are not important, but it is helpful to know that "shall" and "shalt" have the same meaning.

 4) Common Words

  • "Good Greetings" = Hello
  • "How Now?" = How are you?
  • "Fare thee well" = Bye
  • "Anon" = Soon
  • "Art" = Are
  • "Dispatch" = to leave or kill
  • "Doth" = Does
  • "Ere" = Before
  • "Hark" = Listen
  • "Hither" = Here
  • "Hath" = Has
  • "Ne'er" = Never
  • "Pray/Prithee" = Beg or ask
  • "But soft" = Wait a minute
  • "Thee/Thou" = You
  • "Thither" = There
  • "Thy" = Your
  • "Whence" = From
  • "Wherefore" = Why

This list will probably grow, and I will try to update it for your assistance. Knowing these words will definitely improve your basic understanding of Shakespeare. Who knows? Maybe you'll end up enjoying it as you read.
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