Evelyn H. Jimenez
Francis Espiritu
Scott Auran
LANGUAGE AND SHAKESPEARE
If we were dropped back in time into
Elizabethan England, there would be
considerable difficulty understanding
common people at best. We most
likely would not be able to understand
them, and they definitely would not be
able to understand us.
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
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English language started when German invaders from what is now
Northern Germany and Denmark came and conquered what is
Britain in the 8th and 9th century.
Most who inhabited Britain spoke a Celtic language, but Celtic
speakers were pushed towards Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
Normans later came in the 11th century and eventually fused the
language into Anglo-Norman.
English language can be traced to many dialects such as "AngloSaxon, Anglo-Frisian, etc."
Words began to be borrowed from Romantic languages such as
Latin.
English developed into a language that borrowed words and
phrases from other languages, resulting in broadened vocabulary.
OLD ENGLISH (4TH/5TH CENTURY - 11TH
CENTURY)
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Language of Germanic groups contributed to the rise of the
English language.
Many Germanic groups fought and traded with the Roman
Empire (who spoke Latin) so many Latin words were used to
identify different things. (Objects, feelings, etc)
The introduction of Christianity brought Latin and Greek
words into the English Language.
English was later introduced to Old Norse, another Germanic
dialect, many roots and words were similar to the other
Germanic languages, but the grammar was more distinct.
Works such as Beowulf were written in Old English.
MIDDLE ENGLISH (11TH CENTURY - 15TH
CENTURY)
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Influenced by Old English language (Anglo-Norman) and
Anglo-French.
French was retained and seen as a prestigious language
even after the decline of Norman influence.
Most famous of Middle English writers was Geoffrey
Chaucer. (Author of Canterbury Tales)
Once parliament was addressed in English by King
Edward III in 1362, it became the dominant language.
Anglo-Norman was spoken in a few groups, but
eventually became a language that was used by the
masses.
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (15TH CENTURY)
Rooted from Great Vowel Shift, as well as
influenced by London-based dialect which
government and administration spoke.
 Over time English continued to take words from
the Greek and Latin languages.
 By time of Shakespeare in the 1600s, the
language was recognized as what is now known as
Modern English.
 First English Dictionary was published in 1604 by
Robert Cawdrey, called Table Alphabeticall
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THE WRITTEN WORD PRINTED
By 1500, 35,000 books had been printed in
Europe alone.
 With the sudden increase in the reading
audience, people demanded to read books in
their own language and not other languages
like Latin.
 Translations of old and new works were in high
demand.
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THE WRITTEN WORD PRINTED PART II
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Elizabethan playwrights did not have much power over
their own work because publishing companies did not
need their permission to reprint it.
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All printers needed to do was have all the works meet the
requirements of the Stationers Company of London, the
national censorship committee.
Printers need to make sure that what they were publishing
did not offend the monarchy.
Certain certification was needed for “significant work” by
the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of London, the
Lord Chamberlain, and other member of the Privy Council.
A panel of 12 examined less significant writing.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT PLAY
The English Language during the later 16th
century, known as early modern English, was
being refined to a standard that all people
could follow.
 There were many discrepancies between words
based on their spelling, pronunciation, and how
words should rhyme.
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EXAMPLES FROM MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
4.2.38
Dogberry: “Yea, marry, that’s the eftest way.”
Here “eftest” is thought to be a mistake for
“fastest” or “deftest.” (4)
 4.2.1
Dogberry: “Is our whole dissembly appeared?”
Here “dissembly” is a mistake for “assembly.”
(4)
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THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT PLAY PART II
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By Shakespeare's time in Early Modern English “you” was
being used for both in singular and plural form, but in the
singular it also had a role as an alternative to “thou” and
“thee .”
“You” was used by people of lower status to those above
them (such as ordinary people to nobles, children to
parents, servants to masters), and was also the formal
way for the upper classes to talk to each other.
“Thou” and “thee” were used by people of higher rank to
those beneath them, and by the lower classes to each
other; also, strangely enough, in addressing God and in
talking to witches, ghosts, and other supernatural beings.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT PLAY PART III
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As a refection of the higher status of males in the
male/female context a husband might address his
wife as thou , and she might reply respectfully with
you .
The use of thou and you also had an emotional
dimension. Thou commonly expressed special
intimacy or affection; you , formality, politeness, and
distance.
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Example from Romeo and Juliet:
1.5.122: “you kiss by th’ book.”
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT PLAY PART IV
“Thou” might also be used by an inferior to a
superior, to express such feelings as anger and
contempt or to be insulting and this is one of
the areas where Shakespeare is able to get
extra levels of meaning by showing disrespect
by one character for another's status. (3)
 The use of “thou” to a person of equal rank
could be used as an insult. (3)
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EXAMPLES OF “THOU” AND “YOU” FROM ROMEO
AND JULIET
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1.3.5-7
Juliet: “How now, who calls?”
Nurse: “Your mother.”
Juliet: “Madam, I am here. What is your will?”
1.5.108-109
Juliet: “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hands too
much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this.”
1.5.114-115
Romeo: “O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do.
They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
EXAMPLES OF “THOU” AND “YOU” FROM THE
TAMING OF THE SHREW
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2.1.193-202
Petruchio: “You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate, And
bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst, But Kate, the
prettiest Kate in Christendom, Kate of Kate Hall, my superdainty Kate—For dainties are all Kates—and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation: Hearing thy mildness
praised in every town, Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty
sounded—Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs—Myself am
moved to woo thee for my wife.”
2.1.210
Katherine : “Asses are made to bear, and so are you.”
2.1.316
Katherine: “I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first.”
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT PLAY PART V
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Many rhymes and puns in Shakespeare's plays
don't work in modern English because the
pronunciation of the words has changed. In
Shakespeare's time mood rhymed with blood, one
was pronounced own, so rhymed with alone, and
wars was pronounced to rhyme with stars.(1)
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An example of forced rhyme from Romeo and Juliet:
2.3.99-100: “may this alliance may so happy prove, to
turn your households rancor into pure love.”
EXAMPLES OF PRONUNCIATION DIFFERENCES
The lines of this speech of Jaques in As You Like It
would have been hilarious to a 16th-century
audience:
“Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,
And after one hour more 'twill be eleven;
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale.”
 Hour was pronounced oar at the time; so was
whore. If you substitute the word whore for hour,
you will see the joke. (1)
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PROSE IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
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Shakespeare hardly wrote his plays in prose, but he
made in exception when writing the speaking parts to
characters of lower class.
Prose is the least “elevated” in dramatic speech and it is
also used so that the people talking in prose seem like
“clowns.”
Among the higher classes, prose is considered an
informal way of speaking.
As much as it is common for the lower classes to speak
in prose, depicting social and economical status through
speech in prose was never Shakespeare’s intention.
EXAMPLES OF PROSE IN A MIDSUMMER’S
NIGHT’S DREAM
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3.1.36-45
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Bottom: Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen
through the lion’s neck. And he himself must speak through, saying thus—or
to the same defect—“Ladies,” or “Fair ladies,” “I would wish you” or “I would
request you” or “I would entreat you” “not to fear, not to tremble, my life for
yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no
such thing. I am a man as other men are.” And there indeed let him name
his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
5.1.125-131
Theseus :This fellow doth not stand upon points.
Lysander: He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt. He knows not the stop. A good moral,
my lord: it is not enough to speak, but to speak true.
Hippolyta :Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child on a recorder—a sound,
but not in government.
“SAY WHAT?”: MALAPROPISMS AT WORK
Malapropism: an act or habit of misusing words
ridiculously, especially by the confusion of
words that are similar in sound.
 Shakespeare loved to use malapropisms,
especially with the lower class characters in his
plays that doubled as the comic relief.
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EXAMPLES OF MALAPROPISMS IN MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING AND THE TAMING OF THE
SHREW
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4.2.58-59
Dogberry: “O, villain! Thou wilt be condemned into
everlasting redemption for this!” Here “redemption” is a
mistake for damnation. Very confusing. (4)
1.2.112-113
Grumio: (to HORTENSIO) “I pray you, sir, let him go while
the humor lasts. O' my word, an she knew him as well as
I do, she would think scolding would do little good upon
him. She may perhaps call him half a score knaves or
so. Why, that’s nothing; an he begin once, he’ll rail in his
rope tricks.” “Rope tricks” confused for “rhetoric”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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1http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2009/06/
english-in-shakespeares-time.html
2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson#Relationship_with_Sha
kespeare
3http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeareearly-middle-english.htm
4- ‘Much ado About Nothing’ ,Folger’s edition, Mowat and
Werstine
The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with
Documents by Russ McDonald (Second Edition)
Shakespeare’s World by D.L Johanyak