Shakespeares Use of Language

1
Shakespeares Use of Language

• English as a Foreign Language

2
Shakespeares Form

• Rhetoric
• Dressed up plain language in rich, sumptuous
  clothes for dramatic effect
• Vestige of Greek Works
• Part of the Elizabethan education

3
Shakespeares Form

• Iambic Pentameter
• The line structure Shakespeare applied to all of
  his work.
• Iambic
• Refers to the series of unstressed and stressed
  syllables
• Unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
  syllable
• Ex What thou seest..

4
Shakespeares Form

• Pentameter
• Meter foot, two counts per foot
• Penta five, five meters
• Five feet of two counts equal a 10 count line
• So, Iambic pentameter means a ten count line in
  which the first syllable is unstressed and the
  next syllable is stressed and so on
• EX Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
• Draws on apace, four happy days bring in

5
Shakespeares Form

• Poetry
• Prose
• Some what free form- follows iambic pentameter,
  but does not rhyme.
• Ex any time the mechanicals speak
• Verse
• Much more structured and follows a rhyme scheme
• Ex any time royalty, the lovers or the fairies
  speak

6
Shakespeares Language

• Why is Shakespeares language so difficult to
  understand?
• VOCABULARY
• What makes the vocabulary difficult to
  understand?
• CULTURAL STATIC

7
Shakespeares Language

• Anastrophe Unusual sentence structure
• Verb before subject
• Full of vexation come I
• Should be I come full of vexation
• Object before subject and verb
• And what is mine my love shall render him
• Should be My love shall render him what is mine
• Interruptions
• My fortunes every was as fairly ranked, if not
  with vantage, as Demetrius
• Should be My fortunes are as fairly ranked as
  Demetrius
• Omissions
• Thrice blessed they that master so their blood
• Should be Thrice blessed are are they that
  master so their blood

8
Shakespeares Language

• Wordplay
• Puns
• Malapropisms
• Bottom uses them frequently!!!
• Simile illustrative comparison
• Ex My love is like a red, red rose.
• Metaphor or extended simile
• Hyperbole
• Personification

9
Tricks for Comprehension

• Line notes
• Numbers in the margins at the end of the lines-
  they mean something!!!!
• Rearrange the sentences
• Read for meaning
• If you dont understand a word- skip it- then go
  back
• Imagine the stage action
• Make allowances for humor
• TRANSLATE