Shakespeare Bootcamp Day One

First Things First Reading Shakespeare is just like any other type of reading, it just takes familiarization with confusing vocabulary, sentence structure, and unfamiliar plots. With this in mind, say to yourself: I can do this! I CAN DO THIS!

He Said What? In order to be successful , you need to get used to the old-fashioned language: The word "thou" or "thee" means "you" "art“ means "are" When you hear anything that ends in "-st", don't freak out. Shakespeare adds "-st" to just about any word, thus "mayst not" = "may not". Shakespeare also likes to take out syllables to make the line flow smoother. For example: "o' th' " means "on the".

What did he say? Paraphrase: "For in my sight, she uses thee kindly, but thou liest in thy throat." P: "From what I see, she is kind to you, but you are a liar." "No, faith, I'll not stay a jot longer!" P: "No, I will not stay here a second longer! "What light through yonder window breaks, it is the east and Juliet is the sun." P: "Juliet is as radiant with beauty as the sun is radiant with light". *Remember, people were still people 500 years ago, and even though they talked fancier, they still had emotions like we do.

Unusual Word Arrangements Students have asked me if people really spoke the way they do in Shakespeare's plays.  The answer is no.  Shakespeare wrote the way he did for poetic and dramatic purposes.  There are many reasons why he did this--to create a specific poetic rhythm, to emphasize a certain word, to give a character a specific speech pattern, etc.  Example: I ate the sandwich. I the sandwich ate. Ate the sandwich I. Ate I the sandwich. The sandwich I ate. The sandwich ate I. When you are reading Shakespeare's plays, look for this type of unusual word arrangement.  Locate the subject, verb, and the object of the sentence.  Notice that the object of the sentence is often placed at the beginning (the sandwich) in front of the verb (ate) and subject (I).  Rearrange the words in the order that makes the most sense to you (I ate the sandwich).  This will be one of your first steps in making sense of Shakespeare's language.

Omissions: Words & Letters Again, for the sake of his poetry, Shakespeare often left out letters, syllables, and whole words.  Think about how we speak today: "Been to class yet?" "No.  Heard Zoratti’s givin' a test." "Wha'sup wi'that?" We leave out words and parts of words to speed up our speech.  If we were speaking in complete sentences, we would say: "Have you been to class yet?" "No, I have not been to class.  I heard that Mrs. Zoratti is giving a test today." "What is up with that?"

Omissions: Words & Letters A few examples of Shakespearean omissions/contractions follow: 'tis ~ it is ope ~ open o'er ~ over gi' ~ give ne'er ~ never i' ~ in e'er ~ ever oft ~ often a' ~ he e'en ~ even

Why leave out parts of words? Shakespeare played with words in order to create the rhyme scheme and meter he wanted. He often used Iambic Pentameter. Bonus points for the student who can explain Iambic Pentameter to the class  1 iamb = 1 unstressed and 1 stressed syllable He uses 5 iambs in most lines (10 syllables) But soft what light through yonder window breaks?

Is punctuation important? Well, look at these two sentences and tell me if they mean different things? A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing. What do each of these sentences mean?