Final Project Source Summary 3:  Shakespeare

The Necessary Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington.  3^rd ed.  New York:  Pearson/Longman, 2009.

In the Introduction under “Shakespeare’s Language”, Bevington states that when 

Shakespeare wrote his plays and poems the language of English was transitioning from Middle English to modern English and that is why Shakespeare’s English is referred to Early Modern English since it is closer to modern English.  Shakespeare used words that we have lost like:  “he hath” was replaced with “he has”, “thou art” with “you are”, “I would thou wert” with “I wish you would”, “How camest thou” with “How did you come”, they are still familiar to us but no longer used.  There are also linguistic signals he used to express respect, for example parents addressed their children as “thee” and “thou” while children showed respect by using the more formal “you”.  Shakespeare also used colloquial expressions that have changed over time.  The phrase “Marry, come up, I trow” in Romeo and Juliet means something like “Goodness gracious, what’s all this fuss about?”.  “Marry” is also a mild oath, originally meaning “By the Virgin Mary”.  He also used “by the rood” which meant “by Christ’s cross”, “by my halidom” which meant “by all things holy”, “now by my maidenhead at twelve year old” meant “now by the virginity I still had when I was twelve years old”.  It’s important to be familiar with these colloquial expressions and linguistic signals when reading Shakespeare’s plays so that we can understand them better.