SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

DO NOW – JOURNAL ENTRY #1 You will need:

Notebook Pen/pencil

During Caesar, you will have weekly Journal Entries on Friday.

They will range from narrative prompts and free response to analysis.

Journal entries will be done IN CLASS and will count for 30 points each week.

USE 3-4 OF THE FOLLOWING PHRASES TO CREATE A STORY FOR

YOUR JOURNAL BASED ON YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE ELIZABETHAN

ERA.flesh and blood vanish into thin air pomp and circumstance

seen better days a sorry sight neither rhyme nor reason

full circle dead as a doornail

for goodness sake green-eyed monsterNot a mouse was

stirringIn a pickleNot slept one winkToo much of a good

thingFoul play

AGENDA

DO NOW/SHARE OUT Reading

Shakespeare: puns, imagery and malapropisms

OBJECTIVE

Students will analyze the specifics of Shakespeare’s language in order to evaluate how his style impacts our understanding of the text.

AGENDA AND OBJECTIVE

READING SHAKESPEARE

We speak in prose (language without metrical structure). 

Shakespeare wrote both prose and poetry (verse). 

To understand his poetry , we need to understand these terms:

Blank Verse:  unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Iambic Pentameter:  five beats of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables; ten syllables per line.

SHAKESPEARE’S POETRY

IAMBIC PENTAMETER

IAMB = metrical FOOT with one unstressed

syllable and a 2nd STRESSED syllable. (we show it as PENTA = FIVE!METER = Length of the line

Ta-TUM

Ta-TUM

Ta-TUM

Ta-TUM

Ta-TUM

1 2 3

4 5Five Feet!

Shall I com

PARE thee TO

a SUM- mer’s

DAY?

How sweet

the moon

light sleeps

upon this bank!

PUNS

A pun is a joke based on the use of a word, or more than one word, that has more than one meaning but the same sound.

Mercutio: “Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.”

Romeo: “ Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes/ With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead.”

What is the pun here? What might Shakespeare be trying to point out?

EXPLANATION

Soles--The bottom or under part of a shoe or foot.

Souls--The emotional part of human nature; the seat of the feelings or sentiments.

Romeo says he can’t dance--his soul is heavy, he is depressed.

I was just arrested at the airport. Just because I was greeting my cousin, Jack!

All I said was, “Hi Jack,” but very loud.

I hear this new cemetery is very popular.

People are just dying to get in.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger.

Then it hit me.

EXAMPLES

1. Thou = You2. Thee = You3. Thy = Your

Example: “Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit, Wilt thou not Jule?”

Translation: You will fall backwardwhen you have more wit,Will you not, Jule?

THOU, THEE AND THY

Sometimes Shakespeare will invert the verb and the subject.

For instance, he might write, “Went I to Bellarmine.” instead of “I Went to Bellarmine.”

Example: “Then dreams (verb) he (subject) of another ’s benefice.”

Translation: He dreams of another ’s benefice.

INVERSION

There are three problems with Shakespeare’s word choice:

First - he uses words that no longer exist in the English we speak.

Second - he uses words that are in our language, but now have a diff erent meaning to us.

Third – he uses words that are in our language, but we simply don ’t know what these words mean – you should look them up.

DICTION – WORD CHOICE

still = always soft = slowly, gentlymark = listen an = if fell = cruel, fierce,

deadlyto-night = last night perforce = we must,

you mustkind = true to one ’s

natureay = yes

fain = gladlymarry = swear wordanon = at onceplague, pox, ague =

diseasewherefore= why

SOME TRANSLATIONS TO HELP YOU …

For purposes of rhythm, Shakespeare uses contractions to cut out syllables

Examples: o’ = on th’ = the i’ = in ‘t – it ta’en = taken ‘em = them ‘a = he (often)

o’er = over 'tis ~ it is ope ~ open gi' ~ give ne'er ~ never i' ~ in e'er ~ ever oft ~ often e'en ~ even

CONTRACTIONS

1. For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

2. O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

3. Do not swear at all/ or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self …

4. A plague a both your houses.

5. Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?

COPY THESE LINES DOWN AND TRANSLATE THEM ON A SEPARATE

PIECE OF PAPER.