SHAKESPEARE’s LANGUAGE HE TALKS A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY than we do today!

Sayings We have Willie to thank for!! KNOCK KNOCK! Who’s There? Heart of Gold So-so Fight Fire with Fire Love is Blind Makes your hair stand on end A Piece of Work Sent him packing

2nd Person Familiar and Verb Inflections Modern in English has dropped a set of pronouns and verbs called “familiar” or thee and thou forms. We used to use these among close friends and family and to children, inferiors, animals, and inanimate objects. They were still around in Shakespeare’s day.

Familiar Pronouns Singular Pronouns Plural Pronouns 1st 2nd 3rd SUBJECT I Thou He/she/it We Ye They Object Me Thee Him/her/it Us You Them Possessive adjective My *mine Thy *thine His/her/its Our Your Their Possessive Noun Mine Thine his/her/its Ours Yours theirs

Verb Inflections 2nd Person familiar- -Adds the end –est, -’st, or st EXAMPLE: thou givest, thou sing’st Some irregular verbs PRESENT: you are have will can shall do PRESENT: thou art hast wilt canst shalt dost PAST: thou wast hadst wouldst couldst shouldst didst Third Person Singular Often substitutes –th for –s Example: she giveth (for she gives)

Decode the following with your group Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword And won thy love doing thee injuries… 2. Stand forth, Demetrius – My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her. 3. If thou lovest me, then steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night.. 4. How now spirit? Whither wander you? 5. The King doth keep his revels here tonight, Take heed the Queen come not within his sight…

Answers Hippolyta, I courted you with my sword in battle, and won your love doing you harm… Come forward, Demetrius – My good lord, this man has my permission to marry her. If you love me, then sneak out of your father’s house tomorrow night… How are you spirit? Where are you going? The king does have his party here tonight, make sure the Queen stay away and out of his sight…

There are some other strange words and phrases in Shakespeare, where do I look them up? Shakspeare Lexicon – Alexander Schmidt’s English Dictionary

Steps to Decoding Shakespeare Scenes and Monologues Read scene synopsis from Spark Notes Read Scene Decode Words and Phrases using the Shakespeare Lexicon or Dictionary If you STILL cannot decode everything, look at No Fear Shakespeare

JULIET: Ay me! ROMEO: She speaks, O speak again bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night being o’er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wond’ring eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him, When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, And sails upon the bosom of the air.   JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. ROMEO: Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this? JULIET: ‘Tis but thy name that is mine enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, Nor arm nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O be some other name. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo doff thy name which is no part of thee, Take all myself.

Watch Scene RSC Shaksepeare Company Balcony Scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHoaPLO6Zd8 *Did you understand what’s going on? And the emotions?

Decode the following http://www. sparknotes Give me leave, beseech you. I did send, After the last enchantment you did here, A ring in chase of you. So did I abuse Myself, my servant, and, I fear me, you: Under your hard construction must I sit, To force that on you, in a shameful cunning Which you knew none of yours. What might you think? Have you not set mine honor at the stake, And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts That tyrannous heart can think? To one of your receiving Enough is shown. A cypress, not a bosom, Hides my heart. So, let me hear you speak.

Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "Thou": Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 artless base-court apple-john bawdy bat-fowling baggage beslubbering beef-witted barnacle bootless beetle-headed bladder cockered clapper-clawed bugbear clouted clay-brained bum-bailey craven common-kissing canker-blossom currish crook-pated clack-dish droning doghearted codpiece fawning earth-vexing dewberry fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker gorbellied folly-fallen giglet

Write a Scene with a partner Each person must say an insult Create a scene where each person says an insult Make sure there is a clear beginning, middle, and end No violence Use your 2nd person familiar and verb inflections 5-8 lines