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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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…

8. 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…

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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. Watch Scene RSC Shaksepeare Company
Balcony Scene
*Did you understand what’s going on? And the emotions?

13. 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.

14. Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "Thou":
Column Column 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

15. 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