Some words are strange not because of the “static” introduced by changes in language over the past centuries but because these are words that Shakespeare is using to establish the multiple settings in which the fiction of his play is to be imagined as taking place.
In the opening scenes of Measure for Measure, for example, the word meat has the meaning of “food” in general (rather than a particular kind of food ), owe is used where we would say “own” or “possess,” straight is used where we would say “immediately,” friends where we would say “relatives,” and unhappy where we would say “unfortunate.” Such words, too, will become familiar as you continue to read Shakespeare’s language. In Measure for Measure, as in all of Shakespeare’s writing, more problematic are the words that we still use but that we use with a different meaning. Words of this kind will become familiar the more of Shakespeare’s plays you read. In the opening scenes of Measure for Measure, for example, you will find the words kersey (coarse cloth ), foppery (foolishness, folly ), sith (since ), and foison (abundance ). Some are unfamiliar simply because we no longer use them. Shakespeare’s WordsĪs you begin to read the opening scenes of a play by Shakespeare, you may notice occasional unfamiliar words. When reading on one’s own, one must do what each actor does: go over the lines (often with a dictionary close at hand ) until the puzzles are solved and the lines yield up their poetry and the characters speak in words and phrases that are, suddenly, rewarding and wonderfully memorable. In the theater, most of these difficulties are solved for us by actors who study the language and articulate it for us so that the essential meaning is heard-or, when combined with stage action, is at least felt. Most of his immense vocabulary is still in use, but a few of his words are not, and, worse, some of his words now have meanings quite different from those they had in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. More than four hundred years of “static” intervene between his speaking and our hearing. And even those skilled in reading unusual sentence structures may have occasional trouble with Shakespeare’s words. Others, though, need to develop the skills of untangling unusual sentence structures and of recognizing and understanding poetic compressions, omissions, and wordplay. Those who have studied Latin (or even French or German or Spanish ) and those who are used to reading poetry will have little difficulty understanding the language of Shakespeare’s poetic drama. Editors of the Folger Shakespeare Library Editionsįor many people today, reading Shakespeare’s language can be a problem-but it is a problem that can be solved.