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 uses to build a dramatic world that has its own space and time. In the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet, for example, the word heavy has the meaning of “sorrowful,” the word envious is used where we would say “malicious,” sadly where we would use “gravely” or “seriously,” his where we would use “its,” happy where we would say “fortunate,” cousin where we would say “kinsman,” and still where we would say “always.” Such words, too, will become familiar as you continue to read Shakespeare’s language. In Romeo and Juliet, as in all of Shakespeare’s writing, more problematic are the words that we still use but that now have different meanings. Words of this kind will become familiar the more of Shakespeare’s plays you read. In the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet, for example, you will find the words misadventured (i.e., unlucky), an (i.e., if), marry (an old oath “by the Virgin Mary,” which had by Shakespeare’s time become a mere interjection, like “indeed”), and soft (an interjection that means “hold,” “enough,” or “wait a minute”). 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 we are reading on our own, we 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 vocabulary is still in use, but a few of his words are no longer used, and many 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”-caused by changes in language and in life-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, however, 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 poetic drama. For many people today, reading Shakespeare’s language can be a problem-but it is a problem that can be solved.
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