Shakespearian Grammar&

Puns

Shakespeare’s writing can be difficult to read and understand

because of

-archaic words and verbs-allusions we are unfamiliar with

-unusual sentence structure/word order

Archaic words and verbs tenses

• Using thou, thee, and thine

-Means you, ye, and yours

Look at the archaic words handout

Present and past tense verbs

To be-thou art -thou wert

To have-thou hast-thou hadst

To do-thou dost-thou didst

• To allow– Thou may’st

***notice the endings -est and ‘st

Sentence Structure and Word Order

• Current word order often follows the pattern

Subject Verb Object

Dogs do smell fear.

• Shakespearian word order can be any order.Fear dost dogs smell.

Smell fear dost dogs.

Dogs dost smell fear.

Translating Shakespeare

• Read from punctuation piece to punctuation so you can translate manageable parts

• Look at the context of the sentence

Complete the Translating Shakespeare Worksheet

Puns

• Humorous use of a word that suggests 2 or more meanings sometimes used to create deliberate confusion or for rhetorical effect

• Usually used as a homonym (when 2 words sound the same but are spelled differently like soul and sole)

ORif a word has more than one meaning like grave (serious or a burial place)

• Walter Redfern (in Puns, Blackwell, London, 1984) succinctly said: "To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms."

Sum Puns

• I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

• There was a sign on the lawn at a drug re-hab center that said 'Keep off the Grass'.

• He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes bends.

See Handout on PUNS

Shakespeare Puns

Romeo and Juliet (Act I scene IV)Mercutio: “Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.”Romeo: “Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoesWith nimble soles; I have a soul of leadSo stakes me to the ground I cannot move.”Context: Romeo is reluctant to attend a party because he is suffering from a broken heart.