MOCK-UP ARTICLE FOR TIME MAGAZINE

BYU-IDAHO ENGLISH 252

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s

The Themes of the Plays We Know and Love Have

Drastically Different Meanings

By Rachel Fullmer

Shakespeares plays are taught in schools and are even performed by various acting
companies. Each play has its own unique quality and story. However, there seems to be
something missing within the plays that we just cant pick out. Its the actual theme of the plays
themselves. Each play was written to convey a message to the general public. The themes of the
plays depend on the structure and the wording of the play. It also depends on how the characters
are portrayed. Since Shakespeares plays were written hundreds of years ago, no one really
knows how the characters are supposed to be portrayed. All we really have is the dialogue
between the characters. No one even has the original drafts he wrote (Cain). Besides that, the
language of the time was not our current Modern English. Back then, the common language of
the time was Early Modern English which was spoken from the mid 15th to the late 17th
centuries. The accent differed dramatically from the current British accent. The accent of the
Early Modern English Language was a mix between a Scottish, and an American accent
(Monkey See). The people talked faster than we do today, and there were some word puns added
into Shakespeares plays that could never have reached our ears had we never bothered to look
into how people talked in Shakespeares day. Due to the language barrier, it is most likely that no
one truly knows the themes of Shakespeares plays. The question is, how does the language of
the time affect the themes of the plays?

For starters, what is Early Modern English? Well Im glad you asked! Early Modern
English is the language right before our current Modern English. There were a words and
different pronunciations back then that we no longer use today (e.g. sirrah). Early Modern
English was spoken from the 15th to 17th centuries. Back then, it was current English. This was
the common language of the time. And, as time went on, new kings and queens ruled England.
Each one spoke differently. For example, in the early 15th century, King James I was put into
power. He was originally king of Scotland (and still is at this point, he ruled two kingdoms).
Since he was from Scotland, he talked differently than everyone else. This caused everyone else
to adopt the accent and slowly evolve into using different words. That, and Shakespeare himself
also invented quite a number of words. In fact, most of our Modern English today consists of a
number of words that Shakespeare invented.

Many people have researched the Early Modern English Language, including Edmund
Weiner, an editor of the Oxford website. In his article, he goes over the various wordings and
vowel sounds found within the language. The article also lists some differences between our
modern day words and the words of the Early Modern English Language. For example, in
Middle English there was a split construction in the language (Weiner). This construction was
still found in Early Modern English but was replaced by the familiar constructions seen in the
wife of the king of England, or the king of Englands wife. (Weiner). Weve seen these forms
before in texts such as the King James Bible, and Shakespeares plays. When the words of the
texts are said out loud by themselves, it is likely that we dont understand them. With more study
and a deeper context for each of the words, we can get an idea of what the text is trying to say.
With the accent of the language, it is much easier to understand and grasp a better meaning for
the texts. For example, the to be or not to be soliloquy in Hamlet sounds different. This is what
the first 5 lines look like:

To be or not to be--that is the question:

Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of an outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, to end them. To die, to sleep-- (Act III. scn 1. Ln
64-68)

Here is what those lines should sound like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYiYd9RcK5M
Notice how similar the words are. It is all the same five lines, but with a different pronunciation.
It almost gives the listener a sense of peace when listening to these words as Lord Hamlet talks
about death. There arent many differences between Modern English and Early Modern English,
but the words sure did sound different.

The Early Modern English Language also contained words that we dont use nowadays.
Such as the word sirrah (Markus). Many researchers have always thought the word to refer to
an inferior. However, by close study and working with the texts, researchers have confirmed that
it could really be a mix between the word sir and the interjection ah or ha. This implies
that not all the words that we see in Shakespeares plays or other Early Modern English texts
mean what we think they mean. Also, because the language was much more different than the
language of our day, many of the words sounded similar to words with different meaning (e.g.
ripe sounds more like rape). This specific word pun is seen in the play As You Like It. The
original text looks like this:
And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe (Act II. scn vii. Ln 26)

This is what it sounds like in Early Modern English:

And so frum or to or we rape and rape

These word puns and they are frequently found within Shakespeares plays (Lodewyck). With
the knowledge of the word puns, the plays have a different meaning thrust upon them. The word
hour was pronounced or.

The words had a different sound. Most of the time, these words wouldnt change the
theme of the plays. However, look at this word pun from Hamlet: And wants not buzzers to
infect his ear/With pestilent speeches of his fathers death (act IV. sc 5. Ln 97-98). In this
particular section it seems like Claudius is making a point. However, in the original
pronunciation, the word ear almost sounds like the word heir. Claudius could be making a
statement about Laertes inheriting the estate, or hes referring to Hamlet who knows he killed
Polonius and is after Claudius himself. Hamlet assumed his uncle knew he was going to kill him,
but Hamlet didnt really have all the facts. So that begs the question, did Claudius willingly go to
his death at the end, or was it the story we all knew where Hamlet kills him unwillingly? Note
that there was a big soliloquy about Hamlet considering suicide as an alternative to having to
avenge his father. He didnt love his uncle, but he certainly didnt want to have to take it upon
himself to kill him at first. But, hey, thats just a theory.

There are many common themes within Shakespeares plays. They are listed in the tutor
website for the UK as power, nature, love and relationships, and conflict (A). Of course,
Hamlets theme that we speculate is not being too desperate for power, or your nephew is gonna
kill you to avenge his father. Another theme would be not to overthink the problem too far. It got
Hamlet killed in the end. However, what if the language barrier made it like in the example I
showed above. Its likely that the theme is about committing suicide, due to the fact that its
likely Claudius knew that Hamlet was going to kill him. Those small wordings in the plays and
poetry give a lot of speculation toward something extravagant that we havent discovered yet.

Word puns are also seen in Shakespeares play, Twelfth Night. Olivias kinsman, Sir
Toby, and his best friend, Sir Andrew are meeting up and talking about how to get Olivia to feel
better by letting her find someone to love. This part of the conversation interested me most:

Original text:

TOBY: Pourquoi (french word for why), my dear knight?

ANDREW: What is pourquoi? Do, or not do? I would I had bestowed that time
in the tongues that I have in fencing, dancing, and bearbaiting. O, had I but
followed the arts!
TOBY: Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hair. (Act I. sc 3. Ln 90-95).

Early Modern English:

TOBY: Pourquoi, moi der noight?

ANDREW: Wot ees pourquoi? Do or not do? Oi would Oi had bestow-ed that
toime in the tongs that Oi have in fencing, dancing, and bearbaiting. O, had Oi but
follow-ed the arts!
TOBY: Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hayr.

The word tongues is the interesting part of the conversation. Back in Elizabethan times,
tongues was pronounced tongs. Also back in Elizabethan times, a tong was a flat iron that
people used to straighten their hair (Garber). Oh, burn! There mustve been a lot of laughs at this
conversation in Shakespeares time.

Research is still being done on the Early Modern English Language and how it pertains to
Shakespeares plays. The texts that were written in Early Modern English sounded different and
possibly had different meanings. Hamlet even appears to have a different move. Through the
word puns found, it seems more like the theme of the play is dealing with suicide rather than
doing your job quickly and efficiently. Since, research is still going on, no one truly knows what
Shakespeares plays mean. They could mean something completely different. The language may
have been different back then, but the meaning of the plays nowadays has changed dramatically
as we have seen through the examples of Hamlet and Twelfth Night.