Shakespeare's+Language+Essay

Shakespeare’s Language**
 * [[file:erika becoming shakespeare.pages]]

By: Erika Flores, 9E

The language we all use today was created by I, Shakespeare. I have been

told that I was a “leading figure” in the way I had created the English language. Because

of the way I have created English, it was flexible at an early time and was quickly

modernized. The vocabulary I use in my poetry is not quickly understood by many

people. Even the talented people who can understand such accelerated work may find it

hard to identify my words in the work I have produced. That is because of the European

influence on the English language, which made many variations in the vocabulary,

giving me more possibilities in the meanings of my wording. It is then easy to mistake

my words for another meaning.

In order for people to understand my work through plays, actors have to further

explain to the audience what is being said and what is actually meant. Sometimes the

only explanation needed is for the actors to really act out the story so the audience can

even “feel” the emotion and the mood. When reading my own work, people even need a

dictionary to translate unknown words in order to gather the pieces of the “puzzle” and

grasp the story’s full message. One of the most difficult parts of my writing is in the

areas of where I use the words such as “thou, thee, and you”. These words are all

related, but they are used at different times for different classes of people. For example,

the words “thou” and “thee” would be used by the higher class people to address the

lower class. Sometimes the high class males would even call their wives “thee” or

“thou”, and, in turn, the wives will use “you” for respect. The lower rank people would

also use “you” to address the higher class for formal uses, but sometimes they will use

“thou” to show anger and insult. Also, if “thou” is to be used by people of the same rank

it could also be taken as an insult. This explanation of the uses of these words will help

readers to identify if people are arguing, being polite, or just talking normally.

So, it is suggested for people to be able to know and identify different forms of

poetry and plays to be able to interpret the kind of poetry I write. The people who don’t

have this understanding often complain and remark that the reading is very difficult.

They see this style of literature as complicated and not very easy to understand,

for the language used is not very similar to version used today. But the people who do

take the time and effort to look up these unfamiliar words and sentence patterns will find

it very rewarding to actually be able to understand the material. And if you are able to

understand my writing, you may even be able to withstand all the other English literature

out there.