Did Shakespeare write in modern English?

Answer 1

Many people think that Shakespeare wrote in a language which is not comprehensible to English speakers. That is not true. Shakespeare wrote in English, and in an English which is only different from the English spoken today in small ways which can be easily learned, such as the more frequent use of the pronoun "thou". The real reasons why some people struggle with Shakespeare's language are that Shakespeare used a vocabulary over three times the size of that used by the average person, and that he used heightened poetic language enhanced by rhymes, blank verse rhythm and literary devices. This can make what he wrote hard to understand. It's the sort of thing that makes any writer hard to understand.

For those who struggle, it is possible to paraphrase the text using a much smaller vocabulary and eliminating the poetry. These versions will help you understand the play, but the more they change, the more they lose the beauty of what Shakespeare wrote.

Enjoy Shakespeare aims to recreate the rhythm and complexity of the original while using more modern-day sounding English. No Fear Shakespeare provide a copy of the original play with a much simplified prose paraphrase on the opposite page. There are also even more simplified versions for children available. These can be in comic book or storybook form.

All of these involve line-by-line paraphrases of the plays, which do not change the dramatic structure at all. They can be a help to understanding the play as Shakespeare wrote it. However, once you start substituting your own words for Shakespeare's, gradually the meaning changes, and the characters change accordingly. It is always necessary to go back to the original texts.

In describing these efforts, it may be a disadvantage to use the word "translation". Shakespeare's plays have been translated into and performed in all the major languages of the world and even in at least one fictional language (Klingon). In 2012, during the Summer Olympics, several dozen Shakespeare plays will be performed in foreign languages as part of the celebration. All great literature has been translated many times over, because even people who speak nothing but English want to read Dante and Goethe. However we do not talk about translating Dante into Italian or Goethe into German because they were originally in those languages and can be understood by those who understand those languages. Similarly Shakespeare does not need to be translated into English because it is already in English and can be understood by ordinary English speakers if they work at it.

Answer 2

Shakespeare's English is Modern English already, but if you want to paraphrase today's English into Shakespeare's English, you'd have to get a pretty good knowledge of Shakespeare's time's dialect. The most significant difference is the use of distinct second person singular pronouns and verb forms which go along with them. These pronouns thou, thee, thy and thine correspond to you (subject), you (object), your and yours. The corresponding verb forms where thou is the subject of the sentence generally end in the letters -st.

Another interesting difference is that "has", "does" and similar third person singular words are sometimes spelled and pronounced "hath", "doth" and so on (just as if someone had a lisp). Negation is sometimes expressed by reversal without the use of an auxiliary verb "do"; "I know not" rather than "I do not know", "I think not" rather than "I do not think." There are different contractions: it becomes 't, and is sometimes becomes 's, but not does not become n't. So you find 'tis but not it's, and cannot rather than can't.

And of course the vocabulary is a little different, especially when you are talking about Shakespeare, whose vocabulary was about three times as great as the usual.
Yes, you can.

Answer 3

Shakespeare is not a language. Modern English is. You can't change a language into something that is not a language.

Answer 4

Shakespearean English is Modern English, just an early dialect of it.

Answer 5

Shakespeare didn't write in what we think of as modern english, but he wrote in early modern english, middle english, and old english.

Answer 6

Yes, in fact there are a few. I have one by Collins Publishing.

Answer 7

did you get the job