There are six adverbs we can learn quite easily that help to make Shakespeare’s language a lot simpler. They are all about direction. Why is this important?
Well, the words we are going to look at may seem ordinary and unexciting, but they can be confusing if we have never seen them before. Shakespeare’s plays are peppered with references to people coming and going from one place to another, because the only way we, the audience, can find out who is going where is through dialogue. In a play, there is no montage of the main character taking a taxi, a plane and another taxi. No visual of signposts or familiar sights. We have to find out where people are going from their conversation.
So if we don’t understand these adverbs, we could find it difficult to be clear about what is happening.
Here are the six words:
Hither – Thither – Whither – Hence – Thence – Whence
Notice that there is a lot of similarity between them, in sound and in initial letters. They all end in either –ither or –ence and they all begin with H, Th or Wh. As you will see, these little details are helpful to us in remembering how to use them.
Let’s look at them one by one:
Hither means ‘to here.’ It begins with ‘h’ just as ‘here’ does. Have a look at some examples.
In Act 1, Sc 5 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth says, in a soliloquy, to Macbeth, Hie thee hither. (Come here)
In Romeo and Juliet, Act 5 Sc 1, Romeo says to the Apothecary, Come hither, man. (Again, come here)
Thither means ‘to there.’ It begins with ‘th’ just like ‘there does. Beginning to see a pattern? Here are some examples:
Ross says to Macduff, in Act 2 Sc 4 of Macbeth, Well, I will thither. (He is saying, I will go there, meaning to Scone where Macbeth will be crowned.)
And in Romeo and Juliet, Act 1 Sc 2, Benvolio tells Romeo to Go thither. (Meaning go there, ie to the party.)
Whither means ‘to where.’ Did you guess that? It begins with ‘wh,’ the same as ‘where.’ Let’s look at some examples:
Lady Macduff asks the Messenger, in Act 4 Sc 2 of Macbeth, Whither should I fly? (Where should I flee to?)
In Romeo and Juliet, Act 1 Sc 2, Romeo asks, whither should they come? (He is asking where should they come to, with reference to the list of people invited to a party.)
Hence means ‘from here.’ It begins with ‘h,’ like ‘here’ and ‘hither.’ Examples:
Macbeth says to his servant, in Act 5 Sc 3, Take thy face hence. (Rather rude, meaning take your face from here, or get out.)
And a little later, in Act 5 Sc 5, he laments, There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here. (I can neither flee from here, nor stay here.)
Thence, as you may anticipate, means ‘from there. It begins with ‘th,’ of course.
Macbeth says in Act 3 Sc 1,
Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrenched…
He is saying that the Witches gave him a crown and sceptre that would not be passed down his bloodline, and that the sceptre in his hand would be wrenched from there.
Whence means ‘from where.’ Beginning with ‘wh.’
Duncan says to Ross, in Act 1 Sc 2 of Macbeth, Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane? (Where have you come from, honourable lord?)
Have you noticed how the similarities help us?
Notice that all three of the words referring to going towards a place end in –ither. All three of the words referring to going from a place end in –ence. And we can use the initial letters of here, there and where to help us remember the meaning of the Shakespearean adverbs.
This might seem like quite a lot to take in but remembering these adverbs, and seeing how they work in the plays, can help to make things a lot clearer.
