Have you ever heard or read a line from a Shakespeare play and thought, ‘sounds good, but just what does it mean?’? Although only 5 to 10% of Shakespeare’s language is different from the English we speak today, some lines are harder to decipher than others.
Here is a line from Macbeth, Act 1 Scene ii, spoken by King Duncan to Ross:
Whence camest thou, worthy thane?
I enjoy using this line as an example because, although it only contains five words, they all need some explanation. Once we have some guidance, however, we realise that in fact there’s no great mystery.
Oddly enough, it makes sense to start at the end, in this case. The word ‘thane‘ is archaic, meaning something like ‘lord.’ Ross is a nobleman and in this play such characters have the title ‘thane.’ Once we have spent a little while reading or watching Macbeth, we get used to this form of address.
Ok, back to the beginning. ‘Whence‘ is an important word. Along with hence and thence, hither, thither and whither, it’s an archaic adverb meaning ‘from where’ or ‘from what place.’
‘Thou‘ is a pronoun meaning ‘you,’ the second person singular. It is used for friends and family, social inferiors or servants. Duncan, the king, is speaking to one of his subjects so he can, if he wishes, use ‘thou.’
Since we no longer use the pronoun ‘thou,’ we have discontinued the use of verb forms that go with it. In this case, ‘camest‘ is the second person singular past simple form of the verb ‘to come.’ Now, we use ‘came’ for all persons in this tense.
Finally, we have the adjective ‘worthy.’ We can probably guess that it is connected to ‘worth,’ and in fact it means either ‘valuable’ or, more appropriately, ‘honourable.’
And just a little grammar: Speaking English today, if we want to ask a question we need to use an auxiliary verb. For example, ‘where did you come from?’ Here we use the verb ‘to do.’ This has not always been the case, however. In this line, Shakespeare simply inverts the pronoun and the verb, similar to the way questions can be asked in French. So the statement, ‘thou camest’ becomes the question ‘camest thou.’
Once we have worked through the line, one word at a time, we find that Duncan is asking a simple question:
Where did you come from, honourable lord?
At least, that’s what it means, but Shakespeare’s line sounds a lot better than mine…
Does this seem like a lot? Well, yes, it is, all in one line. That’s why I chose this line! But if we spend some time, maybe half an hour, working on just this one line, then we have already cleared up quite a few questions and made the play (and the other plays) instantly a little easier to understand.
There is so much to be gained from slowing right down, facing the archaic words, meanings and constructions, and getting right up close to the text ourselves. What happens is we actually learn the language. And each lesson means that Shakespeare’s English becomes a little easier to understand, a little more like the English that we speak today. And, of course, not just Shakespeare’s English. If we improve our understanding of 17th Century English, we find that everything that has been written since, but that might not seem completely modern, also becomes easier. Magic! Well, almost…
If you’d like to know more about my Easier Shakespeare approach, contact me or read this post. And let me know if you have questions!
