Englih in the tyme of William Shakepeare

-orEnglish in the time of William Shakespeare "Olde Moderne English"

Major differences in that time (second half of 1400's to 1650)
1. The letter <s> had two different forms: <s> and <> a <s> or 'short s' was at the end of a word Ex: armes, troubles, whips, hockes b <> or 'long s' was used everywhere else Ex: fleh, hockes, wiht/wih'd (=wished) 2. The letters <u> and <v> were not considered two different letters a <v> was used at the beginning of a word Ex: vnworthy, vnder, vs (=us, not versus) b <u> was used in other places Ex: loue, haue, troubles, reolution 3. A silent <e> was often added to the end of words. It was present in singular and plural forms. It had no grammatical or phonetic function Ex: dreame, leepe, scornes, lawes 2. A second <l> (L) was present at the end of adjectives ending with <l> Ex: naturall, mortall,

Olde Englishe Vocabularie

nobler: (adj) more honorable or moral consummation: (n) the state of being completed / finished rub: (n) a problem; e.g. "I (aye), there's the rub" (=there is the problem) scorn: (n) a display or feeling of hate orison / orizon: (n) a prayer

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act Three, Scene One 1 To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 5 And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep, No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; 10 To sleep, perchance to dream ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life. 15 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of disprized love, the laws delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 20 When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn 25 No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution 30 Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. Soft you now, The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered. 35

Most of Shakespeare's works, including Hamlet, were written in iambic pentameter. In this form, an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable; this is an iambic 'foot' (=small groups of syllables). 'Pentameter' describes the number of feet per line. "Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;" The underlined syllables are stressed. Why is wished written wish'd?