Figuring out what a person is doing (promising, threatening, complaining, joking) is as important as figuring out what he/she is saying. If a sentence is difficult, drop out modifiers and read the subject-verb-object to get the gist. Fill out contractions (in for i’ and of for o’). Substitute you for thou and know for knowst.

Some of Shakespeare's sentences are not in what we would consider "normal" order. Exs: "Ate the sandwich I" instead of "I ate the sandwich" and "Peculiar was the thief" instead of "The thief was peculiar." Rearrange the following as if you were speaking the lines in everyday conversation. (It will help you, as a first step, to drop out all modifiers and get the subject-verb-object in natural order by themselves.)

1. Lucio in MM explains to Isabella that the Duke's office is being temporarily filled by a deputy:

Upon his place,

And with full line of his authority,

Governs Lord Angelo, a man whose blood

Is very snow-broth. . .

2. After Hamlet promises to take revenge, his murdered father's ghost says,

I find thee apt

And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed

That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,

Wouldst thou not stir in this.

INTERRUPTED PHRASES (you are still rearranging the sentence)

3. The Ghost of Hamlet's murdered father tells Hamlet that the king has deceived everyone into thinking his death natural:

So the whole ear of Denmark

Is by a forged process of my death

Rankly abused.

4. Macbeth, convinced by the witches that he leads a charmed life, tells Macduff that he does not fear his sword:

As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air

With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed.

OMISSIONS IN PHRASES (now you are also putting in what is implied but left out)

5. When Olivia hears that the count, who has been plaguing her with unwanted romantic attention, is at her door, she tells Malvolio to get rid of him:

If it be a suit from the Count, I am sick, or not at home.

What you will, to dismiss it.

6. When Anthony meets the conspirators in JC after they have killed Caesar, he tells them he, too, is willing to die by their hands:

Live a thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to die;

No place will please me so, no mean of death,

As here by Caesar, and by you cut off. . .

ODD CONNECTIVES (Shakespeare uses connectives we consider odd; substitute or add the connective we would choose nowadays)

7. AN or AND (we would use if): Sir Andrew, after finding out that the man he has challenged to a duel is not a wimp but rather a fighter, says

Plague on't, and I thought he had been valiant, and so

cunning in fence, I'd have seen him damn'd ere I'd have

challeng'd him.

8. BUT ("if" + neg.): In response to Iago's warning that the duke will be angry about Othello's marriage, Othello says,

. . .Let him do his spite.

My services which I have done the Signiory

Shall out-tongue his complaints. . . .For know, Iago,

But that I love the gentle Desdemona,

I would not my unhoused free condition

Put into circumscription and confine

For the seas worth.

9. "FOR"(= because): In response to Iago's statement that Othello knows he is a trustworthy friend who loves him, Othello says,

. . .I think thou dost;

And, for I know thou'rt full of love and honesty

And weighn'st thy word before thou giv'st them breath,

Therefore these stops [pauses] of thine fright me the more

10. "WERE" (= even if): Iago has told Othello that his wife has been "topped" by Cassio and Othello has bellowed that he wants evidence. Iago says, evidence is difficult to come by:

It is impossible you should see this,

Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys

11. READING ALOUD (using your ear to get a sense of the meaning):

Read aloud your rearranged version of Passage #1 as if you were speaking the lines in everyday conversation. Then read aloud the original, emphasizing the same words you did in the everyday version. Follow the same procedure for all of the 10 passages (reading aloud first the version and then the original).

QUESTIONS AND NEGATIVES:

How would you phrase the negative of the sentence "My sister likes turnips"? In Shakespeare's day, it would be "My sister likes not turnips." The yes/no question might well be "Likes my sister turnips?"

Find an example of a Shakespearian negative and a Shakespearian question. Put each into modern form.

VOCABULARY: Keep a list of seemingly familiar words that don't seem to have the same meaning (along with page and line number). Exs: proper, wanton, nice, discover, gentle, present, closet.