An examination of Shakespeare's use of colloquial language. Although we cannot be sure of how Shakespeare used himself used the language of his time we can look at his contemporaries

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Gillian Tansey

An examination of Shakespeare's use of colloquial language.

Although we cannot be sure of how Shakespeare used himself used the language of his time we can look at his contemporaries to get ideas and draw some conclusions about how Shakespeare spoke and how he used language during his lifetime and in the plays he wrote. The language in Shakespeare's plays varies dramatically as ha has so many different styles of writing; his tragedies obviously differ from his comedy plays and history plays differ from his poems and sonnets. The use of colloquial language and swearing appear throughout the plays. Because language has changed so much over time, as modern day readers of the plays we do not recognise the colloquial language used as we speak using colloquial language on a day-to-day basis so it is seen as normal in modern day English. With this in mind we often overlook Shakespeare's use of jokes and slang and moments in plays that would have been considered amusing or rude to an audience of Shakespeare's time. For example HC Wyld, in A History of Modern Colloquial English ( 1953) quotes be Salmon, says:

We should not know how to greet or take leave of those we met, how to express our thanks in a subtle manner, how to ask for a favour, pay a compliment, or send a polite message to a gentleman's wife..We should hesitate every minute how to address the person we are talking to.

(Salmon & Burgess. 1987. P38)

Another use of colloquial language is how people greet each other and addressed each other. It has changed dramatically from how we greet and address each other in modern day English. One of the biggest differences of the language is how Shakespeare communicates to his audience and how we do it now. In this essay I will examine how colloquial language is used in Shakespeare's works and how we use it now.

The plays that have colloquial language in them are the typically low life scenes, as in the comedy play Merry Wives of Windsor, and the histories Henry IV parts one and two, and Henry V "They show Elizabethans carousing in taverns in London and Windsor, entertaining in a Gloucestershire garden, gossiping in houses,...In all of these scenes, Elizabethan society comes to life as it never does in the contemporary grammars and phrase books..."(Salmon & Burness. 1987.p38). However, as there are many low life scenes in Shakespeare's other plays it can occur quite frequently if it is appropriate. For example in the tragedy Titus Andronicus, Aaron is perhaps one of the first Shakespearean characters to use deliberate colloquialisms. Aaron is fond of racy epithets, as when he describes Tamora's two sons who ravishes Lavinia:

That codding spirit had they from their mother,

As sure a card as ever won the set.

That bloody mind, I think, they learned of me,

As true a dog as ever fought at head.

(TA V.I.98-101)

(Hussey, 1982. P49)

There are a number of colloquialisms that are used in Shakespeare's plays such as 'twere, by the way, by no means, etc.., or so and in particular the parentheses (as 'therein anger, for a turn ot two, for that's most genteel, of your mother's making) However, probably the most common colloquialisms that are used are the kinds of ritual forms that people use to greet and say goodbye to each other, and forms of address. Examples include, How now, Well met, Welcome. These are all used for greeting and have different forms of response 'How now' can be returned, answered by another form of not returned at all for example in the play Merry Wives of Windsor, act 2: Scene 1:line 174-175.
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Page: How now, mine host!

Host: How now, bully rook!

'Well met' is the same as 'How now'. An example of this can be found in Henry V Act 2: scene 1: line 1-2.

BARDOLPH: Well met, Corporal Nym.

NYM: Good Morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph.

'Welcome' is also used the same as 'How now' and 'Well met' an example of this greeting is in Henry IV part 2, act 3:scene 2:line83-85:

SHALLOW: Welcome, good Sir John.

FALSTAFF: I am glad to see you well.

Friends and equals use the latter two ...

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