Introduction to Shakespearean Language
Name: ________________ Class: _____ Date: ____________________ ELA 8 – Introduction to Shakespearean Language Why do we cringe when we often hear Shakespeare? Well, if you ask me, it’s often because of his words. All those “thou”, “thines”, “wherefore”; yet, why is he so popular? It’s because of Shakespeare’s words Shakespeare does use a lot of words in his plays and one of his best accomplishments was his use of insults. They would unify the entire audience, and no matter where you sat, you could laugh at what was going on stage. Words, especially dialogue in a dramatic setting, were used to set mood of the scene, to give more atmosphere to the scene and to develop relationships. Insults developed this in a sharp and short way. To start off, consider the following: What does the word “insult” mean? Why do people use insults? In the TED-Ed video, we had examples of insults and their meanings from Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Now it’s your turn to have a little fun with Shakespearean insults! Activity #1: Creating Your Very Own Shakespearean Insults Instructions: With a partner, using the chart below, create 5 of your very own Shakespearean insults. You must provide a translation into modern day English as well. Link to find the meanings of some Shakespearean language • http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-dictionary.htm Shakespeare Insult List Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "Thou": Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 artless bawdy beslubbering bootless churlish Column 1 base-court apple-john bat-fowling baggage beef-witted barnacle beetle-headed bladder boil-brained boar-pig Column 2 Column 3 cockered clouted craven currish dankish dissembling droning errant fawning fobbing froward frothy gleeking goatish gorbellied impertinent infectious jarring loggerheaded lumpish mammering mangled mewling paunchy pribbling puking puny qualling rank reeky roguish ruttish saucy clapper-clawed bugbear clay-brained bum-bailey common-kissing canker-blossom crook-pated clack-dish dismal-dreaming clotpole dizzy-eyed coxcomb doghearted codpiece dread-bolted death-token earth-vexing dewberry elf-skinned flap-dragon fat-kidneyed flax-wench fen-sucked flirt-gill flap-mouthed foot-licker fly-bitten fustilarian folly-fallen giglet fool-born gudgeon full-gorged haggard guts-griping harpy half-faced hedge-pig hasty-witted horn-beast hedge-born hugger-mugger hell-hated joithead idle-headed lewdster ill-breeding lout ill-nurtured maggot-pie knotty-pated malt-worm milk-livered mammet motley-minded measle onion-eyed minnow plume-plucked miscreant pottle-deep moldwarp pox-marked mumble-news reeling-ripe nut-hook spleeny spongy surly tottering unmuzzled vain venomed villainous warped wayward weedy yeasty rough-hewn pigeon-egg rude-growing pignut rump-fed puttock shard-borne pumpion sheep-biting ratsbane spur-galled scut swag-bellied skainsmate tardy-gaited strumpet tickle-brained varlot toad-spotted vassal unchin-snouted whey-face weather-bitten wagtail Your Shakespearean insults & their modern day meanings: Insult #1: ___________________________________________________________________________ Modern day meaning: __________________________________________________________________________ Insult #2: ___________________________________________________________________________ Modern day meaning: __________________________________________________________________________ Insult #3: ___________________________________________________________________________ Modern day meaning: __________________________________________________________________________ Insult #4: ___________________________________________________________________________ Modern day meaning: __________________________________________________________________________ Insult #5: ___________________________________________________________________________ Modern day meaning: __________________________________________________________________________ Activity #2: Arguing Shakespeare’s Way Instructions: Shakespeare had a fantastic ability to include very humourous insults in his plays. You will be exploring his use of these insults in the following activity. With a partner, create a scripted scene in which the actors/actresses are having an argument. This is a verbal argument and the focus should not be on the physical aspects of the scene. To start off your script, ensure that: you have a title for your scene as well as a short description of the action that will be happening during your scene your insults actually make sense (this might mean doing a little research ahead of time to ensure that your insults actually translate into what you want it to mean) share your script on Google docs with your teacher Title: __________________________________________________ Setting: ________________________________________________ Short description of action: ______________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________
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