Dude! I only speak English!
I found that in Love's Labour's Lost Act Five Shakespeare used a lot of Latin, at least I think it was Latin, which I can't understand (obviously). So my question is this: did Shakespeare's original audience understand this? It is true that nowadays in Europe everyone seems to know more that one language while in the U.S. we're kind of exclusive. Knowing more than one language helps people understand each other and learn about the world more. That is why we're encouraged to take a language at BYU, right? So we can have a more rounded and full education and know that we are different from others and we shouldn't be prideful about it or ignorant of it.
In reading more of Shakespeare I feel like I'm learning more about him as a writer. It is so cool, too! I am also seeing a little bit into his personality and attitude and what he thought about. This is due to his excellence in writing with a unique voice. It has been mentioned innumerable times on blogs and in class that the stories Shakespeare wrote were not original but he took them and made them his own. This comes from having a good, developed voice. Voice is how you write; it's putting yourself into your writing. And one charming part of Shakespeare is his voice (in my opinion).
Bringing this to a personal level I'd like to say that I have a hard time expressing myself. I know that I'm an introverted person so I am always afraid of using my best voice in my writing. Often I have the topic of writing voice on my mind. If you wanted to know more about me I really like to read. The best part about reading is that if the writing is well written you can't tell that the voice is there because you are so focused on the story. This means there is a good voice. The story comes alive through feelings rather than words; showing rather than telling. And now my blog post has totally run away from me, leaving a mile-long line of unraveled yarn behind it.
Back To Shakespeare:
He wrote to his audience, right? I mean, he was a good writer so he obviously had his audience in mind when he wrote. So whether or not his audience understood this other language added to his overall effect and was deliberate.
In reading more of Shakespeare I feel like I'm learning more about him as a writer. It is so cool, too! I am also seeing a little bit into his personality and attitude and what he thought about. This is due to his excellence in writing with a unique voice. It has been mentioned innumerable times on blogs and in class that the stories Shakespeare wrote were not original but he took them and made them his own. This comes from having a good, developed voice. Voice is how you write; it's putting yourself into your writing. And one charming part of Shakespeare is his voice (in my opinion).
Bringing this to a personal level I'd like to say that I have a hard time expressing myself. I know that I'm an introverted person so I am always afraid of using my best voice in my writing. Often I have the topic of writing voice on my mind. If you wanted to know more about me I really like to read. The best part about reading is that if the writing is well written you can't tell that the voice is there because you are so focused on the story. This means there is a good voice. The story comes alive through feelings rather than words; showing rather than telling. And now my blog post has totally run away from me, leaving a mile-long line of unraveled yarn behind it.
I think that it's possible that some of Shakespeare's audience knew Latin. Latin is the basis of many European languages and was kind of a common-speak at one point. Then the language got broken up by region and we got things like Spanish and Italian, etc. So I think it would have been easy for at least the higher class people understand what was being said to at least some extent. The groundlings... maybe not so much.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, Love's Labour's Lost was written for a higher-class audience than most of Shakespeare's other comedies. The people in these sorts of audiences would have been very well educated, and Latin was a large part of a well-rounded Elizabethan education.
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