This weekend Shakespeare turns the big four-five-one. As the world gears up to celebrate this momentous occasion, I feel it is only right that we should reflect on the colossal way in which Shakespeare’s language is still with us. Yes, it may be true that the sword fighting, kingship and alchemy that take place in Shakespeare’s work are now a little removed from the lives of most of his readership. But that doesn’t mean he’s not pertinent in today’s world: Shakespeare’s language has influenced us far more than we may realise. (Title photo credit: Wikipedia)
I am sure some of you may be wondering how on earth Shakespeare’s language is still significant in a world perpetuated by ‘selfies’ and ‘OMGs’. But the fact is that whether or not you’ve read the works of Shakespeare, your speech is probably peppered with his idioms.
Here is just a flavour of some of the words Shakespeare coined:
‘Obscene’: Love’s Labour Lost (Act 1, Scene 1)
Ferdinand: ‘I did encounter/that obscene and preposterous event’
‘Premeditated’: King Henry VI, Part I (Act 3, Scene 1)
Bishop of Winchester: ‘Comest thou with deep premeditated lines’
‘Gossip’: The Comedy of Errors, (Act 5, Scene 1)
Duke Solinus: ‘With all my heart, I’ll gossip at this feast.’
And even:
‘Swagger’: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act 3, Scene 1)
Puck: ‘What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here/ So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
Yes, swagger really did make its first written debut’s in Shakespeare’s work, which means it is Shakespeare, not Justin Bieber, we have to thank for that infamous Cher Llloyd song…
If you’re staring at your screen in ‘amazement’[1] over the ‘countless’[2] words that Shakespeare invented that are still ‘fashionable’[3] in our society, it may just have ‘dawned’[4] on you that Shakespeare is still a modern day ‘champion’ [5].
If you’re still ‘in a pickle’[6] about how different the English language would be without Shakespeare, why not take a look at some of the phrases that also stem from The Bard himself:
‘All that glitters is not gold’ (The Merchant of Venice)
‘Be-all and the end-all’ (Macbeth)
‘Catch a cold’ (Cymbeline)
‘For goodness’ sake’ (Henry VIII)
‘Laughing stock’ (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
‘Melted into thin air’ (The Tempest)
For many more check out this BBC piece for Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.
Another way in which Shakespeare can be deemed responsible for shaping language is due to the revolutionary way in which he changed nouns to verbs and verbs to adjectives. He also connected words by adding prefixes such as ‘un’ and ‘arch’ to their beginnings, heralding words such as ‘uncomfortable’, which made its debut in Romeo and Juliet:
Capulet: ‘Despised, distressed, hated, martyr’d, kill’d! Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now to murder, murder our solemnity?’ (Act 4, Scene 5)
An estimated 1700 common words we use today are attributed to the works of Shakespeare. However, there has been much debate by critics as to whether Shakespeare actually invented these words. Some critics claim that Shakespeare was simply the first to write them down. The English language was not standardised until the seventeenth century, meaning there was no consistent approach to spelling or grammar before this period. This all changed when Samuel Johnson published his ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ in 1755. This was a revolutionary publication because it was the most in depth and well researched dictionary of its time, and in writing it Johnson heavily relied upon Shakespeare’s work to provide literary examples of English words. So Samuel Johnson also had a part in helping Shakespeare’s silken verse become ingrained in the English language.
Although the debate continues as to whether Shakespeare actually invented these words and phrases, what cannot be denied is that Shakespeare had a great hand in allowing the English language to become such a rich and vibrant dialect. His plays were the vessels which immortalised many of the words that we use today. So, let us commemorate Shakespeare’s birthday by celebrating the marvellous way in which he enriched the English language. One thing’s for sure, it would certainly be a ‘sorry sight’[7] without him!
[1] King John [2] Titus Andronicus [3] Troilus and Cressida [4] Henry V [5] Macbeth [6] The Tempest [7] Macbeth
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