#shakespeare explained

[cheshirelibrary]

It’s rhetorical, Romeo.

[via goodticklebrain.com]

[hamratiotp]

I just finished reading ‘Shakespeare On Toast’ by Ben Crystal and oh my gosh I loved this book! I wish I’d read it before my GCSEs, since I now have a much better understanding of how the plays were written and why certain things are as they are.

Did you know that ‘thou’ and 'you’ in Shakespeare are like tu and vous in French (informal and formal/plural)? Knowing this, you can pick up on meaningful subtleties, because when a character switches 'thou’ to 'you’ or vice versa it always means something. For example, Lady Macbeth never uses 'thou’ to her husband again after he tries to persuade her that they shouldn’t kill Duncan.

Interesting, huh?