The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #83022   Message #1874036
Posted By: GUEST,Susan
01-Nov-06 - 02:21 PM
Thread Name: BS: Shakespeare plays in Elizabethan English
Subject: RE: BS: Shakespeare plays in Elizabethan English
I perform at an Elizabethan themed venue. The way I way taught, (by Ms Julie St.Germaine, among others) is that Elizabethans spoke in a manner very similar to what we think of a "Pirate" an "Hillbilly"

The actor (can't remember his name just now) who played Long John Silver in the 1930's Hollywood movie "Treasure Island" used the dialect from his tiny secluded hometown in England. Because the town was not a major trade center and the residents kept to themselves, the accent had not changed much since Elizabethan times. "Aye, be truth I tell ye"

Similarly, the Appalachian Mountains (in the US) were so secluded until the 1930's that the residents (who used to be called hillbillies) maintained the accent and manner of speach of the origional settlers from the 1600's.
"Whar be Jeramiah?" "He be o'er thar"

Austrailia was settled in the 1800's so the language is most similar to that time period.

HOW can we be sure how the accents sounded? Because there were no rules of grammer (or spelling) people wrote the way the words sounded to them. Try reading Shakespere like a pirate or hillbilly would. It works!! Rhymes that sounded contrived or "pushed" actually rhyme!

Read Elizabeth I's own writings (if you can)... she talked like a pirate!! Ain't that a kick?