The sentences following that stop cease to elucidate on that thought.
#Folio meaning shakespeare full
You could go through 10 lines of text without ever encountering a full stop, because once you’ve hit one, you’ve reached the end of a road. A full stop indicates the end of a complete thought, and lines of thought in Shakespeare can be long and complicated. The full stops (periods, question marks, and exclamation points) serve the same function in both our time and Shakespeare’s, the difference is the frequency with which they’re used. Pseudo-period, semi-full stop, favorite of English majors, grad students, and JK RowlingĬontinuation of already stated idea, explanation The Elizabethans used each punctuation mark employed by the English language in a rather different (but not entirely unrelated) way from the way we use them today. Understand where the punctuation is pointing you and you’ve got the framework of your text. At the time, punctuation was more of an art than a science, and Shakespeare, Shakespeare was an artist. Nobody had gotten together to write the Handbook on when to use MLA, when to use APA, or what the heck a semicolon actually does. Let’s all just take a moment to be grateful we aren’t living in Elizabethan England: punctuation was even worse, because there was no standardization.
#Folio meaning shakespeare series
So, part 1 of our “Why the Folio?” series begins with a segment I like to call, “WTF Punctuation?”Īnybody who has suffered through high school English knows that punctuation is annoying and omnipresent. There’s so much punctuation, and it doesn’t seem to be used consistently or correctly. The road signs start with punctuation – it’s where actors start mapping a pathway through the text, it’s what editors take their red pens to first, and it’s how readers get tripped up when looking at the Folio. Modern editions dilute all those cool road signs Shakespeare put in the words to guide the actor. We use the Folio because it is a primary text. Shakespeare’s actors didn’t get many rehearsals and Shakespeare didn’t write stage directions, but they didn’t need them. Every punctuation mark is a clue, an invitation to a choice, a change in tone. Shakespeare is telling the actor something when the verse rhymes (or when it seems it ought to), when the rhythm falters (or when it holds strong), when words repeat, when assonance appears, or when alliteration shows up, etc. The pathways for finding interpretive choices are in the verse. Thankfully, Shakespeare gave us a map: the verse. This is by no means an easy feat, even if the plays in question hadn’t been written 400 years ago. You need a roadmap for making interpretive choices you have to delve into the text and find not just understanding and comprehension but the human experience as well. But if you want to perform Shakespeare, then you have no need of definitions and notations (that’s what dictionaries and the internet are for). If you’re in the classroom or curled up in your bed reading Shakespeare (which we all do, right?), then by all means pick up the Arden edition and enjoy. Modern editions of Shakespeare are full of nifty things – definitions of arcane words, translations of outdated phrases, notations by editors, introductions and essays by very smart people. So, without any further ado, here’s Part 1! This is a 4-part series explaining why the original Folio makes a great rehearsal text. Here is some work I did for NYU Gallatin’s current production of Measure for Measure. You can find it on their blog, at /m4m, under “Mapping the Text.” It can also be found on the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival’s website, at .
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