“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Is it not the most curious thing, that while Shakespeare and I share the same language, it sounds as if we speak different tongues entirely? It's as if the English language had its hay-day many hundreds of years ago, and today we babble the skeleton, the outline, of a once beautiful and archaic language. Even those most well versed in the English language could not hope to speak a thread of Shakespearean language without intense, focused thought. Each word, each pause, used to hold as much meaning as the statement itself, and today, we choose the shortest, the tersest words, to convey our point in the most basic, understandable way possible. It's quite a sad sight to watch such a regal language tumble into muck and disunity, especially so in the texting age.
Indeed, the fall of the archaic age of English is a tragedy within itself. It is dead in the tongues of people, however not dead in the words of Shakespearean text. I believe that is what makes it most beautiful of all: the fact that it is no longer used by people today, yet still revered as a majestic way of speaking. One thing's for certain, archaic English such as that seen in Shakespeare's plays remains immortal as long as people continue to read it. After all, if it were dead, people would not understand a single word spoken out of the text.
ReplyDelete'Tis a travesty indeed.
ReplyDelete