The Names of Shakespeare's Characters

[rex_yuan]

Knowning the proper pronunciations of the Characters' names is often very hard to those who study English literature as a second language. So it would be very helpful to list them here as a collection. For this is the problem I encounter now.

[rex_yuan]

Who can provde their pronunciation? Expeciaaly the stress.
The first collection--The Merchant of Venice:
The Duke of Venice
The Prince of Morocco
The Prince of Aragon
Antonio
Bassanio
Gratiano
Solanio
Salerio
Lorenzo
Shylock
Tubal
Launcelot Gobbo
Old Gobbo
Leonardo
Balthazar
Stephano
Portia
Nerissa
Jessica

[nome1486]

I'm not very good at writing out pronunciations, but I'll give some of the stresses for you:
Ant-on-i-o
Bas-san-i-o
Sol-an-i-o
Sal-er-i-o
Lo-ren-zo
Bal-tha-zar
Ner-iss-a

Someone else who knows more can correct me if I'm wrong and explain the exact pronunciations; hope that helps!

[rex_yuan]

A thousand thanks! And I hope others would add more lists.

[Sindhu]

Check out thise site- it should give you a fair idea of all Shakespeare's proper names

http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa031601a.htm

[rex_yuan]

I find the link extremely helpful, but the names are far from enough.

[suse]

Hi

The pronciation is not always obvious even to the English, as the names can be Anglocised versions of Italian etc. UK English accent emphasis is indicated by bold.


An-toe-nee-o
Bass-arr-nee-o
Gratz-ee-arr-no
Sol-arr-nee-o
Sal-e-air-ee-o
Lor-en-zo
Shy-lock
Tu-bal
Lornz-a-lot Gob-bo
Leo-nar-do
Bal-tha-zar
Steff-arr-no
Por-sha
Ner-is-sa
Jess-ee-car

hth
Sue