Shakespeare's Language

[Chester]

Here's something I've been wondering (a question for anybody): Would Shakespeare's style, in so far as plays go, work today? Not his language, per se. But his style of writing in romantic and flowery and witty and poetic ways. Surely people didn't talk that way back then in ordinary daily conversation. Yes, they recognized the language (it was their own), but the style was not common in daily usage, was it? Today we seem to require realism in our stage characters. We want them to speak the way we speak, we want the conversations to seem real. I'm trying to imagine if the equivalent of a Shakespearean style, even updated to modern, let's say American English, would be received by audiences that want realism, and not poetic, romantic dialogue.

[jgweed]

Well, many DID talk that way, one imagines, Chester---read for example some of Elizabeth's speeches before Parliament---and certainly an educated person of the time would have no problem understanding his style and language.
Coupled with Shakespeare's language is his profound handling of characters and motivations, and these seem as real today as they probably seemed to his audience. Not all plays need be "realistic" in the common sense; what about "Waiting for Godot"? And consider all the attempts to transpose Shakespeare's plays into modern dress or current situations (Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio, or even West Side Story).
And even today, one sees his plays performed all over the world (even in translations), so there must be some magic in them that speaks to us moderns.
Cheers,
John

[shakespeare87]

I am very good at recognizing the words in the works.