‣

Duplicate this page before you start, and write your answers in your own copy.

🎭 1. Can you read Shakespeare?

Romeo and Juliet Extract 1 (Original)

Romeo and Juliet - extract 1 from Act 1 Scene 5.pdf

https://youtu.be/X7GhW2GF6ms?t=2259

Romeo and Juliet Extract 1 (Modern English version)

Romeo and Juliet - extract 1 in Modern English.pdf

Start with the original Shakespearean text.

✍️ Write here, on your own.

  1. Do you understand every word of that passage?

  2. Which words or phrases do you not understand?

  3. Which words do you recognise, but which seem to be used differently?

  4. What is the general meaning you can work out from the context?

Now look at the modern English version.

Key Vocabulary

Original Modern Equivalent Note
rapier sword Specific term replaced by general
antic face mask / grotesque costume Lost cultural context
portly dignified / respectable Meaning has shifted entirely
goodman boy young man (insult) Social context lost
fleer sneer / mock Word fallen out of use
solemnity celebration / festivity Meaning narrowed

✍️ Write here: is the modern version of this passage better or worse than Shakespeare's original? What criteria are you using to decide?

🧱 2. Layers of English