Decoding Shakespeare ↡␥⌿⍥⍫⍩⍲⎓⍾⍡⍉

~The following is in the acknowledgements from The First Folio of Shakespeare ~1623 written by Ben Johnson ~

To the Reader.
This Figure, that thou here feeft put,
It was for gentla Shakefpeare cut;__________________Shakespeare
Wherein the Grauer had a ftrife _____________________graver strife
with Nature, to out-doo the life;
O, could he but haue dravvne his wit___________ have drawn
As well in braffe, as he hath hit
His face; the Print would then furpaffe____________surpass
All, that vvas euer vvrit in braffe.___________________ was ever writ
But, fince he cannot, Reader, looke__________________since
Not on his Picture, But his Booke.
_______________________~B.I.__________________ B.J.
~Letters~
‘s’ is also ‘f ’ in some cases
‘w’ is also ‘vv’ in some cases
‘v’ is also ‘u’ in some cases (and vise-versa)
‘j’ was also ‘i’ in some cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~writing technique~
After some words there is an ‘e’ (marke, foule, leafe, minde)
Punctuation is somewhat “off”
Words are uppercase at “random”
There are sometimes “O”s
There are sometimes double constanents (royall, starres, jewell, mallice, dogge)


~What we can learn from this~
1) Letters and words were still being developed at the time
2) Elogenate the vowel before a double constanent
3) E’s after words ment enphisis at the end of the word
4) Uppercase ment to put extra stress on the word
5) Punctuation indicated various things... change in thought, pauses, when you can take a breath and how long of a breath you can take!
6) “O” is not ‘oh’ but indicates that the actor should make a BIG, unually emotional, sound

~In the end~

In many cases Shakespeare wrote how he wanted his actors to actout the play. as in the way it sounds, when to stop and think, when to do a action, ect.