,
ADVANCED
ENGLISH
THEME:
4
Give thy thoughts no tongue
FUNCTION:
Learn about Early Middle English,
used by Shakespeare and other playwrights
Match the original text (left) to the modern text (right)
1.
I could be well moved if I were as you.
A
I was firm in ordering that Cimber be banished, and I
remain firm in that decision.
2.
If I could pray to move, prayers would move
me.
B
Yet out of all of them, I know only one who is
unassailable, who never moves from his position.
C
I could be convinced if I were like you.
D
So it is on earth.
E
The world is full of men, and men are flesh and
blood, and they are capable of reason.
F
The sky is filled with countless stars.
G
But I’m as immovable as the northern star, whose
stable and stationary quality has no equal in the sky.
3.
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
4.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks.
5.
They are all fire and every one doth shine,
But there’s but one in all doth hold his place.
6.
So in the world.
7.
'Tis furnished well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive,
H
8.
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshaked of motion.
To show you that it’s me, let me prove it a little even
in this case.
I
If I could beg others to change their minds, begging
would convince me, too.
And that I am he
Let me a little show it even in this:
J
They’re all made of fire, and each one shines. But
only one among all of them remains in a fixed
position.
9.
10. That I was constant Cimber should be banished,
And constant do remain to keep him so.
1. ____ 2. ____ 3. ____ 4. ____ 5. ____ 6. ____ 7. ____ 8. ____ 9. ____ 10. ____
--------------------Monologue By Edmund from “King Lear”
Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to th' creating a whole tribe of fops
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to th' legitimate. Fine word- 'legitimate'!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper.
©2017~2018 English Buffet
Activities
____________________________________________________
Comprehension Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What does Edmund worship and follow?
How much older is Edgar than Edmund?
Is Edmund fond of tradition and customs?
According to Edmund, why are bastards better than legitimate children?
What is Edmund going to do?
What do the following words mean:
moonshine, base, baseness, doth, tribe of fops, ‘tween, speed
Discussion Questions
____________________________________________________
1.
2.
Have you ever read or seen a Shakespeare play?
What are the benefits to learning an older form of a language?
Why do Japanese people study 古文？
©2017~2018 English Buffet
Modern Translation of Edmund’s Monologue:
I only worship what’s natural, not what’s manmade. Why should I let myself be tortured by manmade social
customs that deprive me of my rights simply because I was born twelve or fourteen months later than my
older brother? Why do they call me “bastard” and “lowlife” when I’m just as gifted in mind and body as
legitimate children? Why do they call us bastards “lowlifes”? Always “lowlife,” “bastard,” “lowlife,”
“lowlife.” At least we bastards were conceived in a moment of passionate lust rather than in a dull, tired
marriage bed, where half-sleeping parents monotonously churn out a bunch of sissy kids. All right then,
legitimate brother Edgar, I have to have your lands. Our father loves me just as much as the legitimate Edgar.
What a nice word that is, “legitimate”! Well, my legitimate Edgar, if this letter works and my plan succeeds,
Edmund the lowlife will beat the legitimate.
©2017~2018 English Buffet