Text Variations
First Folio Text
As two spent Swimmers, that doe cling together,
And choake their Art: The mercilesse Macdonwald
(Worthie to be a Rebell, for to that
The multiplying Villanies of Nature
Doe swarme vpon him) from the Westerne Isles
Of Kernes and Gallowgrosses is supply'd,
Common Text
Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald--
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
The single most important thing to remember about the texts for Shakespeare's plays is that no manuscripts exist that were written by Shakespeare not any books of the plays that he supervised: all of the texts, including the First Folio have been heavily censored, edited, poorly type set in places, and much more more.
Currently two different versions of the plays; text are available and can be displayed in either column, singly or in combination with the other variations and information.
First Folio Text is very close to the original text printed in the First Folio over four-hundred years ago. There are a few changes such as the Old English letter 'æ' has been separated into 'a' and 'e' because many modern word processors and especially Internet search engines have problems displaying and finding the old style. And places in the text where the typesetter ran out of w's and so used two v's instead have been entered as the original w. But misspellings, syntax, line breaks and almost everything else is exactly the same as it first appeared in the original source documents. (But remember that when there is more than one primary text they may not agree.)The original text for most of the extant plays are based on this First Folio, published in 1623 seven years after Shakespeare's death. The source for other plays is noted in the play notes but is often refereed to as First Folio for simplicity.
Common Text is the variation of the original (First Folio) text that is present on most websites and used in most of the books of plays that are not designed for use by rabid scholars, demanding dramaturges, and serious - if not obsessive - actors. These renderings have corrected the source texts by changing syntax, punctuation and even words and phrases to make the text more as the authors believe Shakespeare intended the plays to be written. Fortunately KickAss Shakespeare also presents the original primary texts side-by-side with these corrected versions so that you can compare and decide for yourself if you wish.
But for readers new to Shakespeare the original syntax and punctuation, which follows far different conventions than today's writing (and sometimes follows no rules or conventions at all) can make reading Shakespeare for the first (and even second and third) time agonizingly slow and difficult.
The important thing to remember is that no manuscripts exist that were written by Shakespeare nor any books of the plays that he supervised: all of the play texts, including the First Folio have been heavily censored, edited, poorly typeset in places, and much more more. And different editions - even those published in Bill's lifetime - can vary wildly not only in punctuation and phrasing but also in content.
Spelling: Elizabethan to Modern: While spelling was much more flexible in Shakespeare's time there are some general differences that generally apply, generally. Those are noted here:
- .'I' can be used instead of a 'J' to start a capitalized word: Iudgement, Ioyes.
- 'j' can replace 'i' in the middle of some words: worthyest.
- 'y' sometimes replaces a mid-word 'i': Neyther, leysure.
- Many words have an added 'e' or even 'es' at the end: Againe, Darknesse, newes.
- Possessives are sometimes formed by adding an 'es' instead of the modern apostrophe 's'
- Plurals are sometime formed with an apostrophe 's' instead of 'es'.
- 'll' sometimes replace a single 'l' at the end of a word: Capitall
Isn't life fun?!