I'm sure you're aware that Shakespeare's English and our modern English
have a lot of differences; "thee", "thou", "wherefore", etc.
There are plenty of words that Shakespeare used that we don't use
anymore, but there are others that have lasted 400 years, and have
evolved over that time... kind of like how "literally" can also now mean "figuratively". No matter how you feel about it, languages change and evolve over time.
Today,
we're going to look at one such word: doubt. To us, this word commonly
means "to hesitate to believe". Back in Shakespeare's day, doubt had
another meaning: "to fear, or be apprehensive about, suspect", as well as the meaning that has endured to modern day.
Take this line from Hamlet, Act I, Scene 2:
My father's spirit - in arms! All is not well,
I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come!
Till then, sit still my soul. Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them to men's eyes.
When
Hamlet says "I doubt some foul play", we need to think critically about
which definition of doubt he means. I think an easy way to do this is
to replace the word "doubt" with the word "fear", and see if it makes
sense:
My father's spirit - in arms! All is not well,
I fear some foul play. Would the night were come!
Then try the same line with "don't believe" in place of "doubt":
My father's spirit - in arms! All is not well,
I don't believe some foul play. Would the night were come!
The
"fear" version makes sense, where as "don't believe" doesn't, so now we
know that Hamlet is worried that something bad is going on, and can't
wait to see for himself what's going on and if the ghost will come back tonight.
Next time you see "doubt" in your lines, you can quickly determine which definition is intended, and you'll be sure to impress!
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your first session!
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