Punctuation and its dramatic value in Shakespearean drama

About this book

Although punctuation is primarily used in the twentieth century to mark and clarify syntax, it functioned primarily to mark oral delivery in Elizabethan England. In this book, author Anthony Graham-White explores the uses of punctuation by Shakespeare, his predecessors, and his contemporaries. It suggests that, in those plays where it is used expressively, punctuation helps us to find the rhythm of a speech or scene and may sometimes suggest insights into a character. The search for expressive meaning in Elizabethan punctuation is complicated by several factors. First, punctuation was rapidly changing, so any search for one system of punctuation is chimerical. Second, playwrights' punctuation marks themselves, despite being visually familiar to us, often functioned differently than they do today. Third, most Elizabethan plays survive in printed copies; playwrights usually had no involvement in their printing, and one of the printer's editorial functions was to update the punctuation. Even if we find it expressive, we can only infer that its dramatic pointing is that of the author.