Hey all! This week, we will be discussing the quartos and folios of good 'ole William Shakespeare. For those who don't know, the quartos were early texts of Shakespeare's works that were often created by audience members who copied the plays while watching (which made them more than a little unreliable...). Shakespeare's First Folio was a set of 36 plays by Shakespeare compiled by comparing and correcting quartos; the folios are usually considered to be a more accurate depiction of the plays.
Here's links to a quarto and folio version of Shakespeare's Othello:
Quarto
Folio
I noticed that in both the quarto and folio, the first word of the next page is copied in the bottom right hand corner of the pages. Since the plays were performed, I believe that this was done so that actors could read seamlessly while turning pages. Interestingly enough, I came to this conclusion due to my experience in music; my piano teacher often asks me to tape a copy of the first line of the next page at the bottom of my pages.
Also, as Mr. Lindner has told us, a lot of the oaths are omitted in the folios, although they're present in the quartos. I think that this is probably because the folios would have been typically considered as a more sophisticated and comprehensive collection of Shakespeare's works and would need to be "respectable" (read: no g*sh d*rn cursing) compared to the super sketchy quartos -- which were already kind of illegal already.
Lastly, just reading over the plays, I'm surprised at how different the words look; they're still recognizable, especially if you read them out loud, but they don't really look similar to our modern-day English versions. On one hand, English has changed a lot since Shakespeare's time, but I also wonder if the plays are written more phonetically in order to also convey accents and other speaking tics.
Here's links to a quarto and folio version of Shakespeare's Othello:
Quarto
Folio
I noticed that in both the quarto and folio, the first word of the next page is copied in the bottom right hand corner of the pages. Since the plays were performed, I believe that this was done so that actors could read seamlessly while turning pages. Interestingly enough, I came to this conclusion due to my experience in music; my piano teacher often asks me to tape a copy of the first line of the next page at the bottom of my pages.
Also, as Mr. Lindner has told us, a lot of the oaths are omitted in the folios, although they're present in the quartos. I think that this is probably because the folios would have been typically considered as a more sophisticated and comprehensive collection of Shakespeare's works and would need to be "respectable" (read: no g*sh d*rn cursing) compared to the super sketchy quartos -- which were already kind of illegal already.
Lastly, just reading over the plays, I'm surprised at how different the words look; they're still recognizable, especially if you read them out loud, but they don't really look similar to our modern-day English versions. On one hand, English has changed a lot since Shakespeare's time, but I also wonder if the plays are written more phonetically in order to also convey accents and other speaking tics.