"Shakespeare was so facile in employing words that he was able to use over 7,200 of them - more than occur in the whole King James version of the Bible - only once and never again."

- Louis Marder

"The limits of my language are the limits of my world."

- Ludwig Wittgenstein

In one sense, vocabulary is knowledge - because each word contains a concept. With the ability to name a concept, we can explore it further (and eventually, internalize it) by using comparison, contrast, definition, classification, causal analysis, illustration, etc. But if we can't name it, these processes become much more difficult to access. Shakespeare's awe-inspiring vocabulary has always been a point of contention among commentators, with some feeling that the verbal displays are not there for the right reasons. Others say that it is a barrier between the reader and the work.

My own take, you've probably guessed, is different. First of all, it's my belief that Shakespeare wrote with the intention of helping human beings to understand themselves, and to reach their potentials. And although this can't be proved (or disproved, actually), we can certainly choose to use his work that way, and I think we should. I'll write more on this in the days ahead, but today let's get back to vocabulary, and its role in reading.

Most reading experts say that we must recognize approximately 85% of the words in a text for it to be immediately understandable. But the key word here is "immediately", because Shakespeare provides everything else that could be useful in expanding our word recognition: context, logic, argument (it's important to remember that all the characters in a play are either trying to convince someone of something, or to accomplish something), story, and emotional content.

Let's look at two words from the excerpt in yesterday's post: 1. superflux - an archaic word (although it shouldn't be) that we may not recognize immediately, but with some thought we see its relation to the word "superfluous" and then it becomes clear. 2. physic - in this case, it's the sense in which it's used here that is no longer current - it means "medicine". And then of course, the word "physician" comes to mind. Shakespeare's plays are filled with opportunities like these, with which we can expand our worlds.