Am I right in saying that the language used in Shakespear's plays was not the la

Question:

Am I right in saying that the language used in Shakespear's plays was not the language spoken at the time?

Didn't Shakespear write in pro's, what ever that is, and poetry. He used a much more flowery version of Enlish than would have been spoken by the common man. At the time many versions of English were spoken up and down the country, but non of them would have been like Shakespear. These old films that have everyone speaking Shakespearean are wrong.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You are perfectly correct in thinking that. He did tart it up a bit, cos he's writing poetry. All his plays are in iambic pentameter, which means there are 10 syllables per line (or there abouts). He also made up words (don't ask me which ones), most of which are still used today.