For All You Messmer Writers/artists Fighting With His Shakespearean Speech: This Guide Is Straightforward

For all you Messmer writers/artists fighting with his Shakespearean speech: this guide is straightforward and has multiple parts if you click around. Here’s a small chart with terms of address, examples of word order/basic questions, and some verbs.

Here’s a simple explanation of “-eth” and “-est” verb endings.

Ranni and several other characters also speak this way or in a similar fashion. Something to note is that “you” was used by lower-ranking people to address those of a higher rank/status, and “thou/thee” by higher-ranking people to address those of a lower rank/status. Alternatively, nobles used “you” amongst themselves, which adds some flavor to dialogue.

A lot of Shakespearean dialogue is meant to showcase how performative and ridiculous the nobility or upper-classes were during his time (and still is nothing changed lmao). There are tons of Shakespearean dictionaries as well; a lot of words we use today meant something entirely different then, or had different contextual interpretations. It’s meant to sound flowery and has a particular cadence that I recommend listening to as well. Find a good reading on YouTube and really listen to how the words fit against each other. No, you don’t have to write in metered verse (sweats in iambic pentameter) or rhymed prose, but it helps develop dialogue that flows and feels more natural when you can imagine how it sounds as you write.

Here’s a glossary. Have fun with it, don’t let it roll you. Weak foe ahead.