APPENDIX III. Thou and You. "THOU," says Dr. Abbott, "in Shakespeare's time was very much like du now among the Germans, the pronoun of (1) affection towards friends, (2) good-humoured superiority to servants, and (3) contempt or anger to strangers." (Sh. G. 231.) But it must be remembered that Shakespeare could and did employ you in all these senses. The general rule seems to be that thou is used rather than you in heightened passages, whether they be whole scenes or short intervals. Thus Brutus and Cassius address each other as you throughout the play, except in Cassius' passionate speech "When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him better Than ever thou lovedst Cassius." (iv. 3. 92.) And in their talk before the battle, where Brutus says"Think not, thou noble Roman, That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome." (v. I. 110.) Hence thou is used in invocations "O grief, where hast thou led me?" (i. 3. 111.) "O conspiracy, sham'st thou to show. . ." (ii. I. 77.) 66 I killed not thee with half so good a will." (v. 5. 50.) "I thank thee, Brutus, That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true." (v. 5. 59.) Brutus usually says you to his boy Lucius; but in ii. 1. 231, finding him asleep, he uses thou- "Thou hast no figures and no fantasies," &c. ; and again in iv. 3, where he is much moved. Very often thou and you are both employed in the same scene, the change of pronoun marking some change of feeling. In i. 2. Cæsar has been speaking more or less familiarly to Antony and Calpurnia as you; but when the Soothsayer calls, the situation is at once raised, and he uses thou. In iii. I. we have no thou until Cæsar has said, "Are we all ready?" and then thou is used up to the "Et tu, Brute." In the scene between Brutus and Portia (ii. 1. 234) you is the pronoun throughout, until just at the end, when, moved by Portia's bravery, he rises to thou. (306.) In iii. Antony begins by addressing Octavius' servant as you, but when he weeps changes to thou, closing the scene with, "Lend me your hand." In v. I. 18 the single thou in the dialogue between Octavius and Antony represents the sudden touch of hauteur. In v. 5 Brutus has addressed Dardanius, Clitus, and Volumnius as thou; then he employs you to them in order to single out Strato more emphatically by the thee. Sometimes, when the note of a speech has been struck by the thou, you, being the more convenient pronoun, follows; e.g. "Give me thy hand, Messala: Be thou my witness that against my will, You know," &c. (v. I. 73.) This may explain ii. 3. 8, 'If thou beest not immortal, look about you.' Cf. Measure for Measure, i. I. 28, 52. The student cannot do better than follow carefully the changes in the scene between Claudio and Isabella. (Measure for Measure, iii. 1. 53-151.) |