Shakespeare Translated Into Modern English? Would You Attend?

Noted linguist John McWhorter writes in the Wall Street Journal that The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will soon announce that it has commissioned translations of all 39 of William Shakespeare's plays into modern English.

McWhorter notes, 'Shakespeare's English is so far removed from the English of 2015 that it often interferes with our own comprehension," and gives several examples.

"In HAMLET, when Polonius famously advises Laertes to 'neither a borrower nor a lender be,' much of what he says before that point reaches our modern ears in a fragmentary state at best. In the lines, 'These few precepts in thy memory / Look thou character,' look means 'make sure that,' and character is a verb, meaning 'to write.' Polonius is telling Laertes, in short, 'Note these things well.'"

"He goes on to say: 'Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment,' which seems to mean that you should let other people criticize you but refrain from judging them-strange advice. But by 'take censure' Shakespeare meant 'evaluate,' so that Polonius is really saying 'assess' other men but don't jump to conclusions about them."

The project is expected to be completed in three years.

What do you think? Would you attend a performance of HAMLET or ROMEO AND JULIET using a translation prepared for a 21st Century ear? At least it would be clear that Juliet isn't asking where Romeo is when she asks "Wherefore art thou?"