In his review article, “Knowing When to Stop: Investigating the Nature of Punctuation,” (Language and Communication 13(1), 1993, pp. 27-43), Paul Bruthiaux emphasizes the oral element of punctuation from the time of Caxton forward to the Elizabethans.
English sources . . . seem to assume reading aloud, and stress the importance of seeing the marks as indicators of length of pauses, esential as they were, in an age of drama, poetry, and oratory, to the effective declamation of text to an audience dependent on the observance of rhetorical conventions. . . . the rhythmical element was the more distinctive aspect of Elizabethan punctuatioon and often took precedence over the grammatical. . . [related] to the need to breathe.
A connection is made between musical theory and the role of punctuation in “declamatory reading.” So, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Quince’s Prologue speech is compared to a child tootling on a recorder without knowledge of music:
Enter QUINCE for the Prologue
Prologue
If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to contest you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight
We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand and by their show
You shall know all that you are like to know.THESEUS
This fellow doth not stand upon points.LYSANDER
He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
enough to speak, but to speak true.HIPPOLYTA
Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child
on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.THESEUS
His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing
impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?
An excellent explanation of how Shakespeare used mispunctuation can be found at this blog, Quince’s Prologue:
Shakespeare punctuated Quince’s Prologue, in Midsummer Night’s Dream, incorrectly in order to make it comical. As a result, the meaning of what Quince says is very different from what he intends to say. This shows just how much those little marks matter!
For example,
If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Should read:
If we offend, it is with our good will
That you should think we come, not to offend,
But with good will to show our simple skill:
That is the true beginning of our end.
So it is all about knowing when to stop.
