Shakespeare: Thou and You

Many wonder about the differences between thou and you. Specifically how to use them and what they mean. This article define the words and their usage in an attempt to provide some clarity.

Original usage

In Old English, the rules for second-person pronouns were the same as for most Romance languages:

• Thou / thee / thy / thine for talking to one person (singular);
• You / ye / your / yours for talking to more than one person (plural).

But this changed in Middle English, as it had changed in French. In French, ‘vous’ had become a politer alternative form of ‘tu.’ The change to the French language influenced the English usage.

The shift to etiquette-based usage

The social basis of the ‘thou and you’ distinction was established by the 1500s:

‘YOU’ forms were used by

1. Lower status people to those higher: ordinary people to nobility, children to parents, and servants to masters.
2. Upper classes when talking to each other, even when closely related.
3. As a signal of a change, contrasting with ‘thou,’ in an emotional interaction.

 ‘THOU’ forms were normally used by:

1. By high status people to those below them: nobles to ordinary people, parents to children, and masters to servants.
2. By lower class people talking to each other.
3. When talking to God.
4. When talking to ghosts, witches, and spirits.
5. In an imaginary address to an absent person.
6. As a signal of an emotional change in an interaction.

Usage in theatre

In theatre, the signal of emotional change is important and dependent on context. So, there is not a hard and fast grammatical rule to signify its occurrence when working with thou and you.

For instance: King Lear addresses his older daughters as ‘thee’ when giving away his kingdom in Act . But to his favourite Cordelia, he uses ‘you’ until she offends him. Then it is ‘goes thy heart with this?’ and, ‘thy truth then be thy dower.’

In a very different context, a switch to ‘thou’ can express condescension or contempt. When Toby Belch teases Andrew Aguecheek into challenging a rival to a duel, he advises, ‘If thou ‘thou’st’ him some thrice, it shall not come amiss.’ In this case, to use ‘thou’ to a person of equal rank would be an insult. (Twelfth Night. 111 ii).

The ‘thou/you’ distinction was quite well preserved until about 1590. Shakespeare makes dramatic use of this distinction, while other contemporary playwrights such as Ben Jonson use it much less. It still remains in some regional dialects.

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