Shakespearean language guide

Words that have shifted meanings

“keep” = “defend” or “guard” not “hold on to” (1.1.12)
“friends”  = political allies and armed men, not just companions (1.1.53)
“weeds” = clothes, not unwanted plants (1.1.70-71)

Circumlocution and literary play

“I am the firstborn son that was the last
That ware the imperial diadem of Rome” (1.1.5-6)

“the last that ware…” is Saturninus’s father, but he says this in a circumlocutionary way, and makes the sentence more difficult still by juxaposing “first” with “last.”  See also Elision.

Elision

“I am the firstborn son that was the last
That ware the imperial diadem of Rome” (1.1.5-6)

I.e. I am the firstborn son of him who was the last.  The phrase in italics is elided and must be added by the reader.

Saturninus: Open the gates, and let me in.
Bassianus: Tribunes, and me, a poor competitor. (1.1.62-63)

Understand “Tribunes, and let me in, [me], a poor competitor.

Periodic Sentences

Bassianus: Marcus Andronicus, so I do ally
In thy uprightness and integrity,
And so I love and honour thee and thine,
Thy noble brother Titus and his sons,
And her to whom my thoughts are humbled all,
Gracious Lavinia, Rome’s rich ornament,
That I will here dismiss my loving friends,
And to my fortunes and the people’s favor
Commit my cause in balance to be weigh’d.

Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome,
Whose friend in justice thou hast ever been,
Send thee by me, their tribune and their trust,
This palliament of white and spotless hue;
And name thee in election for the empire,
With these our late-deceased emperor’s sons.  (1.1.179-84)

Anastrophe (diversion from ordinary syntax)

Titus: Romans, of five and twenty valiant sons,
Half of the number that King Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive and dead!

Broad pronoun reference

And now at last, laden with horror’s spoils,
Returns the good Andronicus to Rome,
Renowned Titus, flourishing in arms.
Let us entreat, by honour of his name,
Whom worthily you would have now succeed.
And in the Capitol and senate’s right,
Whom you pretend to honour and adore,
That you withdraw you and abate your strength.  (1.1.37-43)

It looks like “his” refers to “good Andronicus” but it doesn’t.  We have to look at the appositive, which is also a circumlocution, to see that “his” is Saturninus’s and Bassanius’s father, who both sons would want to succeed.