The language that Shakespeare used was significantly different from the English we use nowadays. This can sometimes complicate the reading of his works. Many words that were used in Elizabethan English are no longer in use. Some other still exist, but its meaning and connotation have changed.
Moreover, the Elizabethan alphabet contained 24 letters, less than the 26 we use nowadays, and some of these had slightly different pronunciations.
The semantics of racial slurs has recently become a locus of debate among philosophers. While everyone agrees that slurs are offensive, there is disagreement about the linguistic mechanism responsible for this offensivenes.
