Transcript Introduction to Shakespeare`s Language

Introduction to
Shakespeare’s
Language
Turning the Ear, Focusing the Eye
What do A and B have in
common?
• The following exchange occurs in Henry IV, Part 1, between
the obese and high-living Falstaff and the chief justice.
• Lord Chief Justice : “Your means are very slender and your waste
great.”
• Falstaff: “I would that my means were greater and my waist
slenderer.”
• Mercutio a character in Romeo and Juliet who is characterized
by his wit and lack of seriousness, says the following as he lies
dying:
• Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”
Answer?
• Puns
• A pun is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate
confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect,
whether humorous or serious. A pun can rely on the assumed
equivalency of multiple similar words, of different shades of
meaning of one word, or of a literal meaning with a metaphor.
Bad puns are often considered to be cheesy. Also known as
paronomasia
• Other examples:
• A vulture boards a plane, carrying two dead possums. The
attendant looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion
allowed per passenger."
• Kings worry about a receding heir line.
What do C and D illustrate
• C. Shylock, a character in The Merchant of Venice,” feels
mistreated and says:
• “You foot me as you spurn a stranger cur.”
• D. When, in Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra thinks she is the
victim of some fast talk, she says:
• “He words me girls, he words me.”
Answer?
• Turning nouns into verbs.
• In a single work day, we might head a task force, eye an
opportunity, nose around for good ideas, mouth a
greeting, elbow an opponent, strong-arm a
colleague, shoulder the blame, stomach a loss, and
finally hand in our resignation. What we're doing with all
those body parts is called verbing--using nouns (or
occasionally other parts of speech) as verbs.
• Verbing is a time-honored way of coining new words out of
old ones, the etymological process of conversion (or functional
shifting). Sometimes it's also a kind of word play, as in
Shakespeare's King Richard the Second when the Duke of York
says, "Grace me no grace, and uncle me no uncles."
What do E, F, and G illustrate?
• E King Henry IV, who was not fat was called “portly.”
• F. A servant who intends to hurry tells his mistress that he will
go with all “convenient” speed.”
• G. When Antony makes an alliance with Octavius in Julius
Caesar, he calls him a “competitor.”
Answer?
• The words have changed meaning over the years.
• Examples of words that have changed meaning
• Awful - This meant ‘full of awe’ i.e. something wonderful,
delightful, amazing. However, over time it has evolved to mean
exactly the opposite.
• Manufacture - From the Latin meaning ‘to make by hand’ this
originally signified things that were created by craftsmen. Now
the opposite, made by machines, is its meaning.
•
Read more: http://writinghood.com/style/grammar/eightwords-which-have-completely-changed-their-meaning-overtime/#ixzz1x81uvMN4
Of what are H, I, and J examples?
• H. King Henry IV says the soil of England will no longer “daub
her lips with her children’s blood.”
• I. The course of young love is described as “swift as a shadow,
short as any dream, brief as lightening.”
• J. “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks. It is the
east, and Juliet is the sun.”
Answer
• They are all metaphors. Even the similes are metaphors.
• Metaphors are used to help us understand the unknown, because
we use what we know in comparison with something we don't know
to get a better understanding of the unknown.
• ******************
• The simplest and also the most effective poetic device is the use of
comparison. For example, "The (first thing) is the (second thing).
Remember, the "two things" are unlike. Metaphors use the verb "to
be." It might almost be said that poetry is founded on two main
means of comparing things: simile and metaphor. We heighten our
ordinary speech by the continual use of such comparisons as "fresh
as a daisy," "tough as leather," "comfortable as an old shoe," "it fits
like the Paper on the wall," "gay as a lark," "happy as the day is long,
pretty as a picture." These are all recognizable similes; they use the
words "as" or "like."
What technique is Shakespeare using in
K & L?
• K. “Death, death, O amiable lovely death.”
• L. Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Answer?
• Oxymorons. Oxymorons occur when a writer puts two
contradictory words together.
• Cold fire, act naturally, seriously joking, small crowd
• Paradox could work, but the better answer is oxymoron
because a paradox reveals a kind of truth statement which at
first seems contradictory.
• Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.
• from Paradise Lost : the fires of hell emit "no light, but darkness
visible."