SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

A. The following exchange occurs in Henry IV Pt.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."

B. 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 will find me a grave man."

QUESTION: What do A and B have in common?

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

A and B illustrate puns or plays on words.

Falstaff plays on the homonyms "waste" and "waist."

Mercutio refers to being grave (serious) and in his grave.

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

C. Shylock, a character in The Merchant of Venice, feels mistreated and says:"You foot me as you spurn a stranger cur."

D. When Cleopatra thinks she is the victim of some fast talk from Antony, she says:"He words me girls, he words me."

QUESTION: What do C and D illustrate?

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

C and D illustrate Shakespeare's inventiveness with language. In the case of these examples, Shakespeare takes nouns and turns them into verbs.

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

E. King Henry IV, who was not fat, was called "portly."F. In The Merchant of Venice, a servant who intends to

hurry tells his mistress he will go with all "convenient" speed.

G. When Antony makes an alliance with Octavius in Julius Caesar, he calls him his "competitor."

QUESTION: What do E, F, and G illustrate?

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

E, F, and G are the most difficult examples since they are examples of how the meaning of words can change over 400 years.

Words like "gay" and "bad" have different meanings and connotations in different eras and contexts.

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

H. King Henry IV says the soil of England will no longer "daub her lips with her children's blood."

I. In A Midsummers' Night Dream, the course of young love is described as "swift as a shadow, short as any dream, brief as lightning."

J. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says, "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.“

QUESTION: Of what are H, I, and J examples?

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

H, I, and J are metaphors. We distinguish between similes, which make a comparison using "like" or "as" and metaphors where the comparison is implicit. All similes are metaphors, though not all metaphors are similes!

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

K. "Death, death, O amiable lovely death."

L. "Parting is such sweet sorrow."

QUESTION: What is the technique Shakespeare is using in K and L?

SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

K and L are oxymorons, or apparently incongruous or contradictory pairings of words.