Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language Shakespeare's language

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language William Shakespeare used language to: create a sense of place seize the audience’s interest and attention explore the widest range of human experience He was a genius for dramatic language “ ”

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 1. Blank verse unrhymed lines with an arrangement of unstressed and stressed syllables known as “ In sooth / I know / not why / I am / so sad / ” (from The Merchant of Venice) iambic pentameter

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 2. Variations on metre to make his verse less monotonous, Shakespeare: “that this too too sullied flesh would melt” (from Hamlet) ‏ altered the pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables “There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple” (from The Tempest)‏ altered the expected number of syllables Emilia: Why, would not you? divided a single line between two or more speakers Desdemona: No, by this heavenly light! (from Othello)‏ A shot from Hamlet by Franco Zeffirelli (1990).

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 3. Use of verse and prose VERSE generally used by aristocratic characters in serious or dramatic scenes PROSE generally used by lower-class characters in comic scenes in informal conversations

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 4. Imagery clusters of repeated images build up a sense of the themes of the play, like a. imagery from nature b. imagery from Elizabethan daily life, like: c. light and darkness in Romeo and Juliet A shot from Romeo+Juliet by Baz Luhrmann (1996). sports and hunting; shipping and the law; jewels; medicine

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 4. Imagery use of metaphors and similes d. use of personification e. “Come, civil Night; Thou sober-suited matron all in black.” (from Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene II)‏ “There’s daggers in men’s smiles” (from Macbeth)‏ “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath ” (from The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.179–181)‏ A shot from The Merchant of Venice by Michael Radford (2004).

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 5. Antithesis The contrast of direct opposites. “Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O any thing, of nothing first created: O heavy lightness, serious vanity” (from Romeo and Juliet) Frank Dicksee Romeo and Juliet (1884).

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 6. Repetition Repeated words or phrases add to: “Oh horrible, oh horrible, most horrible!” (The Ghost in Hamlet)‏ the emotional intensity of a scene “O night, O night, alack, alack, alack, I fear my Thisbe’s promise is forgot! And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall.” (Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream)‏ its comic effect

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 7. Hyperbole Extravagant and obvious exaggeration “Blow me about in winds! Roast me in sulphur! Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!” (from Othello) Othello is haunted by the knowledge that he has wrongly killed Desdemona )(

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 8. Irony Verbal irony Saying one thing but meaning another Dramatic irony It is structural: one line or scene contrasts sharply with another The audience knows something that a character on stage does not In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony calls Brutus “an honourable man” but means the opposite In Macbeth Duncan’s line “He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust” is followed by the stage direction “Enter Macbeth”

Slide Features of Shakespeare’s language 9. Pronouns: you and thee YOU Implies either closeness or contempt Friendship towards an equal Superiority over someone considered a social inferior Used to address someone of higher social rank Can be aggressive or insulting THEE More formal and distant form Suggests respect for a superior Courtesy to a social equal Send clear social signals