5. SHAKESPEARE'S LANGUAGE

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Shakespeare's language

William Shakespeare used language to: : 

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 “ ”

1. Blank verse : 

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

2. Variations on metre : 

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).

3. Use of verse and prose : 

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

4. Imagery : 

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

4. Imagery : 

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 heavenUpon the place beneath ” (from The Merchant of Venice, IV.i.179–181)‏ A shot from The Merchant of Venice  by Michael Radford (2004).

5. Antithesis : 

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).

6. Repetition : 

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

7. Hyperbole : 

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 ) (

8. Irony : 

8. Irony Verbal irony Saying one thing but meaning another Dramaticirony 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”

9. Pronouns: you and thee : 

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