Shakespeare’s Language

An essential part of studying ANY Shakespeare play

Copyright 2007 TES English

A bit of background!
• There were no dictionaries until 1604!
This means that language used in
that era was very fluid and could be
moulded and shaped.
• People studied Rhetoric .
• Poets and playwrights experimented
with words, phrases and imagery.
• Free to make up words and to adopt
new ones, they could also change
meanings of words too.

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And there’s more…
• If a word didn’t exist, Shakespeare
changed an old one or made up a new one.

• Shakespeare had a huge fascination with

dramatic language. He truly believed in
the power of words to focus and light up
the imagination, persuade the intellect and
move the audience’s emotions.

• You can apply almost all you have learnt

about poetry to Shakespeare’s works.

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Dramatic language
‘Suit the action to the word, the word to the action’
• His theater
• Stage Magic
• Creating atmosphere and setting through language.
• Intensely active and physical, pulsating with vibrant energy.
• Inbuilt stage directions.
• Evoke Imagery
• For example: Grief and Loss:
‘Death lies upon her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field’

Comment on the above quotation and

discuss how you think it evokes imagery.
Why is it better than simply saying: “She
died.”

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Imagery
• The use of emotionally charged words and
phrases which conjure up vivid pictures in
the mind and imagination.
‘ Why what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness’
• Shakespeare uses a lot of Imagery from
nature. Look out for it and see how much
you can find. Discuss the above quotation
and say why you think it’s effective.

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And…
Imagery can employ:
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification
Look at this example and see if
you can spot the techniques
that have been used.
‘ She never told her love
But let concealment like a worm I’th’bud
Feed on her damask cheek. She pined in thought,
And with green and yellow melancholy
She sat like Patience on a monument
Smiling at grief’

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Ready for some more?
• Antithesis!
• The opposition of words and phrases
against each other.
• ‘To be or not to be…’
• ‘To be’ is the thesis, ‘not to be ‘ is the
antithesis.
• ‘The more I love, the more he hateth me
To sue to live, I find I seek to die’
Remember!
• There is no drama without conflict!

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Lists
• Accumulate words and phrases
like a list.
• Increased dramatic effect by
making description forceful, and
atmospheres or arguments more
passionate or extreme.
• ‘Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind worm’s sting,
Lizards leg, and howlet’s sting,’

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 Alliteration, Assonance and
Onomatopoeia
• ‘More a matter for a May morning!’
• ‘What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?’
•‘ The murmering surge,
‘That on th’unnumbered idle pebble chafes’

Look for examples in the above.

Can you spot the alliteration,
assonance and onomatopoeia?

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Repetition: why use it?
• Dramatic force.
• Repeated words, phrases, rhythms
and sounds (rhyme, alliteration,
assonance) add to the emotional
force of a moment or scene.
• ‘Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never’
• Lists: Shakespeare often makes his
characters list things. Can you think
of any examples? What effect does
this have?
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Verse
• It was expected that plays would
be written in verse!
• Verse is normally written in
iambic pentameter
• Five stressed (/) syllables
alternate with five unstressed (X)
syllables, giving a ten-syllable
line.
• X / X / X / X / X /
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
Iambic pentameter is similar to the human heart beat.
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Yes, we’re still on Iambic P

• Rhythm that is exactly regular can become

monotonous and boring.

• Shakespeare sometimes varies the

rhythmic pattern to include more or fewer
than ten syllables.

• Not boring or repetitive.

• See if you can find examples of

Shakespeare’s varied rhythmic patterns in
the play you are studying.
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Tetrameter
• A verse line with four stresses is
called tetrameter (tetra=four)
• Common rhythm of nursery rhymes.

Unpunctuated lines
• Shakespeare uses it for songs in his
plays.

Can you remember the witches’ chant

in Macbeth?
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Rhetoric
• To speak persuasively.
• Is the speech a logical argument?
How does it begin, handle evidence
and counter objections, conclude?

• Think about how it appeals to the

emotions and the imaginations of the
Shakespearean audiences?

• Try to look at how techniques have

been used in the language.

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Rhyme
• Uses rhyme in songs, prologues and
epilogues, masques and plays within
plays.
• Blank verse
• Strong rhymed couplets are used for exits
• Sometimes rhyme occurs in speech
shared by two characters to express
shared emotions:
Juliet: ‘O now be gone, more light and light it grows
Romeo: More light and light, more dark and dark our
woes
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Self-persuasion
• Thoughts of the protagonist.
Normally displayed through a
soliloquy.
Bombast
• Boastful or ranting language:
‘The raging rocks
And shivering shocks
Shall break the locks
Or prison gates’

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Hyperbole
• Extravagant and obvious
exaggeration. E.g. “It’s so hot I am
dying!’

Oxymoron
• Two incompatible or clashing words
are brought together to make a
striking expression. E.g. Romeo and
Juliet are opposites. There are lots of
oxymorons in this play.

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Irony
• Verbal and dramatic.
• Verbal irony is saying one thing and
meaning another. E.g. in Macbeth ‘Fail
not out feast’ is said to Banquo. Why is it
ironic?
• Dramatic irony is used when one
scene or event contrasts with
another:
• ‘He was a gentleman on whom I built absolute trust’
ENTER MACBETH
• Why is this dramatic irony?

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Puns and Malapropism
• Puns are words that have two or
three different meanings.
• Find Mercutio’s speech on page 83
and find a pun in his speech.

• Malapropism
• Inappropriate, muddled or mistaken
use of words. Bottom in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream uses
many.

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Monosyllables
• Simple short words can carry a high
emotional frequency and dramatic
charge.
• E.g. ‘To be or not to be’

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Why do I need to know all these
things?
• At this level, you’re required to show
insight and depth of analysis.
• Understand Shakespeare’s use of
language for dramatic, poetic and
figurative effect.
• Understand Shakespeare’s stagecraft and
appeal to the audience.
‘The day is hot, the Capels are abroad’
• Why does Shakespeare include comments
on the weather? What effect does this
have on the audience?

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Tips for essays

• Plan your answer and make detailed notes.

• Do not re-tell the story.
• Analyze in depth; look at characters,
stagecraft, their language and how this
informs the audience of the situations.
• Comment on language use*
• Comment on the social, historical and
cultural context.

• LENGTH OF ESSAYS.

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• Example 1 (Not a great example. What
do you think is not so good about
this?)

• At this point, Mercutio is fuming and

decides to fight instead of Romeo.
‘Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?’
This is showing the violence because
Mercutio is insulting a powerful
Capulet. Mercutio is saying that he will
fight instead of Romeo.
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 Example 1 continued…

• AS they start to fight, Romeo steps in between them

trying to break them up. As he does, Tybalt thrusts
his sword into Mercutio and flees. Mercutio was hit
awfully. “I am hurt. A plague on both your houses! I
am sped.” This shows that he knows he will die and
blames it on the Montagues and the Capulets. The
audience feel that he could die because Benvolio
asks Mercutio if he is hurt badly. Mercutio answers.
“Ay, Ay, a scratch, marry ‘tis enough. Where is my
page?- go villain, fetch a surgeon. Mercutio is saying
that his wound is enough to kill him and he needs a
surgeon.

• What’s not so good about the above answer? How

could it be improved?

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• Example 2 (What’s good about this?)

• Unlike Benvolio, Tybalt is the exact opposite

and he encourages the violence and conflict.
The text suggests this when Tybalt says; ‘As
I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.’ When
this play was written people were very
religious, so comparing someone’s family to
hell is abusive, spiteful and symbolises the
devil. Tybalt encourages the violence by
being spiteful to Benvolio; he has insulted
his family. The audience is immediately
informed of Tybalt’s ‘fiery’ character.

Copyright 2007 TES English