Shakespeare’s language The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. National Portrait Gallery, London.

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 ” Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions 1. Blank verse unrhymed lines with an arrangement of unstressed and stressed syllables known as iambic pentameter “ In sooth / I know / not why / I am / so sad / ” (from The Merchant of Venice) Only Connect ... New Directions

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

Only Connect ... New Directions 3. Use of verse and prose VERSE PROSE generally used by aristocratic characters in serious or dramatic scenes generally used by lower-class characters in comic scenes in informal conversations Only Connect ... New Directions

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

Only Connect ... New Directions 4. Imagery d. use of metaphors and similes “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)‏ e. use of personification “Come, civil Night; Thou sober-suited matron all in black.” (from Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene II)‏ A shot from The Merchant of Venice  by Michael Radford (2004). Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions 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). Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions 6. Repetition Repeated words or phrases add to: the emotional intensity of a scene “Oh horrible, oh horrible, most horrible!” (The Ghost in Hamlet)‏ its comic effect “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)‏ Only Connect ... New Directions

( ) 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 Only Connect ... New Directions

8. Irony Verbal irony Dramatic irony The audience knows something that a character on stage does not Saying one thing but meaning another It is structural: one line or scene contrasts sharply with another 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” Only Connect ... New Directions

Only Connect ... New Directions 9. Pronouns: you and thee Send clear social signals YOU THEE 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 More formal and distant form Suggests respect for a superior Courtesy to a social equal Only Connect ... New Directions