Word Overkill!

One thing that I have noticed over and over and over and over and over, in this text is that Shakespeare likes to beat ideas to death when he tries to convey anger of his characters. This is something that pops out from the very beginning, I mean we see it in Act I scene 2 when Edmund comes out.

Now we talked about this is class a little bit, but I just want to quickly hit it. Edmund is upset about his illegitimate birth and he rants and rants about it.

"Why brand they us/With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?"

(notice the alliteration as well) and then.....

"As to the legitimate: a fine word, 'legitimate'!/Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed/And my invention thrive, Edmund the base/Shall top the legitimate."

Look at that! In just a few lines he repeats base and its synonym bastardy six times! Along with this legitimate is repeated four times! Edmund is driving the point home and basically killing it with words!

But this is not the only case! If we skip ahead to Act II scene 2 we are again confronted right off with word overkill when Kent becomes enraged with Oswald. All Kent does is call Oswald many names over and over again. He can't just use one word, he has to go overkill!

"A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave, a lily-livered action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunkinheriting slave; one that woldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch."

Talk about loaded words! He seems to throw in every possible insult he can think of in one breath! On top of this he is using those words to describe Oswald as a knave. In some ways I guess this could be viewed as a conceit, that is the running an idea over and over and basically killing it with words.

I think that Lear actually does one of the best jobs of running with a conceit. He seems to be drawn to using disease as an analogy to how his family is treating him. Here is one that I think is one of the best examples (Act II scene 4) of how Lear uses this conceit, I've noticed this throughout the play.

"But thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter;/Or rather a disease that's in my flesh,/Which I must needs call mine: thou art a boil,/A plague-sore, an embossed carbuncle,/In my corrupted blood."

Talk about powerful! This is why Shakespeare is such a powerful writer. He knows how to capture an idea, especially that of hate and anger by running over an idea until it is almost killed. But the audience gets the idea and they can feel the passion that the character feels. The passion of

Shakespeare's characters is what gives them life, and what helps us connect to the plays and understand human nature.

Manly Men?

Love's Labours Lost is fraught with rhetoric as we have discussed at length in class. What I think is interesting not only in this play, but also in most of Shakespeare's works is that there are so many references to other stories that were, and still, are popular. It is just another way that Shakespeare uses the world around him to drive a point home. Here are a few that I noticed in Biron's confrontation to his friends in Act Four referencing famous characters.

To see great Hercules whipping a gig,

(Hercules was a Greek legendary demigod with extraordinary strength. Whipping a gig is another way of of saying to spin a top.)




And profound Solomon to tune a jig,

(Solomon is a Biblical king known for his great wisdom given to him by god. To tune a jig simply participate in a dance or music.)



And Nestor play at push-pins with the boys,

(Nestor is another character of Greek mythology. He was an Argonaut who fought centaurs and hunted the Calydonian Boar. Push-pin was a game geared toward very young children.)





And critic Timon laugh at idle toys!

(Timon was an Athenian philosopher. And, well, idle toys are just that, toys that aren't moving and are in essence, for babies.)



What Biron is trying to say is that the love of the women these noblemen have, is turning them into children. However Biron is hypocritical because the same thing is happening to him!

Boiling Seas and Roaring Winds

Mad as the sea and wind when both contend/Which is mightier

I really loved this passage when reading Act Four because I think this line is so powerful. First of all this line is poetry spoken by Gertrude. This is fitting for her character because in Shakespeare's plays the nobles typically speak in poetry form. (As mentioned in class this is because poetry is artful and crafted, much like nobles are.)

Secondly the analogy used is powerful in and of itself. The idea that the winds and sea are fighting for power, brings forth images of boiling seas and waves crashing on ragged shores. With modern media many have seen images of this epic battle, especially when hurricanes hit landfall. Many know that the sea and the wind together can be a powerful force and virtually nothing can stop it. With Gertrude comparing Hamlet to this epic struggle she is making a very powerful point. Hamlet's "madness" has made him uncontrollable. He seems to be unstoppable and indeed unpredictable.

What is even better with this analogy is that Hamlet acts out and kills Polonius, because in a way he does have forces contending inside him. Gertrude does not even realize this but his cowardice and his need for revenge are struggling inside of him for power over his actions. In many ways this is driving him to madness because one cannot have two masters without being torn apart. Hamlet prefers to fight people with words because he is afraid of actually taking action. However his father has exhorted him to avenge his death. He has two opposite forces inside of him and so he acts rashly and in the moment, thus killing an innocent man. However he doesn't seem to fell guilty about murdering Polonius which might be a side effect of him finally reaching a breaking point as his soul continues to be in turmoil.