ELISION:
As
in modern English, words often appear in a reduced form, with the omitted
element shown by an apostrophe. Shakespeare's use of elision serves two mains
purposes: to make violent acts more grotesque in reader's imagination and to
allow space for a quickly developing of the plot.
Although
some unusual forms can make the reader hesitate, normally, the meaning of
underlying word is obvious from the context. Even some of them present frequent
patterns, like the contraction 'tis -from it and is.
Some verbs contract with the preceding pronoun.
In
some Shakespeare's plays we can find a lot of elisions:
Romeo and Juliet: "I
have remembered me, thou's hear our counsel." ('s
-> shall)
Henry IV: "By'r
lady" ('r -> our)
Henry VIII: "'Cause the musicians play me that sad note" ('cause -> because)
Macbeth: "In
viewing o'er the rest" (o'er -> over)
YON
WORDS:
The yon words
relate to an object which is some distance away but visible. These types of
words are very used in the Early Modern English. They can function as adverbs
of place (yond and yonder, with the meaning 'over there' or 'in that place') or
determiners (yon, with the meaning 'that one over there')
Hamlet: "Yon high
eastwars hill" (Determiner- "That
hill over there")
As
you like it: "Yonder comes
my master" (Adverb- "There
comes my master")
The
Tempest: "Say what thou seest yond" (Adverb- "Say
what thou seest there")
SHAKESPEARE'S
WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS:
Although
it may seem impossible, Shakespeare is the creator of a great part of our
vocabulary; expressions and words that we often use: approximately, 1700 words!
(verbs, adjectives and adverbs included).
It
is hard to imagine that words, as "bedroom", "dawn",
"gossip" or "critic" didn't exist before he used hem in his
plays.
Such
a word inventor!
Here
we let you see a few words you will be surprised their creator was
Shakespeare:
-Hurry
(Henry VI): “Lives, honors, lands, and
all hurry to loss”.
-Lonely
(Coriolanus): "Like to a lonely dragon
in his fen"
-Generous
(Hamlet): “Free me so far in your most generous thoughts"
-Green-eyed
(The Merchant of Venice): "And shudd'ring fear,
and green-eyed jealousy".
-Anon
(shorty, soon): "I shall find you anon"
Also,
he invented a lot of women's names, as Jessica (The Merchant of Venice),
Miranda, Rosaline (Romeo and Juliet), Olivia, Celia...
No comments:
Post a Comment