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Figures of Speech in Shakespearean Language - Coggle Diagram
Figures of Speech in Shakespearean Language
Simile
“As pure as snow.” (Hamlet)
Shows innocence or something clean and honest.
Thou hast eyes like stars. (Romeo and Juliet)
Comparing someone’s eyes to stars for beauty.
My love is as boundless as the sea. (Romeo and Juliet)
Juliet compares her love to the sea to show it’s endless and full.
“I am like a man to double business bound.” (Hamlet)
Hamlet feels pulled between two hard duties.
Definition: A comparison that uses like or as.
Personification
“The morn in russet mantle clad walks o’er the dew.” (Hamlet)
Morning is shown as walking and dressed.
“Grief fills the room up of my absent child.” (King John)
Time is given hands that destroy beauty.
“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon.” (Romeo and Juliet)
The moon is described as jealous.
“Time’s fell hand defaces beauty’s brow.” (Sonnet 60)
Grief acts like a person filling space.
Oxymoron
“O brawling love! O loving hate!” (Romeo and Juliet)
Love and hate mixed.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow.” (Romeo and Juliet)
Leaving hurts but feels loving too.
Definition: Joining two opposite ideas.
“I must be cruel, only to be kind.” (Hamlet)
Doing something hard for a good reason.
Pun
“Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.” (Romeo and Juliet)
Grave means both serious and dead.
Definition: A joke made from words that sound alike or have two meanings.
“Not so, my lord, I am too much i’ the sun.” (Hamlet)
Same pun repeated, teasing the king.
“Now is the winter of our discontent.” (Richard III)
A clever wordplay about unhappiness and seasons.
Onomatopoeia
“The whips and scorns of time.” (Hamlet)
Whips sounds painful and harsh.
“The buzz of the bee.” (The Rape of Lucrece)
Buzz sounds like the real insect.
“The crack of doom.” (Macbeth)
Crack sounds like thunder.
“The clicking of the clock.” (Hamlet, idea from speech on time)
The sound of passing moments.
Hyperbole
Definition: Exaggeration to show strong feeling.
“There is no world without Verona walls.” (Romeo and Juliet)
“Forty thousand brothers could not with all their love make up my sum.” (Hamlet)
Alliteration
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes.” (Romeo and Juliet)
F sound makes rhythm strong.
“Bare bodkin.” (Hamlet)
B sound makes the line firm and sharp.
Definition: Repeating the same first sound in nearby words.
“Full fathom five thy father lies.” (The Tempest)
F sound gives a sea-like flow.
“With witchcraft of his wit.” (Hamlet)
W sound makes the insult sound sneaky.
Allusion
“Make Ossa like a wart.” (Hamlet)
Greek myth about giants stacking mountains.
“Draw Priam’s curtain in the dead of night.” (Troilus and Cressida)
Refers to King Priam of Troy.
“Cupid’s wings.” (Romeo and Juliet)
Mentions the god of love.
“You are a Caesar to me.” (Antony and Cleopatra)
Alludes to the great Roman leader.
Irony
When something is opposite of what is expected, or when the audience knows more than the characters.
Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, but she isn’t. (Romeo and Juliet)
The audience knows the truth.
“I am too much i’ the sun.” (Hamlet)
Ironic because Hamlet is unhappy in his family role.
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” (Hamlet)
Irony because Hamlet’s mother is guilty of what’s denied.
Anaphora
“And Brutus is an honourable man.” (Julius Caesar)
Repetition turns sarcastic.
“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
Repeated phrases show memory and guilt.
“You are the queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, / And—would it were not so!—you are my mother.” (Hamlet)
Repetition builds emotion.
“My lord, you once did love me.” (Hamlet)
O that” repeats to show deep sadness.
“O that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.” (Hamlet)
Shows strong longing.
Methaphor
“All the world’s a stage.” (As You Like It)
Life is like a play where everyone has
“O, speak again, bright angel!” (Romeo and Juliet)
Juliet is compared to an angel from heaven.
“Denmark’s a prison.” (Hamlet)
Hamlet feels trapped and unhappy in his country.
“Juliet is the sun.” (Romeo and Juliet)
She brings light and warmth to Romeo’s world.