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Independent Dive into Shakespearean Figures of Speech - Coggle Diagram
Independent Dive into Shakespearean Figures of Speech
Simile
Simile is comparing using the word "like" or "as."
“My love is as a fever, longing still.”, Sonnet 147 --- He compares his one-sided love to an illness that just grow worse and worse the more time passes.
“Like bright metal on a sullen ground.”, Julius Caesar --- He compares Brutus to a bright piece of metallic metal in a field of everything dull.
“She hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel.”, Romeo & Juliet --- He compares Juliet's beauty to a dazzling jewel in the darkness, showing how precious she id to Romeo.
Onomatopoeia
“Hark! hark! the lark…”, Cymbeline --- The word Hark mimics the sound of people shouting, making feel warned and alert.
“The buzzing of the bee…”, The Rape of Lucrece --- The sound buzzing is how insects move, the bee to be exact in the sentence.
“The whizzing of the bolt.”, King Lear --- Whizzing is the sound of the bolt flying in the air, making us feel the intensity too.
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a sound.
Metaphor
Metaphor is a direct comparison about something to something else, without using a word in between.
“All the world’s a stage.”, As You Like It --- He's comparing life to a theater where people in the life act as different roles.
“Juliet is the sun.”, Romeo & Juliet --- Romeo compared Juliet to the Sun, saying that she brought warmth and brightness into his life.
“I have wasted time, and now doth time waste me.”, Richard II --- He trated time as an object. In the past he wasted so much time and lost opportunities, where time has now
attacked
him.
Oxymoron
Oxymoron is 2 contradictory words put together.
“O brawling love! loving hate!”, Romeo & Juliet --- Love is described as sweet and harsh at the same time. It highlights the painful love romeo had, feeling like a painful love.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”, Romeo & Juliet --- A goodbye is hard to say though beautiful enough to feel, saying how the conflict felt.
“A damned saint, an honourable villain.”, Romeo & Juliet --- The oxymoron helps highlight the intense conflit in the character's mind, mixes opposite words to express her confusion.
Pun
A pun is a joke that plays with words.
“Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”, Romeo & Juliet --- Grave means a graveyard and serious, stating that the character might die tomorrow.
“You have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead.”, Romeo & Juliet --- He plays with the word 'sole' (the undersurface of a person's foot.) and 'soul' (the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being), stating that the character likes dancing with his feet and a jolly personality.
“Too much in the sun / son.”, Hamlet --- Hamlet jokes about being called Claudius’s “son”, playing with the word sun (stars) and son (children).
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is extreame exaggeration of something.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean?”, Macbeth --- He exaggerates the guilt he feels asif it's blood staining him.
“A thousand times good night!”, Romeo & Juliet --- Juliet exaggerates how hard it is to say goodbye to Romeo, how he has to say it 1000 times.
“I could weep my spirit from mine eyes!”, Coriolanus --- He's exaggerating his overwhelming feeling asif his soul is comimg out of his eyes.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetation of the same consonant sound.
“Full fathom five thy father lies.”, The Tempest --- His father was lying 5 fathoms deep down the sea, the f-sound is to exaggerate the fact that he's deep down.
“From forth the fatal loins…”, Romeo & Juliet --- Two lovers were born from enemies families (fatal lions), the f-sounds help emphasize the dramatic tone.
“Bare, bowed, broken…”, Richard II --- The repeated b-sounds show how sad and miserable the character is.
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of the same vowel
“Is this a dagger I see before me?”, Macbeth --- The character is broken and full with guilt by his actions and suffering and the consequences, the repeated e-sounds add more tension.
“Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.”, Macbeth --- The cat meowed 3 times, signaling that the witches' magic was activated. The repeated i-sounds make it sound like a spell.
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends…”, Henry V --- The character is trying to give another chance of a difficult task.
Irony
“A little water clears us of this deed.”...
“Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”, Macbeth --- At first the character said a little bit of water can wash off blood easily, but later when guilt actually got to him, it's actually impossible to remove.
“Death lies on her like an untimely frost / Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.”, Romeo and Juliet --- The character thinks Juliet is dead, when in reality she's just sleeping.
“I am not what I am.”, Othello --- the character lies while claimimg that they were honest, making us see the irony betwee truths and lies.
Irony is when the audience knows more than the characters, or when the story turns unexpected.
Allusion
Allusion is a reference to a famous story, character, etc.
“You are a lover; borrow Cupid’s wings.”, Romeo & Juliet --- It refers to Cupid, the god of love, saying how much the character is in love, comparing it to the literal god of love.
“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.”, Romeo & Juliet --- It refers to a mythical fairy queen, saying that the character's dream is just a product of thier imagination.
“Draws the Ephesian picture of white and red.”, The Winter’s Tale --- It refers to a famous painting, stating that a person's vibrant face is perfectly oictured.
Anaphora
“O Romeo, Romeo!”, Romeo & Juliet --- Juliet repeat his name to emphasize the intense feelings she had to him.
“And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot.”, As You Like It --- By repeating the word 'and', it helps us see the time that passes for a long time.
“You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!”, Julius Caesar --- 'You' helps emphasize the anger and the direct insult, stating directly to 'you'.
Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or phrase
Personification
“The morning steals upon the night.”, The Tempest --- The rising morning is described as sneaking into the sky - just a fancier way of saying the Sun rose.
Personification is giving human traits to non-human things (objects. animals, etc.)
“Grief fills the room up of my absent child.”, King John --- He felt an overwelming grief like it was surrounding him of the fact that his child is gone.
“The winds did sing it to me.”, The Winter’s Tale --- He was probably in a good mood, so the wind was described as something that was pleasant.