Metaphors In Shakespeare's Works

Budge Wilson’s, The Metaphor, is a bildungsroman that blueprints Charlotte’s transition from a young, moldable girl into an independent woman through juxtaposition, allegory, and symbolism. Charlotte is an awkward seventh grader, who transforms into a well-round tenth grader before the eyes of the reader due to the influence of her teacher, Miss. Hancock. Her mother, calculated and emotionless, is the foil to Miss. Hancock’s wild, unorganized spirit. Charlotte finds herself drawn to Miss. Hancock, who her mother despises, which causes Charlotte internal strife. She pushes down her feelings, but through a traumatic experience, she discovers Miss. Hancock’s lessons are the ones her heart wants to live by, not her mother’s. Miss. Hancock and

In, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, there is a quote “they all carried ghosts.”, this metaphor can represent the many things the soldiers carried. Every soldier carries things that represent memories or security. In war, the soldiers are confronted with death every day so they carry things that remind them of people, memories, or hope.

        It may appear that anything could be twisted into a typological pattern. Such interpretations appear to suffer from the structuralist faults of skating too lightly over actual texts, ignoring details that cannot be forced into a preconceived mold, and robbing narratives of their concrete shapes through abstraction. I would stress that there is more to Shakespeare than typology, but I would also insist that typology is often an important part of his drama. To make this claim plausible, however, requires more detailed attention to the text of his plays. In what follows, I will call attention to the textual and dramatic details that justify a typological reading of

The use of descriptive language is important for the writer to entertain, persuade and teleport the reader into their work. Descriptive use and imagery allow the reader to experience the setting, sound, taste, and mood as if they can live through it. Which takes us to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Not only does he use exceptional details and imagery throughout the play between the characters, but the way he uses word allows us to put ourselves into the play as if we can feel what they feel. It also allows us to experience and go through the play as if we are in it also. So in this paper, I would like to focus on a few major moments where I believe Shakespeare descriptive language is the strongest.

Shakespeare uses metaphors and figures throughout his plays to give the reader and audience a further understanding of the story he is telling. In Metaphors We Live By, it is stated that “…Metaphorical expressions in everyday language can give us insight into the metaphorical nature of concepts that structure our everyday activities…” (Lakoff & Johnson 7). Through these conceits Shakespeare expands a normal idea and transforms it into

In his play Henry VII author William Shakespeare does an exceptional job of conveying the emotions of his character Cardinal Wolsey, who has just been received the news that he has been removed from his position as the King’s advisor. Shakespeare uses allusion, metaphor, and ______ to convey the feelings that Cardinal Wolsey’s going through from the shock of a sudden disappointment as he comes to terms with the situation.

Characters are an essential component of literature, as they serve to manifest central themes in a story and help to drive the plot forward. Often, authors intentionally construct complex psyches for their characters in order to evoke deep thought and curiosity within readers. Most notably, William Shakespeare is renowned for his ability to develop profound characters with intricate mindsets who add intrigue to his plays. In Shakespeare’s iconic work, Hamlet, each persona is an obvious product of carefully considered characterization. In particular, the main protagonist, Hamlet, is an incredibly reflective and thoughtful character with a complex psyche, as demonstrated through the soliloquy “To Be or Not To Be”.

“And now as they filed among the mustered guard they found the chief sentries far from sleep- on the alert, all stationed set with weapons. Like sheepdogs keeping watch on flocks in folds, a nervous bristling watch when the dogs get wind of a wild beast ramping down through mountain timber, crashing toward the pens, and the cries break as he charges, a din of men and dogs, and their sleep is broken, gone- and so the welcome of sleep was routed from their eyes, guardsmen keeping the long hard watch that night. Always turning toward the plain, tense to catch some sign of the Trojans launching an attack” (Homer 10. ll. 212-223).

Shakespeare’s usage of metaphor and simile in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is best understood as an attempt to provide some useful context for relationships and emotions, most often love and friendship, or the lack thereof. One example of such a usage is in Act 3, Scene 2 of the play. Here, the two Athenian couples wake up in the forest and fall under the effects of the flower, thus confusing the romantic relationships between them. Hermia comes to find her Lysander has fallen for Helena. Hermia suspects that the two have both conspired against her in some cruel joke, and begins lashing out against Helena. She says “We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, / Have with our needles created both one flower, / Both one sampler sitting on one cushion, / Both warbling of one song, both in one key; / As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, / Had been incorporate. So we grew together, / Like a double cherry, seeming parted; / But yet a union in partition / Two lovely berries moulded on one stem: / So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; / Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, / Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.” (Shakespeare 2.3.206-13). Shakespeare writes this list of vibrant metaphors to establish the prior relationship between these two characters and to make it evident how affected Helena is by this unexpected turn of events, as well as to add a greater range of emotion to the comedy, thereby lending it more literary and popular appeal.

If we pay more attention to the difference between poetic and other kinds of thought, and deal with such a word only in its specific dramatic contexts, our other and better feeling that Shakespeare’s plays take us into the very center of human wisdom will be justified. (37).

Literary researchers search far and wide and through many different topics in order to solve the riddle Shakespeare has lain before us. The topics in which these criticisms cover vary from how a character responds in just a short excerpt, to macro topics such as how Shakespeare himself was shaped and challenged from the environment he lived in. Critics even have a conflict with whether or not “William Shakespeare” is the true writer's name.

“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.

Early scholarship on Timon of Athens often concerned itself too heavily with the question of authorship. This is an important question when confronting why some things are afforded the title of ‘Shakespearean,’ while others are not. However, with so much attention paid to who wrote the text, the play itself becomes largely ignored. Timon of Athens is about a man living in an imaginary Golden Age only to realize that the gold is gone, and subsequently so are his friends. The play calls Timon’s attention to the false friends in Act (Look Up) when they refuse to send money to help cover his debts. While Timon does not see the true nature of his fellow Athenians until the moment, Shakespeare employs many poetic devices to cue the reader in early on. Shakespeare uses shared lines and a changing meter to note syntactically which characters are close, and which have an inherent distance. Before I fully begin this thread of my argument I will discuss the problems with past publications as well as the significance of shared lines and meter in a Shakespearean Drama.

He uses many terms that are unusual in our time as well as countless examples of figurative language. Shakespeare uses blank verse, oxymorons, and strong vocabulary in order to give insight and meaning to the written word..

In what ways is characterisation a central vehicle for Shakespeare to communicate ideas relevant to our understanding of the human condition? How effective is Shakespeare’s use of language choices in constructing the essential characters of the play to convey such relevant message?