William Shakespeare and English Language

“William Shakespeare
&
English Language”
By
Dr. Manohar Purushottam Joshi
Professor, Department of English,
Walchand College of Arts and Science, Solapur
23rd April 2021

“William Shakespeare & English Language”
World English Day (23rd April)
23-Apr-21
Manohar Purushottam Joshi, WCAS,
Solapur
2
Swan of Avon

“William Shakespeare & English Language”
Outline of Presentation:
Brief biography of Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s contribution to English
Poems on Shakespeare
Self-realization and Shakespeare
23-Apr-21
Solapur
3

“William Shakespeare &English Language”
Biography:
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
23rd April 1564
Baptism (26th April), Holy Trinity Church
Parents: John and Mary
Wife: Anne Hathaway
Children: Susanna, Judith & Hamnet
23-Apr-21
Solapur
4

Elopement:
Deer Hunting
Wanted in Stratford
Ran away from Stratford
To London
1592: Robert Greene’s comment:
‘An Upstart Crow’to ‘Swan of Avon’
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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Early Struggle and Success:
Lowest Rung of the Ladder
Lord Chamberlain’s Men (King’s Men)
Writer (1590 to 1612)
Producer
Richard Burbage
The Globe
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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As a Writer:
Narrative Poems: Venus & Adonis; The Rape
of Lucrece
Sonnets: 154
Plays: 37
Publication of Plays: 1623- John Hemminge
&Henry Condell
The First Folio
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Solapur
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Sources:
Holinshed’s Chronicles 1577, 1587
Plutarch’s Lives –Translated by Sir Thomas North
1579
Genius:
Incomparable Imagination
Observations
Experiences
23-Apr-21
Solapur
8

Shakespearean Theatre : Funny Facts
 No curtains
 Open entries and exits
 No female actors
 Comic actors/Clowns
 Costumes- Discarded clothes
 Singing and dancing
 Flags for types of play: White, Black, Red
 No/Little settings
 Pit, Balcony, Sides of the Stage
 Food and drinks allowed
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Solapur
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Solapur
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 Henry VI-1590 First Play
 The Comedy of Errors- 1594 First Comedy
 Titus Andronicus-1594 First Tragedy
 The Merchant of Venice-1605 First Tragicomedy
 The Tempest-1610 Colonization
 Romeo and Juliet-1595 Love Story
 Hamlet- 1609 Existential Philosophy
 King Lear- 1605 Family Feud
 Macbeth- 1606 Power Politics
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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Contribution through New Words:
accommodation aerial amazement
apostrophe assassination
auspicious baseless bloody
bump castigate changeful
clangor control (n.) countless
courtship critic critical
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Solapur
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23-Apr-21
Solapur
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dexterously dishearten dislocate
dwindle eventful exposure
fitful frugal generous
gloomy gnarled hurry
impartial inauspicious
indistinguishable invulnerable

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Solapur
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lapse laughable lonely
majestic misplaced monumental
multitudinous obscene palmy
perusal pious premeditated
radiance reliance road
sanctimonious seamy sportive
submerge suspicious

Idioms by Shakespeare:
1. “Fair is foul, foul is fair” (Macbeth)
2. “Primrose path to the everlasting bonfire”
3. “Life’s fitful fever”
4. “Hurly-burly”
5. “Full of sound and fury”
6. “Be all and end all”
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Solapur
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7. “It’s Greek to me” (Julius Caesar)
8. “All that glitters isn’t gold” (Merchant of Venice)
9. “To be or not to be” (Hamlet)
10. “Green-eyed monster” (Othello)
11. “All’s well that ends well” (All’s Well That Ends
Well)
12. “Life is a tale told by an idiot” (Macbeth)
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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Shakespearean Soliloquies and Monologues:
‘To be or not to be, that is the question
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing, end them. ….’
(From “Hamlet”)
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Solapur
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‘Put out the light, and then put out the light.
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume.’
(From “Othello”)
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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‘What a piece of work is a man,
how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties,
in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel,
in apprehension how like a god!
the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and
yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?
Man delights not me- nor woman neither, though by
your smiling you seem to say so.’
(From ‘Hamlet’)
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Solapur
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Shakespeare: Matthew Arnold
Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask—Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foil'd searching of mortality;
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Solapur
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And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure,
Didst tread on earth unguess'd at.—Better so!
All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow,
Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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To the Swan of Avon- Manohar P. Joshi
(On His 400th Death Anniversary)
It gives us Goosebumps to even think that
A genius like you ever existed
A man with versatile creativity
That illuminated the mind of Man
Well before the so-called dissectors of mind
You delved deep into the warp and the weft of our psyche…
And there erupted unforgettable plots,
Immortal people, elevated action and sublime diction
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Solapur
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And…
Thousands of successors, lakhs of imitations,
Millions of degrees, and billions of articles
Mushrooming all over the stage of this Globe
During these four centuries…
There is not a single writer who can go without you
Not a single language that doesn’t owe to you
A vital part of its making
Not a single culture which doesn’t take the gems
Of your mine for its glory
History is incomplete without your majestic incorporation…
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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And thou… sorry… you…
Look at the world with a smug smile
From your sanctified mausoleum
And throw down on us an oblique glance…
That says… how, we… his followers
Fabricated Oxford theory and Cambridge theory
Doubting the unbelievable creative power,
Fertile intellect, prophetic vision, overwhelming intuition…
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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And we, the self-styled critics of your celestial expression
behaved like
The personae of your make…
We doubted like Othello,
Hurt like Macbeth,
Wriggled like Hamlet,
Behaved like Lear,
Betrayed like Brutus…
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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Despite all our outrageous creeds, words and deeds,
You have been with us with Keatsian Negative Capability,
We have realized like Coleridge that we have been your
puppets…
And now we nurture a staunch belief that
You… William John Shakespeare,
You are omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent
You are God, even better than God!
…………………
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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Self-realization and Shakespeare:
Who am I?
Read William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Othello
Macbeth
King Lear
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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Thank you!
23-Apr-21
Solapur
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William Shakespeare and English Language

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