There are
two things that were the most interesting about reading a Midsummer
Night's Dream. The first thing that stood out to me was the word play on
the word "ass" and the quote, "Jack shall have Jill; Nought
shall go ill." These are two references and uses that I never would have
thought dated back to Shakespeare’s time. Though Shakespeare was not the
very first to use the names Jack and Jill, he was one of the first, but it
wasn’t until around the 19th century
that the nursery rhyme “Jack and Jill” became popularized. This use caught my
eye because I know that some of the phrases and sayings that we use were either
made popular by Shakespeare’s work, or he just created them on his own. Here is
a list of a few of those sayings: http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm.
I also
thought the use of the word ass was interesting for the same reason. We all
know what ass means in a Biblical sense, but I was curious if Shakespeare
originated the change in the word having more of a duel meaning—to be both a
donkey and to refer to someone’s rear end. I found this
(http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ass) online, and it seems that
Shakespeare could be the originator of the duality of the word.
It is
fascinating to me that Shakespeare had such an impact on the English language. In
the grand scope of time, and even in the metamorphosis of the English language,
it seems like Shakespeare’s time was not too incredibly far from our own. Even
a play as funny and ridiculous as a Midsummer Night’s Dream has themes and
elements that are still used in our language today. To think that someone not
too far off from our time changed the path of English is pretty incredible to
me.
Shakespeare: the original, original hipster.
Woah! Interesting to think about. I now have an even greater appreciation for him. I wonder if Shakespeare looks down from heaven and laughs at rap artists and hood-rat teens who have adapted his lingo.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. What is really interesting is if the secondary meaning for ass is just starting to come about in Shakespeare's time or with Shakespeare himself than his puns are probably more humorous for us than for his original audience. As the word gets older its meanings become more common and concrete and the wordplay becomes sharper.
ReplyDeleteI love this linguistic point of view! Shakespeare is especially interesting for that perspective, because as you pointed out he's responsible for many of our words. I would be interested to look into as many cultural references as possible in just one show, just like the Jack and Jill thing. Maybe he popularized more than we understand.
ReplyDeleteIt really is amazing how much of an influence he had! I really liked John's comment about how the puns are even funnier today, it's true! It's fascinating, really.
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