By Ben, Zo, Nuiza, Anfa
History of Renaissance
Generally, the word “Renaissance” is originally found in French word entails “rebirth.” It denotes an era in European civilization when Classical learning and wisdom were revitalised (Encyclopaedia Britannica Editors, 2020). Precisely, it was the resurgence of literature, science, arts, Hellenic and Hellenistic philosophy in Western Europe (Bala, 2006). Szalay (2016) affirms that profound passion in studying the forgotten classical antiquity was "reborn" during the intervening period. Generally, the era of the renaissance had taken place from the late 14th century to the 17th century, meaning that it bridged the time between the Middle Ages and the Age of Enlightenment. However, a renaissance in England arrived a bit late compared to Italy, which is by the late 15th century. Florence in Italy had been remarked as its starting point before it could spread to the rest of Europe. There were many factors that led to the renaissance such as the decline in the influence of Roman Catholic Christian doctrine and the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (Dickson, 2017). This event had caused many scholars to flee to Italy with their printed books and manuscripts. Other than that, Davis (2019) mentions that the Italian Renaissance also sparked due to the rediscovery of ancient Latin and Greek texts written by such as Aristotle and Plato. Consequently, the study of classical texts led to the emergence of “Humanism”. Although the term humanism can only be traced to the 19th century, the term humanist already existed as early as the second half of the fifteenth century (Hankins, 2017). According to Rivers (1994), the term ‘Humanist’ is an anglicization of the Latin word, ‘humanitas’ or ‘umanista’ which refer to a Latin teacher. He further informs that revitalization of classical’s moral values and imitation of the language and style of the classics were the main objectives of humanism.
In the medieval age, innovation cannot exist because every knowledge production was limited to the Holy Bible and the writing of Aristotle only (Reinert, 2004). Fortunately, humanists succeeded to flourish a new rhetoric and learning style inspired by the classical text. According to Rivers (1994), one of the rhetorical training in the Hellenistic world has proven to be useful in equipping men with the skills to succeed in public life, including politics and the law courts. Hence, Szalay (2016) agrees that the retrieval of classical Greek and Roman texts has to do with the changes of contemporary thought which developed a new mindset that differed from the Middle Ages. Most importantly, the learning has made Humanist thinkers begin to recognize human’s full potential in changing their lives. The idea that had been proposed was that “man is the center of the universe”, ergo all human achievements in art, literature, and science have been put huge emphasis (KidsKonnect, 2019). As a result, realism and the human form become important and central to the new styles of art. This concept had been widely accepted not only by Italian but European as well, including England. The invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1450 has enabled the idea to spread expeditiously throughout Europe. One of the products of Renaissance Humanism in England was Shakespeare His prominent works, “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” are the evidence of Renaissance’s influence.
Shakespeare’s biography
William Shakespeare has lived more than 400 years from the present day, yet his name can still be heard all over the world for his extraordinary works. Unfortunately, nobody really knows the exact date that he was born since many records were lost or never existed during that time. However, based on the record of baptism provided by the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, it can be assumed that his birthday was 23 April 1564, three days before the day he was baptized. This implies that the majority of Shakespeare’s life was spent under the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1.
The union between John Shakespeare, a glove-maker, and Mary Arden was blessed with eight children and Shakespeare was the eldest child as their first two daughters did not manage to survive. The quality of this family life had been improved when Shakespeare’s father succeeded to become a well-known merchant, bailiff, and alderman. Regarding his education, it should be noted that the records of Shakespeare's childhood including his education were failed to be found. However, according to Coughlan (2016), the lucrative career of his father could be evidence that William Shakespeare must have received education and probably at King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford. This may be the place where Shakespeare learned Latin and Greek language and was exposed to classical learning. Next, it is noteworthy that at the age of eighteen, William Shakespeare found his true love, Anne Hathaway, 26, and built a new family in 1582. Surprisingly, his marriage was rushed since Anne was already carrying his child in his belly even before the official ceremony. The couple was granted one daughter and one twin named Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith. However, Hamnet passed away in 1596 at the age of 11 due to unknown causes. After the marriage, Anne stayed in Stratford with the children while Shakespeare went to London, the center of English theater for work. Unfortunately, Shakespeare’s family eventually left no descendants to continue his legacy.
Nota bene, the information regarding Shakespeare’s life had suddenly off tracked for seven years from 1585 to 1592. Nobody could trace the date he left Stratford-upon-Avon or his occupation before becoming a professional actor in London. However, based on the research, there are some speculations or theories of his “ghosting” throughout those periods. One of the theories is that he fled to London to evade the punishment for illegal poaching on Sir Thomas Lucy’s land (Bevington, 2021). Another popular speculation is that he became an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire (Clair, n.d). However, none of these theories have enough evidence for the reason for the 'lost'. That is why this period was known as “Shakespeare’s Lost Year.”
Regardless, Shakespeare’s emigration can be considered worthy since he succeeded to change his life becoming a greater one. This is because there is evidence that he was able to purchase a new house named New Place in Stratford in 1597. This may be due to Shakespeare’s achievement in becoming a founding member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and held shares in the company in 1594. It was believed that he had gained a huge profit from the sharing of Blackfriars and a new playhouse namely, “the Globe.” These two theatres had become their main places to perform the plays. The company became very successful and often performed in front of the Queen of England, Elizabeth. John Dennis has affirmed that Lord Chamberlain’s Men had performed the Henry IV plays at the court of Elizabeth I (Meares, 2020). However, it should be noted that in 1603, the name of this company was reconstituted as “King’s men” after it had been taken by King James I, a new king, as his patronage (Jamieson, 2019). From these two occasions, it can be confirmed that the monarchy from both eras was a big fan of the plays performed by King’s men members. Notably, Shakespeare remained with the company for the rest of his career and retired around 1613 at age 49. It is worth noting that this company had contributed to the preservation of Shakespeare’s plays. They have collected 36 of Shakespeare’s plays and published them as “the First Folio” (Shakespeare trust birthplace, 2021).
It should be noted that his works are the major factor in his successful life. According to Kittelstad (n.d), the age of 29 to 49 was the period of Shakespeare producing almost all of his writings like poems and plays. It was estimated that there are around 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses that had been produced by Shakespeare throughout his career (Avonpark House, 2021). There are three remarkable genres of his plays, which are histories, comedies, and tragedies. Generally, histories allude to the life of kings or any prominent figure from the past, comedies end with marriage while tragedies end with the death of the protagonist. Based on the official website dedicated to Shakespeare, it was found that Shakespeare has written a lot of tragedies plays essentially, Macbeth and King Lear, as well as romances such as The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale while working for the company (Shakespeare trust birthplace, 2021). Due to his magnificent works, the plays have been translated into every preeminent language and performed more frequently than any other renowned playwright (Avonpark House, 2021). On top of that, Shakespeare is also known for his sonnets and poems even today. It should be noted that the sonnets produced by Shakespeare can be divided into two great sections. The first section is composed of sonnets 1 until 126 which are addressed to a beloved friend, a handsome and noble young man, meanwhile the second group consists of sonnets 127 to 152 concerning a "Dark Lady." Mostly, his sonnets are composed of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. According to poet.org (n.d.), although Shakespeare's sonnets were published in 1609, they were composed earlier than that around 1593 and 1601. Surprisingly, this beautiful style of writing is still widely adopted in this modern day. Hence, it is reasonable to call him the “Bard of Avon” or England's national poet. Overall, this paper explores the contribution of Shakespeare's works in English development and its relation to the renaissance period.
2.0 SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS
2.1 Hamlet
Hamlet is a play written in 1600 by William Shakespeare and is one of the most popular and influential stories ever. Hamlet is set in Denmark, at a time when Norway is about to attack this country. There is some deceitful muddle happening in the royal castle of Elsinore. The protagonist, prince Hamlet is a son of King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude, the leading monarchs in Denmark. In brief, Hamlet is a story about a son, prince Hamlet, who wants to avenge his father’s death, King Hamlet, by killing his uncle, Claudius. This story ends with the death of Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and many other characters, which perfectly fits the genre of tragedy. Hamlet’s hamartia eventually leads to his downfall, which set forth a profound element of the Renaissance age.
This play is rather complex as compared to the conventional plays. According to Jamieson (2020), Hamlet is a remarkable example of advanced writing style as compared to the simple, two-dimensional character in pre-Renaissance play. This is a valid reasoning because two-dimensional characters are very predictable and infallible, which have no past and future, and lack of personality. The theme of good against evil has always been taken into extreme measure in the conventional plays, hence making the protagonist seem like a perfect character because good will always triumph, while evil will always be defeated. Hamlet, on the other hand, is a character with a psychological complexity, which depicts the reality that we are living in. Clearly, Shakespeare managed to break away from the conventional pattern of writing style, by providing a new kind of literature that is in line with the revival of Classical learning and wisdom during Renaissance.
When the topic of the Renaissance is raised, the concept of humanism will become a spotlight in the discussion of many scholars. The Humanists were extremely important educational, literary and cultural figures, and they were prime movers of the Renaissance (Moran, 2018, p.96). Of course, Shakespeare also infused elements of Humanism into Hamlet's play, but in a very indirect and subtle manner. Hamlet’s character himself is a mirror to man's frailty today. His weakness in holding back anger, and being deceived by uncanny temptation has led to a tragic flaw in his life. As depicted in this play, Hamlet was a prince of noble blood and supposed to behave noble in the eyes of others, and of course the audience. After the loss of his father, Hamlet has isolated himself from others, having been afflicted with such a calamity. If we pay heed to the plot of the story, the turning point of this play occurs with the appearance of his father in the form of a "ghost", directing him to kill Claudius to avenge his death, which eventually leads to Hamlet's major downfall. Shakespeare is very clever in manipulating us with his work, as he uses a ghost as a creature, perhaps a symbol to Hamlet's deceiver. Ghosts are creatures that do not at all carry any significance in the mind of a noble person, especially with a rapid technological advancement during this age. Needless to say, ghosts can be considered trivial, with a very minimal impact to influence one’s thought. In this context, how does Hamlet, a man who was supposed to be noble, lose his sense to this ghostly incitement? The reasoning adopted by Hamlet is utterly unwise, especially when the driving force of his anger is to take revenge for a ghostly figure. The underlying message from this whole explanation is directed to mankind. All human beings have weaknesses, and not one is spared, whether he or she is a person of the lower class, the middle class, or even the aristocratic class. As clearly depicted in this play, those who belong to the upper class who are seemingly perfect, are also not spared from committing mistakes. Aside from that, humanism emphasizes the use of reasoning. In the context of this play, Hamlet uses reasoning, but that reasoning has caused a great downfall to him. Shakespeare might want to warn us that reasoning should not be achieved only by using man’s instinctive nature, but it requires one’s wisdom to think carefully, so the decision will serve us betterment, instead of a tragedy. Oddly enough, Hamlet’s words “ What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving” (Hamlet, Act II scene 2, line 327-328) is not at all in line with his actions, which seems to be a direct satire to himself towards the end of this play.
Hamlet 's contribution to literature during the Renaissance is equally important to its contribution to English language. Shakespeare’s style of writing in Hamlet carries some weight to the dynamics of English language in literature works. The blank verse technique in particular is exceptional, as it is utilized multiple times by Shakespeare in his plays. The following excerpt is an example of blank verse taken from Hamlet:
“But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
The discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must."
(Hamlet, Act III scene 2, lines 184-187)
Rao (2018) argued that “his blank verse technique is very poetic, and had left a mark on many other contemporary writers like Christopher Marlow.” (p.97). Other than Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow is also a prominent playwright, who has written several plays that are still performed regularly in this 21st century. It can be seen here that Shakespeare sparks the usage of unique writing style in plays, which gave birth to many prominent literary works by the emerging writers after him.
Aside from that, the soliloquies as a literary device in Hamlet also created an impact to the succeeding English writers. Merriam-Webster (n.d) defines soliloquy as a “poem, discourse, or utterance of a character in a drama that has the form of a monologue or gives the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections.” There are seven soliloquies in total that can be identified in Hamlet, which makes this play one of the most unique works of Shakespeare. The most famous soliloquy in Hamlet is when he questions the meaning of this life:
To be, or not to be: that is the question: ……. Be all my sins remember'd.
(Hamlet, Act III scene 1, lines 64-98)
The usage of soliloquy creates an effect of inner conflict for the character, and this method was followed by many writers later. Aristotle and Homer style of writing was followed by Shakespeare, which appears to be the first tragedy play that incorporates the influence of ancient Greek style (Roa, 2018).
Aside from that, there are also a lot of invented phrases from Hamlet. “Phrase is a short group of words that are often used together and have a particular meaning” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d). Amazingly enough, the invented phrases in Hamlet survived until this present time, and in fact, it was commonly used among the people. For example, the phrase “clothes make the man” was originated from Lord Polonius' line in Hamlet.
“For the apparel oft proclaims the man”.
(Hamlet Act I scene III, line 78)
In the modern day, the phrase can be understood as one’s choice of clothing defines what type of person he/ she is. Though that is not always the case and highly intuitive, it does carry some truth depending on how one interprets it. Disregarding the precision of this phrase, it does bring richness to the English language, especially when it is utilized in a literary piece. According to Florez (2009), English in natural form allows the unrestrained use of slang, phrases, idioms, and jargon, which contributes to a colorful hue to the language.
2.2 Macbeth
MacBeth began with his victory against Macdonwald, the former Thane of Cawdor who began the resistance against Duncan, king of Scotland. The story continues with the intervention of the witches, or three weird sisters, who proposed their prophecies to Macbeth and his comrade-in-arms, Banquo. Two out of the three prophecies from the witches is a curse to Macbeth himself, but he is unaware of it since it is delivered without sufficient context. The first prophecy came true when MacBeth was appointed as the new thane of cawdor. This had injected confidence in MacBeth that the second prophecy, that he would be the king of Scotland would come true. In the resolution of this story, MacBeth dies, defeated by Macduff. The throne was ascended by Malcolm, king Duncan’s son, the rightful owner of the throne. However, a long descendents of Banquo later becomes the ruler of the country, just as predicted by the witches.
One of Macbeth’s main themes that is related to the Renaissance was the reversal of values and nature. While Humanist philosophy calls to gather the virtues and qualities of man to reach a certain level of perfection, in this play ironically, Shakespeare displays the reversal of value and nature, namely morality and sexuality, to show how it will destroy the natural order of the world. Macbeth at first, a loyal fighter of the king and a fighter of peace had changed his attitude abruptly, because of his ambitions and greed for power. Here, Macbeth shows a reversal of morality in himself. Despite having been promoted as the Thane of Cawdor, he was not satisfied with what he had, in fact he took that as a milestone to kill king Duncan, and realize the witches’ second prophecy, at the instigation and encouragement of his wife. He eventually ascended the throne as king of Scotland, and later became a ruthless and corrupted ruler by killing innocent people in the country.
Macbeth's sexuality at the beginning of the play has also been reversed. He behaves like a feminine because he does not dare to take charge as the head of the family, in fact he just listens and does what his wife suggests. As the head of the family and a peace fighter, he was supposed to be firm and rejected his wife’s suggestion to kill the king. Instead, he seems to be submissive and obeys what Lady Macbeth said, aside from his personal interest in taking the throne. Still on the topic of reversal of sexuality, Lady MacBeth is a woman with a very complex character. She was very supportive, yet manipulative at the same time. Due to her highly ambitious dream, she has become Macbeth's main driving force to assassinate king Duncan and usurp his throne. Her actions somehow illustrate the shift during the Renaissance itself. Before the pre-renaissance era, women were in no position to decide anything in family matters. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, displays the inner spirit of feminism that was slowly emerging in that era. While Renaissance promotes strict gender roles in general, there are some first signs of feminism that can be seen through women’s writings, such as Mary Wollstonecraft (The Saylor Foundation, n.d). Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth used the traits of women empowerment that she had unwisely. In fact, she is braver and ruthless than Macbeth, as Macbeth himself doubts his plan to kill the king. Thus, in this situation, Lady Macbeth looks more masculine than Macbeth himself. Scotland, once a peaceful and harmonious country under the rule of King Duncan, has become chaotic after the reversal of morality and sexuality took place. So, here we can see that the reversal of morality and sexuality can cause the unnatural order of nature to some worse extent. Be it male or female, greed of power is likely to lead to human downfall. Shakespeare is trying to remind us that maintaining good morality is highly important to preserve the prosperity in humanity. This could be seen as a measure of precaution that humanity should pay heed to, while all the social and political shifts took place during that era.
The contribution of Macbeth towards the English language is from the aspect of literature writing wherein Macbeth, the language used by Shakespeare, is delivered with ambiguity. The rhetorical technique of equivocation is a key concern in Macbeth, where purposefully deceptive words are used to avoid conveying an awkward truth directly (Smith, 2013). Ambiguity in Shakespeare is used to dramatise the uncertainty in life. In Macbeth, it can be seen that the prophecy of Macbeth is ambiguous which led him towards success but ended it as a tragedy. To deliver the ambiguity of this play, Shakespeare applies antithesis usage, which is one of the major features in Shakespeare’s play. The main use of antithesis is to build a parallel sentence structure to compare two ideas. Antithesis originally introduced by Aristotle to deliver contrasting ideas. It is pleasant because the importance of contrasting concepts is immediately felt, especially when they are presented side by side, and it also has the impact of a logical argument; putting two opposed conclusions side by side easily proves one of them wrong (Summer, 1977). However, Shakespeare used antithesis as a device to create ambiguity in his play of tragedy. For instance,
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”
(Macbeth Act I, Scene III, line 137)
Shakespeare purposefully used ambiguous terminology. He employs ambiguity and contradicting assertions to heighten the play's dramatic appeal. By doing so, Shakespeare serves the intention of deepening the context of a literary work. It allows the readers to expand their imaginations to discover ideas. Therefore, it contributes to new ideas of writing where it makes literature more interesting and memorable.
Another literature feature of MacBeth that contributes to the English language is a neologism in the play. Shakespeare applies the usage of neologism to designate previously unknown things, occurrences, and circumstances. Polish writers have created neologisms using already existing word-formation mechanisms such as prefixes, suffixes, and infixes as means of constructing compound words (Grzybowska, 2017). For instance in this play,
“It were done quickly: if the assassination”
(Macbeth Act I, Scene VII, line 475)
“Assassination” is a word that Shakespeare creates intentionally for his play. The assassination was not documented before its use in this context: it is derived from 'assassin,' originally a term for Muslim combatants in the Crusades and literally a hashish-eater (Smith, 2013). Shakespeare simply added the French suffix–ion to the already existing word. The Old English Dictionary, (n.d), defines the use of assassinate as murder, or an assault with intent to murder, by treacherous violence. Until today, the word of assassination still exists in modern English.
2.3 King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1606. It tells a story about a King who is ageing and wants to step down from his throne, thus passing it down towards his daughters. However, he is unjust towards his beloved daughter, Cordelia, by disowning her. This is because her daughter failed to answer his test that questioned her level of love for him. Many conflicts happened, including his two elder daughters' betrayal resulting in King Lear’s fall apart and madness. The play ended with the tragedy of Cordelia’s death, leaving King Lear in grief and full of regrets.
King Lear is also considered Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy. The relationship between Shakespeare’s King Lear and Renaissance is the movement of Renaissance Humanism. Renaissance Humanism refers to both the literary and intellectual activities of the time that sought their norms and standards in ancient antiquity and a developing new vision of man and his role in the cosmos (Von, 1976). Once England entered the seventeenth century, contemporary writers witnessed a rise in the repression of Medieval values of supernatural and allegiance to the decreasing manorial system, as well as a shift toward an era of individualism (Pescok, 2014). The Renaissance era marks the shift of Europeans away from the Middle Ages' restricted ideals. In the Middle Ages, it was reinforced by the mighty Roman Catholic Church that the emphasis was mainly on the notion of God's unlimited authority. However, Renaissance thinkers and artists did not completely reject the concept of God, but they did question humanity's connection with God. Shakespeare modernised the pre-Renaissance drama's simplistic and two-dimensional literary style (Jamieson, n.d). Thus, Shakespeare’s writing is focused on creating psychologically complex human characters. King Lear synthesises sanity and insanity, love and hatred, wisdom and folly, order and chaos, nature and art (Nimawat, 2016). The humanist element in the play is portrayed by the characters themselves, where Edmund illustrates the humanist values of individualism and self-sufficiency. Cordella epitomises the principles of education and logical reasoning. Throughout the tragedy, Cordella changed the King’s lack of judgement with her honesty and rationality, where the king originally was a man who lost humanism by the influence of pride, arrogance and misjudgements. Moreover, Shakespeare‘s works always portray that the loss of humanism will result in bad consequences. This can be seen in his works, such as Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth. The humanism elements in Shakespeare’s work could become moral values and create a humanist movement that will influence many classes of society since play is not positioned very high and is known as entertainment. Therefore, it is accessible for everyone to know about the story of the play.
The contribution of Shakespeare’s King Lear towards the Renaissance in the development of the English language is the invention of words. Undoubtedly, Shakespeare as the father of literature, has contributed a lot towards the language of English. Shakespeare is credited for his invention and introduction of 1700 words that are still used today. The term introduced by Shakespeare is believed to be coined usually by adding prefixes or suffixes, converting nouns into verbs, combining words, and so on (Art Council England, 2021). Also, Shakespeare’s lexical invention can be divided into borrowing, adaptations and conversations, which borrowing are new lexemes borrowed from French, Latin or other sources. Adaptation is creating new words from existing words, and conversations are those words were nouns used as verbs or vice versa. Many words are invented in the play of King Lear. For instance, Shakespeare invented the words of Catastrophe which means a disaster or spectacular events that started the story’s outcomes, “And pat he comes like the catastrophe of the old '' (Shakespeare, 2021, line 456). He also invented the words dislocate which means to make it out of place, “They are apt enough to dislocate and tear '' (Shakespeare, 2021, line 2412). Lastly, half-blooded means having a relationship with one parent only. “Half-blooded fellow, yes” (Shakespeare, 2021, line 3215).
Shakespeare also influenced the English’s sentence structure towards English literature to create a clear and powerful deliverance. Shakespeare’s writing did not follow the familiar patterns of the English language. He often creates inversion for the normal subject-verb-object arrangement. In order to achieve the rhythm he wants, to emphasise a specific word using a line's poetic rhythm, and to give a character his or her own speech patterns and to allow the character to speak uniquely, Shakespeare usually shifts his sentences away from "normal" English arrangement (Werstine, 2020). For instance, Shakespeare often places the verb before the subject. Shakespeare used “yet was his mother fair” instead of “yet his mother was fair”. Shakespeare not only uses inversion in his sentence structure but also separates words that would normally appear together. For instance, he separates the subject from the verb in his play.
“Ourself by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights
By you to be sustained, shall our abode
Make with you by due turn”
(King Lear Act I Scene I, lines 137-140)
It can be seen that “ourself” as a subject and “make” as a verb is separated by a series of phrases along with the inverted sentence structure.
3.0 SHAKESPEARE’S SONNET
3.1 Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare is also known as a great poet during the Renaissance period which made him appear to be extraordinary. He wrote 154 sonnets in total. A sonnet is a specific form of poetry that contains fourteen lines of the poem with a structured organization. There are two types of classical sonnet which are Petrarchan Sonnet and Shakespearean Sonnet. The guidelines for Shakespearean sonnet consist of three quatrains and a couplet following the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, and gg. The couplet is important because it frequently serves as a conclusion, amplification, or even rebuttal of the previous three stanzas, giving the poem an epiphanic aspect. There were 126 sonnets dedicated to the faith youngster, 26 to the dark lady, and the remaining includes the traditional type. The structure of a sonnet is well-known as iambic pentameter that consists of stressed and unstressed syllables. This section will further analyze two classical poems; Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130 and their relations to the Renaissance era.
In Sonnet 18: “Shall I Compare Thee to A Summer’s Day?”, he described the beauty of his beloved that is comparable to the summer day. Some linguistic features of English can be discussed in this paper thoroughly. First, the use of inflection and derivational affixes in the poem. The root word that is connected to another part of words is known as an affix. It creates a new form of words but it does not necessarily change the original meaning. Inflection and derivation fall under the category of affixes. Inflection is a word modification technique that adds or indicates different grammatical information. This classification does not intend to change the word speech or the meaning, but to emphasize certain differences in tense, gender, mood, voice, and the other (Quackenbush et al., 2019).
Table 1
For example, the words nature’s and summer’s are marked by an apostrophe (‘)s to indicate a noun's inflection. Another aspect of grammar can be found in the words wind and shine that modify from singular to plural form without distortion to the original meaning. Next, the derivation is the process of adding affixes to a base word that will affect the initial meaning. As an example, the adjective word lovely is derived from the noun word ‘love’ to describe something. Meanwhile, the affix -ing has been added to the word change which results in a participle noun.
The choice of Shakespearean words is another interesting part. Effective word choice can lead to a vibrant, deep, and memorable presentation of thoughts as well as an efficient method of conveying information. Verbs are commonly used to describe action, motion, or existence that greatly expands the message of the sonnet (Quackenbush et al., 2019). At the same time, adjectives are used to be specific, make an effect, and establish a visual image in the mind of the reader. Other grammatical elements like pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions are well-organized based on their functions. This shows how Shakespeare emphasizes grammar order in the sonnet to improve clarity and reflects his effort.
In the context of Shakespearan writings, we can also focus on its usage of archaic words that are often used in Middle English. They have a tone of historical accuracy and a real historical backdrop (Khan, 2015). Some specific words like pronouns and verbs have been used differently during Shakespeare’s time which is no longer relevant in this modern society. For instance, the pronouns thee and thou refer to ‘her/him’ and ‘you/he/she’ respectively. Meanwhile, the verb hath and grow’st bring the meaning of ‘has’ and ‘grow’.
Besides the linguistics features, Sonnet 18 also provides an excellent use of ‘simile’ and ‘personification’ as a literary device.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date; (Shakespeare, 2001, lines 1-4)
In the first two lines, the poet has skillfully employed the literary method of "simile" to highlight the similarities between the two objects: his love and the summer season. He introduced a unique idea of comparison by showing that ‘the beloved’ was more beautiful than a summer day even though it is inappropriate. Following the third and fourth lines, ‘nature’ is used as personification. He alludes to the negative impact of "time" or "existing environment" on his beloved's charm, which he compares to the beautiful buds that grow throughout the summer season. From the discussion, Sonnet 18 is proved to be written very carefully and intelligently. Its contributions to linguistics and literature had greatly inspired other poets and writers.
3.2 Sonnet 130
To further elaborate the development of English in Shakespearan sonnet, we will look into Sonnet 130: My Mistress Eyes are Nothing like the Sun. Unlike other famous poems in the Elizabethan era, it is more likely to be anti-metaphorical. Hasan (2020) describes its sarcastic voice, satire elements, and even unusual concepts that set it apart from most of his sonnets. He emphasized the idea of love as being far more important than just a physical attraction by portraying an imperfect woman. His sonnets often involved some metaphorical aspects, beauty, and perfection, except this sonnet. He introduced the character of the dark lady and rejected the idea of conventional love. In this section, different levels of stylistic analysis will be elaborated on in detail.
First, the level of grammar comprises the use of full stop, colon, and comma. The full stop is applied at the end of each quatrain and the couplet to demonstrate the effect of dividing thoughts that should be processed one at a time. Shakespeare (2001) wrote the poem as follows:
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. (line 4)
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. (line 8)
As any she belied with false compare. (line 14)
The use of colon only appears one time before the heroic couplet to illustrate its relation to the rest of the poem and the indentation to highlight its importance.
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: (line 12)
Meanwhile, a comma is used in the middle of the lines which is known as a caesura in poetry. It appears quite often because Sonnet 130 starts with a quatrain full with antithesis.
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; / If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. (lines 3-4)
For literary devices, hyperbole is applied differently from other poems. Hyperbole is a motif that consists of exaggerated phrases or ideals that are meant to be understood metaphorically rather than literally (Al-Shawa, 2017). Shakespeare uniquely utilized exaggeration in his sonnet, because at the time, most poets composed sonnets to lavish exaggerated praises on their lovers. In this sonnet, he chose to use similes and metaphors oppositely, exaggerating his love's vulnerability rather than strength.
3.3 The Relationship of Shakespearean Sonnet with Renaissance Period
The Shakespearean sonnet is also known as the Elizabethan sonnet due to its rising popularity during Queen Elizabeth’s period. Like other Renaissance writers who started to compose poetry, Shakespeare is no exception. The Renaissance period witnessed extreme changes in some areas of works including literature. Moreover, the advent of the printing press enabled these new ideas to propagate and enhance the Renaissance as a whole. More poor and middle-class individuals in Europe began to read as a result of the mass production of books and other writings. English poetry burst into spectacular glory, and the changes in literature were massive outbreaks in England. Like playwrights, poetry also flourished in the period. Besides, Italian poetry has inspired English poets to enhance their skills in particular (Hasan, 2020).
This kind of poetry originated from Italy by Francesco Petrarcha, often used to describe love and feelings for someone. In the modern view, these love poems appear to represent private and personal emotional experiences. However, people in the Renaissance era did not simply write poetry to convey their "genuine" thoughts about love but sometimes conveying hidden political agenda or aspiration (Mayne, 2017). These love poems may be associated with a personal life or confession of the authors themselves. Renaissance love poetry is both familiar and startling to modern readers, thanks to the wide range of romantic and non-romantic loves and desires celebrated in the poems, as well as the variety of styles and places.
In conclusion, the emergence of the renaissance has sparked the ignition of innovation in the heart of Renaissance people. The failures of the medieval ages have driven people to realize the importance of knowledge, particularly classical learning. Consequently, a new style of thinking was developed, namely ‘humanism’, which replaced God with a human as the center of the universe. Instead of focusing solely on God, they create a new view of man. This kind of thinking has made people at that time acknowledge the full potential of humans and began to work it out by achieving a number of accomplishments including art, literature, and science. Shakespeare was one of the Humanism products that contributed to the development of literature. Most of the characters in his plays represent the core values of Renaissance humanism. Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear also cannot escape from the innovation or “modernization” of writing style. One of the obvious characteristics of the Renaissance is the deviation from the conventional pattern. Based on these two plays, Hamlet and King Lear, it can be seen that Shakespeare has broken away from the conventional pattern of the writing style by creating new elements such as psychological complexity and reversal of value among humans regardless of any character whether king or honorable man. All of these innovations were not merely for entertainment purposes but criticizing and educating people openly yet implicitly. Apart from that, the sonnet productions are also well-deserved to be mentioned. This is because Shakespeare’s contributions to the English language were too impactful and significant, especially in vocabulary. Shakespeare and Petrarch may be no different when it comes to sonnet since both of them used it as a means of self-expression. However, Shakespeare makes it more unique and beautiful by emphasizing Grammar, literary devices, and the use of archaic words. Overall, it can be deduced that Shakespeare and Renaissance were related to one another based on the evidence of his life or his works. Not to mention, the English language was also affected by Shakespeare’s work where thousands of words had been coined while numbers of grammar were used remarkably in expressing meaningful messages to the audiences.
Comentários