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Analysing Shakespeare's language choices is essential for achieving top grades at GCSE. This lesson examines the major imagery patterns, the use of verse and prose, key speeches, and techniques for close language analysis.
The opening storm (the "tempest") works on multiple levels:
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Literal | A violent storm at sea that shipwrecks the court party |
| Political | Represents the upheaval caused by Antonio's usurpation |
| Emotional | Mirrors Prospero's inner turmoil and anger |
| Social | The Boatswain's defiance of the nobles ("What cares these roarers for the name of king?") challenges social hierarchy |
| Structural | The storm opens the play with chaos; the calm ending represents restored order |
Examiner's tip: When writing about the storm, always show you understand its symbolic as well as literal significance. For example: "The storm functions as an externalisation of Prospero's rage at his usurpation, while simultaneously levelling the social hierarchy as the Boatswain's authority temporarily supersedes the King's."
The Tempest is Shakespeare's most musical play. Music serves several functions:
| Song | Act/Scene | Function |
|---|---|---|
| "Come unto these yellow sands" | 1.2 | Lures Ferdinand towards Miranda |
| "Full fathom five thy father lies" | 1.2 | Makes Ferdinand believe Alonso is dead (false); creates wonder |
| "Where the bee sucks, there suck I" | 5.1 | Celebrates Ariel's approaching freedom |
"Full fathom five thy father lies; / Of his bones are coral made; / Those are pearls that were his eyes; / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange." — Ariel, Act 1 Scene 2
Analysis of "Full fathom five":
"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not." — Caliban, Act 3 Scene 2
The island itself seems to produce music. This creates an atmosphere of enchantment and wonder — the island is a magical place where the normal rules do not apply.
Examiner's tip: It is significant that Caliban speaks these beautiful lines, not Prospero or Ariel. Shakespeare gives the "monster" the most lyrical description of the island, suggesting Caliban has a deeper, more intimate connection to it than anyone else.
Shakespeare uses verse (iambic pentameter) and prose deliberately. Who speaks what reveals their status, emotional state, and function.
| Form | Used By | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) | Prospero, Miranda, Ferdinand, Alonso, Ariel (often) | High status; serious or emotional speech |
| Rhyming couplets | Ariel's songs; the masque | Musical quality; magic; supernatural |
| Prose | Stephano, Trinculo, sometimes Caliban | Lower status; comic scenes |
| Caliban — both verse and prose | Caliban | Shakespeare gives him verse for his most poetic speeches, elevating him above his "savage" status |
Examiner's tip: If an exam extract is in verse, comment on this. For example: "Shakespeare's use of iambic pentameter for Caliban's 'isle is full of noises' speech elevates him to the linguistic level of the nobility, undermining Prospero's characterisation of him as subhuman."
"Our revels now are ended. These our actors, / As I foretold you, were all spirits and / Are melted into air, into thin air; / And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, / The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, / The solemn temples, the great globe itself, / Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve / And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, / Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep."
| Technique | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphor | "baseless fabric of this vision" | Reality is as flimsy as stage scenery |
| List / tricolon | "cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, / The solemn temples" | Builds a picture of human civilisation, then destroys it |
| Double meaning | "the great globe itself" | Refers to both the world and the Globe Theatre |
| Simile | "like this insubstantial pageant faded" | Life compared to a theatrical performance |
| Metaphor | "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on" | Human existence is as insubstantial as dreams |
| Euphemism | "our little life / Is rounded with a sleep" | Death described as sleep — gentle, inevitable |
"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. / Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments / Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices / That, if I then had waked after long sleep, / Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, / The clouds methought would open and show riches / Ready to drop upon me, that, when I waked, / I cried to dream again."
| Technique | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Imperative | "Be not afeard" | Caliban as comforter — reversal of expectation |
| Synaesthesia | "sweet airs" | Blends taste/smell with sound — sensory richness |
| Hyperbole | "a thousand twangling instruments" | Overwhelmed by beauty |
| Contrast | "sleep" / "waked" / "dream" | Blurred boundary between waking and dreaming |
| Pathetic fallacy | "clouds ... would open and show riches" | Nature as generous, almost divine |
| Pathos | "I cried to dream again" | Deep emotional longing; vulnerability |
"But this rough magic / I here abjure ... I'll break my staff, / Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, / And deeper than did ever plummet sound / I'll drown my book."
| Technique | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | "rough" magic | Suggests power is crude, imperfect |
| Formal verb | "abjure" | Legal/solemn language — a binding oath |
| Violent imagery | "break my staff" | Destruction of power — irreversible |
| Hyperbole | "deeper than did ever plummet sound" | Emphasises finality — the book will be beyond recovery |
| Active verbs | "break," "bury," "drown" | Three decisive actions — complete renunciation |
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