The pedantic schoolteacher Holofernes, along with the parson Nathaniel, does not appear until late in the play (IV.ii). He speaks in lists of synonyms, words that have roughly the same meaning; he particularly likes Latin-sounding words and Latin tags. Holofernes is a kind of walking, talking thesaurus. He is usually an object of comedy within the play, although the curate Nathaniel treats him with fawning respect and imitates his language. He goes on at length about the death of one deer when the princess and her party are hunting (IV.ii). Later, he exhibits profound exasperation with...
Source: Shakespeare for Students, ©2013 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 542 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE
