What figures of speech are in act 3, scene 3, lines 300-450 of Othello?
In Act 3 Scene 3 Lines 300 to 450 of Othello, Shakespeare uses many
figures of speech. Figures of speech are words or phrases that have figurative
meanings instead of literal meanings. For example, "that ripe tomato is red" is
a statement that has a literal meaning: that ripe tomato really is red. On the
other hand, "that marathon rummer is a red ripe tomato" is a statement that has
figurative meaning: that runner only looks red like a ripe red tomato; the
runner is not a tomato. Imagery is another term for figures of speech, but
imagery may also be used for purely descriptive passages: for example, "The
gentle wind blew the starched yellow curtains with their rows of violet
embroidery in a slow, uneven motion."
There are several kinds of literary figures of speech. Some common ones in
Shakespeare are metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification
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personification, idioms and puns.
In this passage of Othello, Shakespeare uses several of these. For
instance, in Line 304 Shakespeare employs two idioms, the meanings of which are
lost to contemporary speakers: "whistle her off and let her down the wind." An
idiom is a word or set of words that mean something other than their literal
meaning: "I'll shop till I drop!" This current idiom doesn't mean you will
collapse but that you will shop a lot and enjoy every minute of it!
Line 374 has the metaphor "Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons."
A metaphor is a comparison of things that are not alike, in this case the
things that are not alike are conceits and poisons. A metaphor does not use the
words as, like or than. These words are used in the
comparison called a simile: A simile is a comparison of things that are not
alike and the comparison is made by using the words as, like or
than. Shakespeare's writing is as rich as it is in part because of the
abundance of figures of speech that he employs.
What are some figures of speech and sound devices used in Othello?
Figurative language is often divided into categories, including figures of thought (sometimes called tropes) and figures of speech based on either sonic or syntactic patterns. During the Renaissance, handbooks and manuals on figurative language, either in the form of stand-alone works or extended sections in more general textbooks, proliferated and were taught in the schools, and thus it is highly probable that Shakespeare would have been acquainted with them. Some of the best known included George Puttenham's The Arte of English Poesie, RogerAscham's The Scholemaster, Henry Peacham's The Garden of Eloquence, and Richard Sherry's A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes.
Sound devices:
Alliteration is defined as the repetition of consonants. The repitition of the initial "h" in the following quotation is an example of alliteration. "I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors: In honest plainness thou hast heard me say" (Act 1 Scene 1).
Caesura is a break or pause in the middle of a line. It was used regularly in Homeric epic and Old English poetry, as part of a metrical scheme. In "Othello" its function is mainly expressive. An example (with || marking the caesura) is: "Justice to break her sword! || One more, one more." (Act 5 Scene 2)
Syntactic Device:
Diacope is a type of repetition, but with intervening words between the first and subsequent uses of the repeated phrase. An example is: "Put out the light, and then put out the light." (Act 5 Scene 2)
Trope:
Metaphor is an implied comparison in which one discusses one thing in terms of something else. One of the best known metaphors in "Othello" is: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; /It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock/The meat it feeds on.” (Act 3 Scene 1)
References