All Questions
Tagged with wording-choice william-shakespeare
10
questions
5
votes
2
answers
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Why did Hamlet tell Ophelia: "Get thee to a nunnery!"?
In Hamlet [III, 1], Hamlet tells Ophelia (lines 1814,27,34):
Get thee to a nunnery! […] Go thy ways to a nunnery. […] Get thee to a nunnery. […] To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. […] To a nunnery, ...
- 191
9
votes
1
answer
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"Marry, in her buttocks: I found it out by the bogs."
From The Comedy of Errors, Act III Scene II:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE: No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip: she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her.
ANTIPHOLUS OF ...
- 74.1k
10
votes
3
answers
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In Macbeth, why is Fleance 'scaped?
I've always been curious about the precise phrasing of this line from Macbeth, spoken by the First Murderer:
Most royal sir, Fleance is 'scaped.
The meaning of this, and as far as I can tell the ...
- 23.1k
15
votes
1
answer
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Why are there three different versions of the "solid/sullied/sallied flesh" line in Hamlet?
While looking up about the passage asked about in this previous question, I noticed that there are different versions of the same line in Hamlet, Act I Scene II, line 333:
O that this too too solid ...
- 74.1k
9
votes
4
answers
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What does Lady Macbeth mean by "what thou art promised"?
In Macbeth Act I Scene 5, Lady Macbeth says the following:
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human ...
- 143
3
votes
1
answer
871
views
Shakespeare's vasty deep: was "vasty" a recognised variant of "vast" at the time?
From Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1, Act III Scene 1:
GLENDOWER: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
HOTSPUR: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?
...
- 74.1k
7
votes
3
answers
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Context of "swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow"?
I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
-- Puck, Act III Scene II, A Midsummer Night's Dream
This is a well-known line from a Shakespeare play, but did Shakespeare ...
- 74.1k
4
votes
2
answers
387
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If Hamlet, being a prince, outranked Horatio, why did he address him as "sir"?
Hamlet Act 5 Scene 2:
HAMLET:
So much for this, sir. Now shall you see the other.
You do remember all the circumstance?
HORATIO: Remember it, my lord!
Horatio replies to Hamlet calling ...
- 143
6
votes
2
answers
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What does Hamlet mean when he calls Claudius a "villain"?
In Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, prince Hamlet repeatedly calls Claudius a "villain". Here is a quote from Act 2 Scene 2 :
Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, ...
- 521
8
votes
2
answers
616
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Comparing frequency of word use across Shakespeare's plays
There are numerous concordances that list all of the words, and their frequency of use within each of Shakespeare's plays. However, I am interested in the presence and frequency of use of words across ...
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