Shaping,Persuasion,Representing And Appropriation

The proverb,a linguistic category,found favor in British Renaissance humanists in general and Shakespeare in particular.Shakespeare's greatness has been globally accepted,and literary critics have been in great enthusiasm about his plays ever since his time.The reason lies in the ability and glamour of his language,and his extensive vocabulary of more than 25,000 words.His vocabulary is so rich and so big in variety and powerful in expression that he is allegedly unmatched,together with his vivid description,poetry,sonnets in various forms,colloquial expression,as well as his blank verse as the main part of his style.In terms of wording,his proverbs are a unique landscape.In the offprints of abundantly annotated version of New Cambridge Shakespeare(NCS),New Arden Shakespeare(NAS)and Oxford World Classics(OWC)a large number of proverbs appear frequently which are labelled as “Tilley” and “Dent”.Shakespeare's proverbs,like a mirror,abundantly reflect the cultural phenomenon in a certain degree,which is what has been observed in NCS,NAS and OWC.Shakespeare's proverbs claim to be a cultural treasure repository.It is both a cultural expression and a mirror of culture,and Shakespeare has gradually formed his unique proverbial idiosyncrasy(a system of logic and technology).The present project,titled “Shaping,Persuasion,Representing and Appropriation—A Study of Proverbs in Shakespeare's Plays”,is an attempt to testify his proverbial employment through a quantitative investigation and qualitative observation from the following dimensions and perspectives.The “Introduction” is an account of the origin,growth and prosperity of proverbs.They came into existence in Mesopotamia about 7000 years ago,1500 years later were found on labourers' tools in Cuneiform script.The Book of the Dead is the evidence of their initial use,while Pretecs of Ptahhotep,the earliest Egyptian book in 3440 BC,first recorded them in a written language.History of Greek-Roman period,the Middle Ages and modern English witnesses their evolution.They reached their climax during the Renaissance when their collections(such as Erasmus,Culman)bloomed with Shakespeare as their beneficiary.Chapter 1 “The Shaping of Shakespeare's Characters”,uses the proverb function in shaping characters as the starting point.I choose Love's Labour's Lost,As You Like It and The Twelfth Night as its specimen to explore the categories,quality,and quantity of the characters' proverb utterances and the purpose that the proverbs are used to serve in the specific context as means of revealing the characterization.Chapter 2 “Persuasive Power in Proverbs” is based on two histories and one tragedy.Through the three eponymous figures of Hamlet,Henry V and Richard III,the dissertation is to display how the figures use proverbs in their lines as a rhetorical device to influence other people's beliefs,attitudes and motives as well as behaviour.In the course of the practice,all of their cogent tongues,through their expressions of information,emotion and rationality,influence and even change the behaviour and attitude of others in an event,concept,a certain object or even some people.Chapter 3,“Tone Representing in Proverbs”,focuses on the tone in the proverbs,centering Othello,King Lear and Macbeth,especially the central figure Iago,whose proverbial tone or intonation represents their attitude towards their listeners,and their thoughts and attitudes towards others through subtle clues,revealing addresseraddressee relationship.Take Iago as an example,his proverbial tone is critical or approving,formal or intimate,outspoken or reticent,solemn or playful,arrogant or prayerful,angry or loving,serious or ironic,condescending or obsequious,in accordance to the nuances of relationship and attitude to Othello or Cassio.Chapter 4,“Appropriation: Falstaff and His Case”,concentrates on proverbial appropriation.With Falstaff in 1Henry IV as the focus,this part is to discuss a counter-traditional expression of proverbs,which remains a single change,omission or addition of one or two words in standard proverbs to achieve different or even opposite meanings.Falstaff's peculiar counter-tradition method is the appropriation or dislocation of proverbial meanings for different and new ones by changing the original.Although it destroys the sacredness of standard proverbs,its ultimate goal is to achieve a different kind of literary effect by adding to works the sense of humor,colour and beauty as a stimulus for readers' and playgoers' critical and aesthetic abilities.