Файл: Шекспиризмы вчера и сегодня (The Notion and Classification of English Idioms).pdf

Some of shakespearisms are no longer used now, others can still be found in literature, mass media and everyday language. Numerous archaisms can be found in Shakespeare’s works, but it should be taken into consideration that what appears to us today as an archaism in the works of Shakespeare, is in fact an example of everyday language of Shakespeare’s time.

Further in this paragraph we will describe shakespearisms according to their structural-semantic peculiarities based on A.V. Kunin’s classification of phraseological units.

According to A.V. Kunin there are three classes of phraseological units: nominative, communicative and interjections. (Кунин 1986: 58)

Nominative collocations stand for a certain notion denoting things, actions and qualities (properties). They have a structure of a word combination which is indivisible syntactically. However, inside this phrase syntactic relations exist: words are connected by coordination or subordination.

These collocations are subdivided into substantive, verbal, adverbial and adjectival phraseological units.

Verbal phraseological units occupy the leading place among nominative phraseologisms. They denote an action and serve as a predicate in the sentence. There are several groups inside this class:

1. Phraseological units, which denote physical actions or a state, presenting in a form of action.

• To saw the air(means ‘to swing one’s arms’):

Do not saw the air with your hand, thus… ("Hamlet", act III, scene 2)

• To eat out of house and home (means ‘to make angry’):

He hath eaten me out of house and home ("King Henry IV", pt. I, act II, scene 1)

• To screw one’s courage to the sticking place”(means ‘to pluck up one’s courage’):

…But screw your courage to the sticking place… ("Macbeth", act I, scene 7)

1. Phraseologisms denoting psychological state of a person

• To be out of one’s guard (means ‘to be taken unawares’):

Look you now, he’s out of his guard already… ("Twelfth Night", act I,

scene 3)

• To know a trick worth two of that (means ‘to know how to get something’):

…I know a trick worth two of that… ("King Henry IV", act II, scene 1)

• To wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve(means ‘to display one’s feelings’):

...’tis not long after but

I will wear my heart upon my sleeves

For daws to peck at.("Othello", act I, scene 1)

1. Units with a literal meaning of the components

• To bite one’s thumb at someone(it is an insult, has a literal meaning)

-Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

-No, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir… ("Romeo and Juliet", act I, scene 1)

Substantive phraseological units play a very important role among nominative collocations. In the sentence they can be used as a subject, an object or a predicative. These units vary widely in their lexico-semantic structure and character of phenomena, which they denote. Their components are combined with a help of subordination and combination. There are several types of substantive units:

1. Units with the different interpretation of its components

• A triton among the minnows (means ‘a giant among pigmies’)

Heare you this Triton of the Minnoues? ("Coriolanus", act III,

scene I)

• The observed of all observers (means ‘the center of attention’)

O, what a noble mind is here o’earthrown…

The observed of all observes ("Hamlet", act III, scene I)

• The milk of human kindness(means ‘sympathy, softness’)

It is too full o’the milk of human kindness ("Macbeth", act I, scene 5)

• The be-all and the end-all (means ‘something that fills the whole life, the main thing in life’)

… that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here… ("Macbeth", act I, scene 7)

1. Units with a partial different interpretation of the components

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Units with a structure “adjective + noun”

• Golden opinions (means ‘flattering opinions’)

I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people

("Macbeth", act 1, scene 7)

Units with a structure “noun + preposition + noun”

• Caviare to the general (means a play not for general public)

… for the play, I remember, pleased

Not the million; ‘twas caviare to the general… ("Hamlet", act II, scene 2)

Units with the structure “noun in the genitive case + noun in the common case”

• Heart’s content (means ‘great joy’)

…such is the fullness of my heart’s content.("King Henry VI", p.II, act I, scene 1)

1. Units without different interpretation of the components

• Six Richmonds in the field

I think there be six Richmonds in the field:

Five have I slain today, instead of him.

("King Richard III", act V, scene 4)

• A pound of flesh

… then take thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh…

("Merchant of Venice", act IV, scene 1)

Adverbial phraseological units have different meanings. Some of them denote a quality of the action or state, other are indicators of temporal and spatial relations, they point to various consequences which accompany the action. Thus,they can be divided into two groups:

1. Adverbial qualitative,
2. Adverbial proper.

There are several groups among adverbial qualitative units:

1. Units with subordinating connection

• At one fell swoop (means all at once, at one stroke)

What all my pretty chickens, and their dam,

At once fell swoop? ("Macbeth", act IV, scene 3)

• By inches (means little by little, partially)

…They’ll give him death by inches. ("Coriolanus", act V, scene 4)

1. Comparative phrases

• Like patience on a monument

…She sat like Patience on a monument… ("Twelve’s Night", act II,

scene 4)

Adverbial proper units can also be divided into several groups:

1. Units with a different interpretation of its components and subordinating connection

• Beyond (my) depth ( means beyond one’s understanding)

I have ventur’d…

In a sea of glory!

But far beyond my depth ("King Henry VIII", act III, scene 2)

• To the world’s end (means to the edge of the earth)

Will you grace commend me any

Service to the world’s end?("Much Ado About Nothing", act II, scene 1)

1. Units with a partial different interpretation of the components and the structure “adjective + noun”

• (about) cock-shut time (means in the twilight)

Much about cock-shut time

Went through the army… ("King Richard III", act V, scene 3)

1. Units with the literal meaning of its components

• (in her) pride of place (means a height from which a bird of prey attacks its victim)

A falcon, towering in her pride of place,

Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed. 

("Macbeth", act II, scene 4)

Adjectival units express different features of a person or object, in the sentence it plays the role of an attribute. Adjectival units are represented by a small amount of idioms, which can be subdivided into two groups:

1. Units with a different interpretation of its components

• hoist with one’s own petard (means injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others)

…’tis the sport, to have the engineer

Hoist with his own petard… ("Hamlet", act III, scene 4)

• every inch (means entirely, very much so)

Ay, every inch a king… ("King Lear", act IV, scene 6)

1. Units with a partial different interpretation of their components

• Full of sound and fury (means load, ferocious speech, which is actually unmeaning)

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Life’s but a walking shadow…

…it is a tale …,

Full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing. ("Macbeth", act V, scene 5)

Our next point is communicative units (sentence-lawn), which include proverbs and sayings. They are also subdivided into two types:

1. Units with a different interpretation of their components

Our withers are unwrung ("Hamlet", act III, scene 2) means an abuse doesn’t offend our pride

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark ("Hamlet", act I, scene 4) means that something is wrong.

1. Units with a partial different interpretation of their components

The time is out of joint ("Hamlet", act I, scene 5) means that the connection of times is lost.

There’s the rub ("Hamlet", act III, scene 1) means something in which there is a particular difficulty.

The third type of idioms is interjections. Their role among shakespearisms is insignificant. There is only one unit of this type which can be found in three contexts. This unit is “That’s flat!”,which is used to indicate that a person has reached a decision and will not be persuaded to change his or her mind.It is found in the following contexts:

Through Coventry with them, that’s flat! ("King Henry IV", p. I, act I,

scene 2)

Hay, I will, that’s flat! ("King Henry IV", part I, act I, scene 3)

The boy hath sold him a bargain, a goose, that’s flat. ("Love’s Labours Lost", act III, scene I)

Resuming the information of this chapter we can make the following conclusions:

• the majority of linguists agree that the number of shakespearisms is 170;
• 16 idioms were created before Shakespeare, but it was he who made them widespread;
• according to structural-semantic analysis we came to the conclusionthat the majority of shakespearisms are nominative phraseological units;
• some shakespearisms have become archaisms, but a great part of them can still be found in books and the media.

1.3 Changes in Shakespearisms

Shakespeare lived and created his masterpieces four centuries ago. However, his influence on modern language and literature can hardly be overestimated. He is credited with being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings; in fact, the growth of the popularity of prose in Shakespeare’s time is clearly shown as he used prose progressively more throughout his career. Furthermore, there are no doubt that Shakespeare was a master of the artistry of the English language. He wrote with such fluidity of thought, word, rhythm, and sound that the work is presented in a complex manner, but is not unintelligible, even for the inexperienced reader. Often a single line would have several different meanings, each providing us with insight into a character or plot. 

However, we should understand that the language and grammar of Shakespearean time differ from ours. That is why though we can read and understand Shakespeare's works in the original and use a lot of shakespearisms in their original form, nowadays there are a lot of changes in them to adapt these idioms to modern language. The majority of shakespearisms have become part of modern language with the changes at different levels. Some changes appeared gradually, others became a norm at once after the first individual use. Further, we will show examples of the changes of different types on the bases of extracts from British and American literature.

The changes can be divided into two big groups:

1) normative - changes which have become a norm of the language and are registered in dictionaries;

2) occasional - different innovations, which have not become a norm and were used mainly as a stylistic device. (Свиридова, Л.Ф. 1968)

Each of these groups is divided into subgroups:

I Normative changes can be subdivided into:

1) idioms, which have retained Shakespearian form and meaning

a) idioms which have variants and structural synonyms

One of the vivid examples is the shakespearism every inch a king ("King Lear") which gave us a widespread idiom every inch. Nowadays it collocates with different nouns, not only with the word "king". It has been used in literature since the 17^th century:

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• I tremble every inch of me (H. Fielding)
• He is a gentleman … every inch of a gentleman (W. Thackeray)
• … He is a Harford, every inch of him. (O. Wilde)
• … He looked every inch a brigand. (W.S.Maugham)

Another example is the idiom till the crack of doom("Macbeth"), which has two variants: with the prepositions of and to.

The idiom to bear a charmed life ("Macbeth") have several variants, too. Instead of the verb bear the verbs have and load can be found. There also can be changes in the nominal part of the phrase - the word life can be substituted for existence.

...the story of Kidd's having a charmed life, and that to be bad to be twice hanged. (W. Irving "Tales of a Traveller")

The idiom care killed a cat ("Much Ado About Nothing") has a variant care killed the cat.

...so stop worrying about it: care killed the cat, you know. (B. Henderson)

Among idioms of this type there are also quantitative and lexical variants.

The example of a quantitative variant of shakespearisms is the idiom at one fell swoop ("Macbeth"). It almost immediately came into use in its short form atone swoop.As a result we have quantitative variants which are formed with the help of truncation or addition of elements.

They go quick, one after another - five of them vanished already at one swoop (S. O'Casey).

It should be mentioned that there is also an American variant of this idiom - in one fell swoop.

Mr. Strongfort had decided, he said, to teach me everything in one fell swoop (W. Saroyan).

Another example is the idiom from "Hamlet" the time is out of joint which was shortened to out of joint.

The idiom to wear one's heart upon one's sleeve for days to peck at ("Othello") which is connected with a medieval custom for jousting knights to wear the colours of the lady they were supporting as ribbons tied to their arms or in cloths. Now it is often used in its short form to wear one's heart upon one's sleeve.

An example of a shakespearism with an additional component is the unit more honoured in the breach than in the observance ("Hamlet"). This idiom was created by Shakespeare without the second in. This second preposition in was added later.

In "Hamlet" the idiom more honoured in the breach than the observance is combined with a particular word. In modern English the combinability of this shakespearism has enlarged and now it can relate almost to anything.

In the course of time many shakespearisms have acquired lexical variants. There are some examples below:

• applaud to the echo("Macbeth") has a variant cheer to the echo;
• in the expression thrust smth. down smb.'s throat ("Titus Andronicus") the verbs cram or ram can be used instead of thrust;
• as a result of contamination of two shakespearisms gild refined gold and paint the lily ("King John") an idiom gild the lily appeared, which is a variant of the idiom paint the lily.

b) Idioms which have derivatives

In modern English the idiom  buy golden opinions ("Macbeth") is used with the verb win or profit instead of buy.

I don’t want to use hackneyed phrases, but the fact is I can’t say it any other way, he’d won golden opinions. (W.S. Maugham)

Nowadays the idiom to win golden opinion is fixed in dictionaries.

In modern English the verbal unit to chronicle small beer ("Othello")is also used as a nominative one -a small-beer chronicle. Below examplesof both variants can be found:

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• Every evening Mr. Charles went to the club where he and the members would chronicle small beer. (B. Henderson)
• This small-beer chronicle is scarcely justified by the fact that men of Agnes's acquaintances and correspondents were persons of distinction. (The Athenaeum).

Shakespeare made use of the phraseological unit lay it on with a trowel only in the passive voice:

Соlia: Well said: that was laid on with a trowel ("As You Like It").

Now we can find it in an active form, too:

She continued to flatter him... She got a little private amusement by seeing how much he should swallow. She laid it on with a trowel (W.S. Maugham).

Another Shakespearism which has two forms is full of sound and fury ("Macbeth"). In modern English it has this adverbial form and also a nominative variant sound and fury.

• ...and are full of sound and fury signifying nothing. (Th. Dreiser, The Financier)
• ...dashing round the country as a sound and a fury, pouring the British Empire... (S. O'Casey, Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well)

с) Idioms with a new meaning or stylistic nuance

A new independent idiom to the top of smb.'s bent appeared from the shakespearism fool smb. to the top of his bent ("Hamlet"). The meaning of the new idiom is slightly changed. We can see it in the following examples:

• By way of ... humouring him to the top of his bent. I ... remarked "What a delicious country you have about these lodgings of yours!" (Ch. Dickens).
• Philip, in his happier moods, indulged Tom to the top of his bent (G. Eliot).
• Go on an' smash the boats. Play hell to the top of your bent (J. London).

Stylistic nuances of shakespearisms can also be changed. For example, the idiom a Daniel come to judgment ("Merchant of Venice"), which had a direct meaning of an honest unprejudiced judge, in modern English is often perceived as a case of irony.

Webster Thayer, a Daniel come to judgment, would hand down his decision on the motion for a new trial (U. Sinclair).

It also obtained a second meaning - a wise man:

"...I recommend the settlement. Bunting, you're on the beam. A Daniel come to judgment" (P.G. Wodehouse).

The idiom the milk of human kindness ("Macbeth") sounds as a reproach with an excessive softness coming out of Macbeth's mouth.

Lady Macbeth: ...yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full o' the milk of human kindness… ("Macbeth". ActI, sc. 5).

In modern English this idiom is used with a positive connotation or as a joke or irony.

• Besides a man with the milk of human kindness in him can scarcely abstain from doing a good-natured action, and one cannot be good-natured all around (G. Eliot).
• Sellers said privately that Rossmore was the most extraordinary character he had ever met - a man just made out of the condensed milk of human kindness... (M. Twain).

2) Idioms which have not kept Shakespearian meaning and stylistic nuance

The idiom to bite (my, your) thumb at (you, me) ("Romeo and Juliet") was an insult in Shakespearian time; nowadays it is equal to showing a middle finger and demonstrating contempt.

If you but bite your thumb at an upholder of your opposing house you have work cut out for your steel. (O' Henry, Past one at Rodney's).

The idiom pride of place ("Macbeth")almost completely changed its meaning. In modern English it means a person or thing that gives people a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction or the feeling that you are better or more important than other people. In Shakespearian time this idiom was used with the preposition in and was adverbial. Nowadays it is a nominative unit, which does not need any article.

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