Unlocking the meaning of Shakespeare’s metaphors.

1 Develop students understanding offigurative language by asking themto interpret, extend, and createm e t a p h o r s .A metaphor is a figure of speech inwhich an object is described bycomparing it to something else. For exam-ple, in A Midsummer Night s Dream, a rosetakes on special meaning as a metaphorf o ra woman s marital status. A rose pluckedand distilled into perfume describes a mar-ried woman, while a rose that withers onthe stem describes a also used metaphors todescribe more abstract topics such as life,time, and the meaning of the universe. InThe Te m p e s tand A Midsummer Night sD r e a m, life is a dream in which we cannever be sure of what s real and what isn t .Prospero believes that the world will oneday disappear into thin air, just as dreamsdo ( ). In As You Like It( 3.)

2 2 . 3 1 0 ) ,Rosalind compares time to the paces of ahorse: Time travels in divers paces withdivers persons .. I ll tell you who Ti m eambles withal, who Time trots withal, whoTime gallops withal, and who he stands tallwithal. In other words, though time is aconstant, it seems to move faster or slowerto different h a k e s p e a r e s plays are rich in originalmetaphors, especially those relating toanimals (birds in particular), war, fencing,hunting, fishing, music, food, clothing, andother familiar Elizabethan was a country boy, and so hismetaphors often conjure up natural andpastoral introduce the concept ofmetaphor and demonstrateS h a k e s p e a r e s use of them, it s helpful totake a closer look at several by reading aloud the following pas-sage from Much Ado About Nothing: The pleasant st angling is to see the fis hCut with her golden oars the silver stream,And greedily devour the treacherous bait;So we angle for Beatrice.

3 ( )K1 2T E A C H I N G S H A K E S P E A R E Y E S Y O U C A N ! T H E P L AY S T H E T H I N GScholastic Professional Books, 1998 All the Wo r l d s a StageP U R P O S EB AC KG RO U N DI N F O R M AT I O NMetaphorically Sp e a k i n gUnlocking the meaning of shakespeare s H AT TOD O1 3kThe fish is Beatrice and the bait isfalse gossip that the hated Benedick actu-ally loves Beatrice. Ursula and Hero (the anglers ) allow Beatrice to overhear thisfalse gossip on purpose. Beatrice takestheir bait hook, line, and sinker shetruly believes that Benedick loves reading the passage aloud, invitestudents to identify the metaphorical topic( fishing) and what it is being used todescribe (tricking Beatrice). Then brain-storm and list words associated with themetaphor (angler, stream, river, lure, reelin, cast, pole, bait, worm, fly, hook, line,s i n k e r, fish such as trout and bass, catch).

4 Using the class-generated list, extend themetaphor: To lure a trout, you must usethe right bait. Once you hook your catch,you can reel it in, and so , have students work with themetaphors on the Metaphorically Speakingreproducible on pages 22 and wrap up your metaphor lesson, haveeach student choose a new metaphoricaltopic (sports, plants, rocks, the stars,machines, animals) and apply it to thetopic of school. To spark creative thinking,ask students questions such as If thisschool were an animal, what animal wouldit be and why? Have students list threethings that school has in common withtheir topic. Here s an example for a turtle:1. School days and turtles advance They send their young into the worldto take care of themselves. 3. Like a tur-t l e s shell, the school walls protect the vul-nerable Metaphors:S p o t t i n gmetaphors in the text can become anon-going game for students.

5 Ask studentsto keep a running list of examples theyfind as they read. Once you ve completedthe play, students can compare metaphorsand classify them by topic. The topics thatShakespeare chose give a glimpse intopopular events and objects of the day. Forexample, war and hunting were muchmore common. The sea and sailing were asvital as automobiles and airplanes stars and planets loomed categories include the skilled trades( c a r p e n t r y, butchery, sewing, weaving),clothes, food and drink, jewels and pre-cious metals, prisons, disease, sports,m o n e y, nature, and Speaking:Similes are usuallyeasier for students to understand and writethan metaphors. Similes compare oneobject with another using the words like or as. A few examples:I found him under a tree, like a droppedacorn.

6 (As You Like It 3 . 2 . 2 3 5 )It seems she hangs upon the cheek of nightAs a rich jewel in an Ethiop s ear. (R o m e oand Juliet1 . 4 . 4 7 )L e t s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.(Julius Caesar2 . 1 . 1 7 3 )A simple exercise is to ask each studentto write the first half of a simile and thenpass it to the next student to an extra challenge, students can con-tinue passing the page to create severalversions of the simile. T E A C H I N G S H A K E S P E A R E Y E S Y O U C A N ! T H E P L AY S T H E T H I N GScholastic Professional Books, 1998M O R ET OD OMetaphorically Sp e a k i n gTry your hand at interpreting the metaphors below. Then create a few ofyour own. M E TAPHOR 1: The meaning of MacbethH e re are two short metaphors from the first act of M a c b e t h.

7 For each one,write two or three sentences in your own words to describe what themetaphor you can look into the seeds of time,And say which grain will grow and which will not,Speak then to me .. (M a c b e t h1 . 3 . 5 8 )[Duncan to Macbeth] Welcome hither. I have begun to plant thee, and will laborTo make thee full of growing. (Macbeth 1 . 4 . 2 7 )M E TAPHOR 2: H a m l e t s Tro u b l e sThis famous speech from Hamlet includes a military metaphor . The slingsand arrows are problems that fate keeps flinging at Hamlet. The questionis, should Hamlet just suffer these slings and arrows or take up his ownweapons to end them?To be, or not to be; that is the question:Whether tis nobler in the mind to suff e rThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of tro u b l e s ,And, by opposing, end them.

8 (H a m l e t, )Apply the military metaphor to your own sea of troubles. In what waysK2 2kT E A C H I N G S H A K E S P E A R E Y E S Y O U C A N ! T H E P L AY S T H E T H I N GScholastic Professional Books, 1998N a m e_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _D a t e_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _K2 3kT E A C H I N G S H A K E S P E A R E Y E S Y O U C A N ! T H E P L AY S T H E T H I N GScholastic Professional Books, 1998N a m e_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _D a t e_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _do these troubles wound you?

9 What kind of weapons best describe theirpain? What metaphoric weapons do you have? Use as many military terms asyou can to describe how you could fight these troubles including; gun, can-non, armor, helmet, soldier, battle, army, uniform, battalion, fife, and E TAPHOR 3: All the Wo r l d s a Spaceship All the world s a stage are famous words in afamous metaphor . We live on a stage. We re simplyactors, playing many parts during our the passage below. Then rewrite it with anew metaphor : All the world s a spaceship. Use space-related words such as lift-off todescribe the seven ages of humans from birthto the world s a stage,And all the men and women merely have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages.(As You Like It2.)

10 7 . 1 3 8 )