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SHAKESPEARE AND THE CONCORDANCE

Shakespeare's plays are seldom studied in isolation. How he used language in one play is often an essential clue to its connotative meaning elsewhere in the canon.

To determine how often Shakespeare used a word in the canon, consult a concordance and the OED. A concordance is a listing in dictionary format of all the words Shakespeare used:

  1. In book format, one can look up any word such as 'CONCEIT,' for example, and find every instance of its use in Shakespeare, quoted by act, scene and line. Sample: SEE: Spevack, Marvin, (ed.) The Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare, or
  2. There are on-line resources that allow you to search the texts electronically, Click here to access the Renaissance WEB pages for Shakespeare. From there you can access the Sites.
  3. The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) is a dictionary that contains the meanings of words as they changed over time with examples of various connotative changes. Shakespeare is liberally referenced.

SAMPLE EXERCISE USING HAMLET:

QUESTION: IF THE LINE FROM HAMLET... 'CONCEIT IN WEAKEST BODIES STRONGEST WORKS...' IS THE KEY TO GERTRUDE'S CHARACTER ACCORDING TO WILSON,( SEE WHAT HAPPENS IN HAMLET) HOW CAN WE INTERPRET THE PASSAGE?


Consult the O.E.D. for the meaning of “conceit”, and you will find several entries:

1 THAT WHICH IS CONCEIVED IN THE MIND, AN IDEA
2: THE FACULTY OF APPREHENDING AND UNDERSTANDING
3. PERSONAL OPINION, JUDGMENT
4. FAVORABLE OPINION OR ESTEEM
5. AN OVERESTIMATION OF ONE'S OWN QUALITIES
6. FANCY / IMAGINATION AS AN ATTRIBUTE OF IMAGINATION

QUESTION: OF THE SIX LISTED, WHICH SEEMS CLOSEST TO THE MEANING OF THE PASSAGE IN QUESTION?

a. MEANING 2 CITES AS YOU LIKE IT: "I KNOW YOU ARE A GENTLEMAN OF GOOD CONCEIT

b. MEANING 6 CITES DEFENSE OF POETRY (SIDNEY) "...HIGH FLYING LIBERTY OF CONCEIT PROPER TO POETS. "

Consult a dictionary proper to Shakespeare such as ONIONS to find the following meanings:


1 WHAT IS CONCEIVED IN THE MIND, AS AN IDEA
2: FACULTY OF UNDERSTANDING
3. PERSONAL OPINION OR ESTIMATE
4. IMAGINATION AND FANCY

NOTE THAT MEANING 4 CITES THE LINE IN QUESTION AS AN EXAMPLE.

Consult the Concordance for other references in the canon, and remember that you can also do this online:

A. RICHARD II--"CONCEIT IS STILL DERIVED FROM SOME FOREFATHER GRIEF"

B. ROMEO AND JULIET: -(JULIET SAYS):
SHALL I NOT THEN BE STIFLED IN THE VAULT
TO WHOSE FOUL MOUTH NO HEALTH SOME AIR
BREATHES IN,
AND THERE DIE...
OR IF I LIVE, IT IS NOT VERY LIKE,
THE HORRIBLE CONCEIT OF DEATH AND NIGHT

C. OTHELLO--YOU DIDST CONTRACT AND PURSE THY BROW TOGETHER
AS IF THOU THEN HAST SHUT UP IN THY BRAIN
SOME HORRIBLE CONCEIT

CONSULT HAMLET AND SEE IF THE WORD CONCEIT APPEARS ANYWHERE ELSE ...

SEE:

A. 2/2/579:_______________________________________________________

B. 3/4/114---THE LINE IN QUESTION

C. 5/5/153 :_______________________________________________________


NOTE NEXT THAT A SYNONYM FOR CONCEIT IS IMAGINATION

A. MACBETH: "PRESENT FEARS ARE LESS THAN HORRIBLE IMAGININGS'

B. HAMLET : "HE WAXES DESPERATE WITH IMAGINATION:"

CONCLUSION:


QUESTION: WHAT CAN YOU CONCLUDE ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF GERTRUDE?