Upon reading Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, I couldn’t help but notice the excessive use of animal imagery. Some of the animals so far are ravens and horses which got me to thinking “Is animals the only thing Shakespeare could think of to get his bizarre thoughts across?” Then as you read on his bizarre thoughts turn into everyday lessons. That’s when you realize that if Shakespeare were to read or hear one of our sayings would him think that were bizarre? We too use animal imagery in our sayings. Quoting my dad, these sayings go something like:
“Tough titty said the kitty, but the milks still good”- Not everything is going to be fair.
“Like a goat looking at a watch”- Confused look.
“Like a deer caught in headlights”- Surprised look.
“There is more than two ways to skin a catfish”- There is more than two ways to do something.
“Hold the horses head up Nute, she smells water”- Hold on and be patient.
Although these sayings may be new and far fetched, the point eventually makes its way across. Shakespeares point also eventually makes its way across as well. So is it Shakespeare’s animal imagery in Macbeth getting out of hand, or is ours?
Shakespeare's animal imagery never really bothered me that much...it's the weird stuff like the drunk porter pretending to open & close the gates of hell that jumps out at me. But I think that great authors, like Shakespeare & Dickens, don't just use random literary devices. All of their similes & metaphors have something to do with the central theme & serve to enhance it.
ReplyDeleteI must say, I do like the "Tough titty said the kitty, but the milks still good" saying...I may have to steal it...
ReplyDeleteAnd, one thing to note is that a lot of the usage of the ravens being creepy watchers is probably indirectly influenced by the bit in Norse Mythology where Odin has two ravens that he uses to spy.
I like the kitty titty one too. It's strange. Shakespeare should have "grow[n] a pair" like Karisa always says. He could have outright said what he meant instead of using animals and other colloquialisms. Though I must say I like the way he chose to do things much better.
ReplyDeletei just think the animals were something he knew that people from all social classes would understand. we must remember that the rich and the poor saw his plays, and there is very little that the uneducated poor could understand. he had to use metaphors that they could comprehend, but metephors that weren't dumb-ed down so much that the rich wouldn't understand. animals are something everyone, reguardless of social calls, have seen. I think the same could be said for the animal sayings today.
ReplyDeleteI think that Shakespeare was being creative with the animal phrases because he wanted a different way to express what he meant. Although it may be more clear to the reader to just say what he means, I think he used animals to sound kind of poetic and give the play a more valuable meaning. It also seems like he wanted to use animals to represent something more then just what was going on with Macbeth.
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