Shakespeare As You Like It: Effective Use Of Sound In Jaques Speech :: essays research papers fc

Shakespeare As You Like It Effective Use of Sound In Jaques Speech     As infamous as Shakespeare is, and as well known as his works are, someprose are just simply more extraordinary than the rest. There are many ways tolook at Jaques speech, such as use of language or imagery yet, something weoften do not reflect on is the hale of the prose. When reading this particularspeech, the subject is directly related to the sounds Shakespeare has chosen.We are guided gracefully through the stages of life in twenty-seven lines. Asit is read aloud, the reader hears the actual sounds that each stage exhibits,and finds themselves part of the speech, experiencing it, as opposed to merelyreading it.     The introduction is like a drum-roll forwards the show starts. Theintonation at which the reader proceeds begins with a high sound due to...(a)ll... 1 being the world-class news. The aw sound is repeated at thebeginning and three times during the next se ntence, And all the men and womenmerely players (2.7.140). The next sentence is lower in pitch, using a lower e sound ..exit and their entrances, (2.7.141). Reappearing in the final twosentences, before the actual ages begin, is the aw sound. The fluctuationlike that of a ring master, is striving to gain attention before the show starts.     The first three stages can be considered the childhood progressing intoadulthood stages. Mewling and puking... (2.7.144), are two words, which whensaid, they are slurred and unclear, much like that of the speech of an infant.The ew in mewling and the you sound in puking are common noises from youngchildren. Next we reach the schoolboy stage. Young men are often reluctant toattend school, and their protests take the form of ...whining... (2.7.145).When the word whining is pronounced, it sounds like a whine. The word startswith a dragged out why sound, making the reader again feel like they aremaking the sounds which are pertin ent to that age. words associated with loversare soft and flowing, much like those used by Shakespeare in the prose of thisage. Sighing like furnace, with woeful ballad (2.7.148), depict more emotionthan seen within the foregoing two stages. When sighing is pronounced, it takes theform of an actual sigh, causing the reader to actually act out the verb insteadof simply speaking it. The three initial stages are complete, go away thereader dangling on the edge of adulthood.     Soldiers are usually equated with fast wit and decisiveness. The use ofshort words and short sounds emphasize these next phoebe bird lines of prose in