negation in hamlet

8/3/2019 Negation in Hamlet

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UNIVERSITY OF TUZLA

FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY

DEPARTMENT: English Language and Literature

COURSE: History of English Language

NEGATION IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAY

HAMLET

PROFESSOR: STUDENT:

____________________________ _______________________

TUZLA, 2011



CONTENTS

1. Introduction

1.1. Aim of the paper

2. Theoretical Framework

2.1. The Early Modern Period

2.2. William Shakespeare and His Contributions to English Language and Literature

3. Analysis

3.1. Local Negation

3.2. Clausal Negation through Verbs

3.2.1. Auxiliary Verbs Negation

3.2.2. Modal Verbs Negation

3.2.3. Negation in Imperative Structures

3.3. Clausal Negation through Other Sentence Elements

3.4. Double Negation

4. Conclusion

5. References



1. Introduction

1.1. Aim of the paper

The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis on some of the most noticeable patterns of both clausal

and local negation recognized in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet , both in terms of the actual time

the work itself was written and in terms of various clearly visible differences the language of

Shakespeare’s time and the Contemporary English may have.

Namely, the first part of the paper will focus on presenting some basic information regarding

development of English language, from its early stages up to the modern times. In addition, it will

introduce some basic information concerning William Shakespeare himself, with the emphasis on his

contributions to the English language and also English literature. In other words, the first part will

briefly mention various important information that appear to be crucial for understanding the issue.

Moreover, the second part will focus on detailed analysis of the negation structures and patterns

that are noticeable and characteristic of Shakespeare’s use of language, with the focus on the

aforementioned play. More precisely, this part will elaborate on the way local and clausal negation was

executed in this work providing various examples to make the matter more understandable.

Finally, the paper will offer a final conclusion that will be derived based on the analysis

conducted on the negation structures and patterns in the Shakespeare’s play Hamlet . The conclusion,

however, will not just a brief summary of the analysis findings, but may also include the author ’s

personal conclusion that would in a way make the whole paper more purposeful. In other words, the

final part will provide both a brief summary of the most important points of the paper and the author ’s

conclusion based on the analysis of these points.



2. Theoretical Framework

2.1. The Modern English period

As it was already mentioned, the Early Modern English period saw the establishment of the standard

written language. The establishment of the standard language was mostly influenced by the needs of

bureaucracy, i.e. the needs to regularize procedures they follow in conducting its business (Algeo,

2010: 156). However, in order to establish a normative, standard, language that is to be used by the

entire nation, a detailed research on the nature of the language, including its stages of development, has

to be conducted; therefore, "the existence of a standard language and the study of that language go

together". (ibid.) Logically, this was the period in which first English dictionaries appeared. The most

important for the development of Modern English was the appearance of Samuel Johnson’s two-

volume Dictionary of English Language in 1755.

"Syntactically, Early Modern English resembles Present-day English more than Middle English

both in terms of phrase structure and word-order, " said Nevalainen (2006: 103). Nonetheless, one of

the most prominent characteristics of the Modern English language is introduction of the auxiliary do

into negative and interrogative clauses. For example, Chaucer would perceive a sentence like "For this

ye knowen al so wel as I" perfectly correct, the Modern English would see it as an archaic form for

"For this thing do you know as well as I". However, unlike Chaucer, Shakespeare would use either “I

know not” or “I do not know”, which speaks in favor of the optional nature of the auxiliary do in the

Middle English, as opposed to its obligatory nature in the Modern English. Moreover, some of the

crucial syntactic contexts into which the auxiliary do was introduced was verb phrases containing the

negator not or marking the negative polarity of the sentence by placing the negator not close to the

auxiliary, but the most important change was the disappearance of multiple negations (e.g. You haven’ t

see nothing like it) from the standard varieties of English language (Nevalainen, 2006: 111).

On the other hand, although demonstratives this/these and that/those did not change their

functions to greater extent, quite a noticeable feature of the Modern English is the abolition of the

demonstrative a demonstrative yon or yond(er), which meant “remote from both speaker and hearer”

(Anglik.net, n .d.). In addition, quite interesting is the use of two similar pronouns: thou which, used for

addressing someone by their first name, and you, related to addressing someone by their title and

surname in order to show respect, both of which were completely ceased to be used in the Modern

English. Some of these changes are shared by most varieties of the contemporary English language,

while others have come to be associated with the rise of the standard language.



2.2. William Shakespeare and His Contributions to English Language and Literature

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon as the second of eight children.

Unfortunately, since his father fell in debts, he was removed from school at the age of thirteen and had

to start working at an early age (Mabillard, 2000). When he was only eighteen years old, he married

twenty-six-year-old Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children (Rowse, 1973). In late 1580s,

Shakespeare left Stratford and went to London where he became an actor. There is no documentary

evidence suggesting the reason why he left Stratford, but many claim that he had already been acting

for two or three years in local companies before going to London.

Whenever he began with his acting, Shakespeare was apparently a respected and popular actor.

Howler, as time went on, writing plays seem to have become more important to him than acting. He

worked for several theatre companies, and eventually he become a leader of a theatre company known

as Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Rowse, 1973). His home theatre, however, was The Theatre and later on,

after which he built the Globe Theatre. Most likely, he helped stage plays for the company, including

his own; and he wrote plays exclusively for the Lord Chamberlain’s company (ibid.) Shakespeare is the

only Elizabethan dramatist known to have written, produced, acted and owned a share of the theatre.

After Queen Elizabeth's death King James I acceded to the throne. He immediately took the Lord

Chamberlain’s Men under his patronage, and they became the King’s Men. Finally, he retired to

Stratford where he spent most of his time. He died in 1616, at the age of fifty-two (Mabillard, 2000).

William Shakespeare wrote numerous comedies, histories, tragedies and sonnets, which made him

considered as the best English author ever. He had been said to have the ability to lighten the mood of

the scene of play by adding a little comic relief, most often by using various metaphors, puns and word-

plays in order to lessen the monotony of the language. On the other hand, he also brought major

contributions to English language by creating disjointed and complicated sentences, omitting some

words making it more difficult for the reader to understand the statement etc. However, one of the most

important things he is remembered for is the fact that he was the originator of many coin words that are

used even nowadays. For example, some of many Shakespearian words still used are as follows: agile,

allurement, critical, dire, emphasis, horrid, modest, prodigious, vast etc. (Baugh and Cable, 2005: 217).



3. Analysis

3.1. Local Negation

Local negation is such a negation in which one or more elements are negated but this negation does not

make the whole clause negative. The most obvious local negation is in the cases where negation

operates on word level (Bache, C. and N. Davidsen-Nielsen, 1997). In other words, a word having

negative meaning negates only some elements. There are many such examples in W. Shakespeare’s

Hamlet:

"In the dead vast and middle of the night,

Been thus encounter'd."

On the other hand, local negation can be introduced with negator not negator negating only one

or more elements of the clause but certainly not the entire clause. In the aforementioned Shakespeare’s

play, these instances are most likely to appear in imperative structures or attached to various adverbials:

"Think it no more."

"Giving to you no further personal power…"

3.2. Clausal Negation through Verbs

Unlike local negation that negates only one or sometimes two elements of the clause, clausal negation,

as its name suggests, results in the entire clause being negative. The following will demonstrate various

occasions and forms in which it appears.

3.2.1. Auxiliary Verbs Negation

The most commonly encountered type of negation is the one that involves combining an auxiliary and

the negator not and examples of this type of negation in Hamlet are as follows:

"I do not know, my lord, what I should think."

"But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade.



However, there are many cases in which the auxiliary is omitted, which is usually accompanied

by the word order that is in Late Modern English rather questionable:

"In what particular thought to work I know not ;"

3.2.2. Modal Verbs Negation

Modal verbs negation is common not only in Late Modern English but it also seems that it is common

in Shakespearean English of the Early Modern period:

"I would not hear your enemy say so,

Nor shall you do mine ear that violence,"

"I shall not look upon his like again."

3.2.3. Negation in Imperative Structures

Clause negation can also appear in imperative structures entirely negating the rest of the clause.

However, unlike in Late Modern English, most often in Hamlet the auxiliary is omitted:

"And convoy is assistant, do not sleep,

But let me hear from you."

"Stand dumb and speak not to him"

On the other hand, it is important to mention that constructions identical to imperatives are used

to address a person/thing:

"O, fear me not."

3.3. Clausal Negation through Other Sentence Elements

Clause negation in English language most often operates through verb negation; however, in order to

emphasize or exaggerate certain properties of a clause element, other clause elements, such as subjects

or objects, can be negated too, as the examples show:

" Not a mouse stirring."



"Giving to you no further personal power

To business with the king,"

3.4. Double Negation

Although double negation was more characteristic of the Middle English period, Shakespeare tends to

use a rather awkward version of it, in aesthetic purposes. In the standard Late Modern English,

naturally, double negation is considered highly incorrect. The examples are below:

"It is not nor it cannot come to good…"

"And yet, to me,what is this quintessence of dust?

man delights notme: no, nor woman neither ,

though by your smiling you seem to say so."

4. CONCLUSION

Generally speaking, this paper dealt with some of the most important characteristics of Shakespeare’s

negation as recognized in his famous play Hamlet . In order to fulfill the aim stated at the beginning of

this paper, various examples have been provided and briefly elaborated, in relation to the status they

have in standard Late Modern English, meaning the English we speak nowadays; sometimes, the

patterns were similar in both Early and Late Modern English and sometimes they were completely

different.

The most important conclusion that is to be derived from the paper, however, is that the two

instances of English language had both same and different approaches, but that Shakespeare was the

most important representative of the former. Some of the approaches to forming negation that should

be taken into considerations are those related to local and clausal negation, as well as the not-so-rare

emergence of the double negation mostly common to the Chaucerian Middle English period. In other

words, this analysis is merely a beginning and just one possibility, since there are various other ways

through which negation can be observed; on the other hand, the approach used in the paper is chosen

only for the sake of more compact view that can fit the word limit given. Hopefully, whatever the

approach to the issue may seem, the aim set in the introductory part is successfully fulfilled.



5. References

1. Algeo, N. (2010). The Origins and Development of the English Language. [online] 6th

ed. Boston: Wadsworth

Cengage Learning. Retrieved on February 18, 2011

http://books.google.ba/books?id=znFmBZ2D8rEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Origins+and+Development+of+th

e+English+Language&source=bl&ots=GU-RWnQia7&sig=l2-bCDylHxzHlgAIQPyjZSsmKJ8&hl=bs&ei=DhZkTZ_pIYmu8QPouOTxCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resn

um=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

2. Anglik.net (n.d.). A Brief History of the English Language. [online]

Available at < http://anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm > [February 16, 2011]

3. Baugh A. C. and T. Cable (2005: 5th

ed.). A History of the English Language. London: Taylor & Francis Group.

4. Bache, C. and N. Davidsen-Nielsen (1997). Mastering English: an advanced grammar for non-native and native

speakers. [online] Retrieved on February 18, 2011

http://books.google.ba/books?id=6aZkZqlWeo8C&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=Local+negation&source=bl&ots=j3

T_qZ5T8V&sig=lwc4jPEx8tIyxm9DLNfZOxQwfkk&hl=bs&ei=AwRkTYvXOdO48gOVqtnxCA&sa=X&oi=book_r

esult&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Local%20negation&f=false

5. Mabillard, Amanda (2000). William Shakespeare of Stratford: Shakespeare's Education and

Childhood Shakespeare. [Online] Available at <

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespeareeducation.html > [February 18, 2011]

6. Nevalainen, T. (2006). An Introduction to Early Modern English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Retrieved on February 16, 2011

http://books.google.ba/books?id=znFmBZ2D8rEC&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=double+negatives+in+chaucers+pr

ologue&source=bl&ots=GU-RUpMbb2&sig=K30zj5YVgSi32vD5Jp-zub9pDeU&hl=hr&ei=l0RhTar_FIyp8AO_9q1a&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEsQ6AEwB

w#v=onepage&q&f=false

7. Rowse, A. L. (1973). Shakespeare the Man. London: Macmillan.

http://books.google.ba/books?id=znFmBZ2D8rEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Origins+and+Development+of+the+English+Language&source=bl&ots=GU-RWnQia7&sig=l2-bCDylHxzHlgAIQPyjZSsmKJ8&hl=bs&ei=DhZkTZ_pIYmu8QPouOTxCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false




http://anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm

http://books.google.ba/books?id=6aZkZqlWeo8C&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=Local+negation&source=bl&ots=j3T_qZ5T8V&sig=lwc4jPEx8tIyxm9DLNfZOxQwfkk&hl=bs&ei=AwRkTYvXOdO48gOVqtnxCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Local%20negation&f=false



http://books.google.ba/books?id=znFmBZ2D8rEC&pg=PA160&lpg=PA160&dq=double+negatives+in+chaucers+prologue&source=bl&ots=GU-RUpMbb2&sig=K30zj5YVgSi32vD5Jp-zub9pDeU&hl=hr&ei=l0RhTar_FIyp8AO_9q1a&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false











http://anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm





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