Names, names,

names.
Julia Garca Quirs

Shakespeares
characters
names and surnames can be
divided in two types.
Serious names
Comic names.

Serious names
These ones are the names of characters
taken from:
History (Henry V or Gloucester)
The classics (Chiron, Portia)
Standard British names (Antonio, Juliet)

or surnames (Montague, Aragon).

 No

special linguistic reason for

them

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Arbitrary chosen and their purpose

is not to make an impact on their

audience

Comic names
O More ridiculous and inferior.
O About 40 like them in Shakespeares

plays.
O Almost all are male names
O Their duty = common adjectives or

nouns in the language (puns)

Examples
Foolish gentlemen: Falstaf, Froth.
Clergymen, schoolmasters, justices and their associates:

Pinch, Shallow and Silence.

Sergeants and constables: Dull, Elbow.
Locals acting in representation during peacetime, and fighting

for the king in time of war: Bottom, Flute, Poins, Peto.

Ladies of the town: Quickly, Tearsheet, Overdone.
Clowns, jesters and other servants: Simple and Rugby, Mote

and Costard.

O Onomatopoeic monosyllables
O Only three long names:
Aguecheck
Dogberry
Overdone

O Shakespeare was fond of using

compound names

Shakespeares two patterns for compound

names:
1. Imperative verb + noun
Names for comic porpuses
Starvelakey, Pickbone, Patchbreech and
Keepdown
2. Adjective (or adjective-like noun) +
noun
Bullcalf, Goodfellow, Mustardseed and
Peascod.