Shakespeare’s Influence on the

English Language
Dr. Abin Chakraborty
Assistant Professor in English
Chandernagore College
 Shakespeare’s Greatness
• Shakespeare was not only the greatest English
playwright of all times but he also drastically
reshaped the English language with his boldness, his
innovations and his capacity for coining eloquent
and effective phrases and expressions which have
become ingrained in the language and are
unconsciously used by many in everyday contexts.
• No other individual author has thus influenced the
evolution of the language.
 Bold Metaphors
• One of the hallmarks of Shakespeare’s language is his use of powerful metaphors
based on details associated with both nature as well mundane, everyday domestic and
professional details.
• Examples:

I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on the other.

He cannot buckle his distempered cause

With the belt of rule

Common details associated with horse-riding or the image of a person suffering from
dropsy are used in these lines to communicate either destructive ambition or untamed
political turmoil.
 Sentence Structure
• Shakespeare often modifies or defies grammatical rules and
regulations in order to make his sentences more potent or
expressive.
• E.g. In Othello, the expression “lovers’ absent hours” is used to
refer to times during which lovers are absent, even though absent
is not supposed to be used as an adjective for hours.
• Likewise, he also uses double negatives (“Nor is this not my nose
neither”) or double superlatives (“the most unkindest cut of all”)
which makes certain statements more dramatic.
• In King Lear, Shakespeare unprecedentedly uses the sentence
“Never, never never never never” to connote the heart-
wrenching finality of Cordelia’s death for Lear. The use of one
word five times in one sentence was indeed rare.
 Converting Parts of Speech
• Shakespeare regularly used nouns as verbs or adjectives
as adverbs and thus gave rise to new usages:

• Noun as Verb: “Her breath will mist or stain the stone”

• Noun as Adjective: “His music vows”
• Adjective as Verb: “ Should safe my going”
• Adjective as Adverb: “ And you, my sinews, grown not
instant cold”
• Pronoun as Noun: “ Lady you are the cruellest she alive”
• Adverb as Noun: “Thou losest here a better where to
find”
• Preposition as Adjective: “Whom this beneath world doth
embrace”
 Shakespeare’s Vocabulary
• Shakespeare enriched the English language by deploying a whole host
of words from different sources which witnessed their first literary
application in his plays and thus gained new currency. Shakespeare
introduced 1,700 original words into the language.
• E.g. assassination, barefaced, fount, fretful, eventful, atomy, bourne
etc.
• He also endowed certain provincial words with literary application as
evident from words like boltered (“blood-boltered”) or dwindle
(“dwindle peak and pine”).
• He also made poetic compounds by joining two adjectives with each
other: daring-hardy, happy-valiant etc.
• Shakespeare also daringly used prefixes to coin new compounds,
hybrids and derivatives:
• En/Em: enchafed, endeared, embattle, enkindle etc.
• Un: unavoided, unvalued, unfellowed, unfathered, unexpressive,
uncharge etc.
 Memorable Phrases, Sentences
• Shakespeare’s greatest contribution to the English language lies in his
creation of scores of memorable phrases which have almost acquired the
status of proverbial expressions and are regularly used by countless
individuals often without any knowledge of their Shakespearean lineage.
• E.g. tower of strength (Richard III) , full of sound and fury, the be-all and
the end-all ( Macbeth), hold the mirror up to nature, to speak daggers
(Hamlet), to have one’s pound of flesh (Merchant of Venice), hoist with
his own petard, Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t
(Hamlet), Cowards die many times before their deaths (Julius Caesar) etc.
• A phrase like “to out-Herod Herod” has not only passed into popular
parlance but has given rise to many similar expressions as well.
• Some of the phrases have become part of popular parlance but with
altered meanings. E.g. foregone conclusion was used by Shakespeare to
refer to previous experience but has come to mean an inevitable result.
Likewise single blessedness was used to refer to the married state but is
generally used ironically now to refer to the joys of being unmarried.
 Some more examples of Popular
Shakespearean Neologisms
• ‘Green-eyed Monster’ (Othello)
• ‘Wild goose chase’ (Romeo and Juliet)
• ‘For goodness’ sake’ (Henry VIII)
• ‘In a pickle’ (The Tempest)
• ‘Good riddance’ (Troilus and Cressida)
• ‘Heart of gold’ (Henry V)
• ‘Pure as the driven snow’ (Hamlet)
• ‘Forever and a day’ (As you like it)
• ‘It’s Greek to me’ (Julius Caesar)
• ‘You’ve got to be cruel to be kind’ (Hamlet)
• ‘Break the ice’ (The Taming of the Shrew)
 Shylock’s Uniqueness
• One of the most significant characters who testified to Shakespeare’s
unique linguistic ability is Shylock in Merchant of Venice. In order to
emphasise his distinctive identity as a Jew Shakespeare used certain
phrases and words that make him stand out from other characters.
• He uses Biblical words like synagogue, Nazarite and Publican which
are not found elsewhere in Shakespeare.
• He uses expressions like Jacob’s staff or Hagar’s offspring which also
allude to the Old Testament and swears by the holy Sabbath which is
a typical Jewish oath.
• He uses words not used by others such as misbeliever or eanling or
and uses certain words unusually such as usuance (in place of usury)
or moneys (in place of money).
• Inventing a unique register for a distinctive character like Shylock
testifies to Shakespeare’s verbal dexterity.
 Conclusion
• “Shakespeare’s vocabulary is often stated to be the richest
ever employed by any single man.” – Otto Jespersen
• It is a well-known fact that, except for a man like the
Elizabethan translator Philemon Holland, Shakespeare
had the largest vocabulary of any English writer. – A.C.
Baugh
• Shakespeare’s legacy thus remains imperishable not just
in the realm of literature but in the realm of the English
language itself. So long as the English language will be
spoken, we will remain indebted to his genius.