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Masters of Chiasmus: William Shakespeare (Part 1)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

One of the most enduring legends about Shakespeare is that he hastily moved from Stratford to London at age nineteen after having been prosecuted by Justice of the Peace Sir Thomas Lucy for poaching on the Lucy family's estate. Shakespeare didn't help his case much, for he apparently responded to the allegations by writing a derogatory verse about Lucy, chiastically punning his name with the word louse.

Referred to as "The Lucy Ballad" by scholars, many regard it as Shakespeare's first attempt at poetry. If true, it means his first written effort included an experiment with chiasmus. As he matured, Shakespeare grew very fond of chiasmus, with hundreds of examples appearing in his works. I'll present a couple dozen of my favorites here, in general starting with the earlier works and moving forward.

Shakespeare may not have invented the technique of chiastic dialogue, but he certainly brought it to a new level. This example combines chiastic repartee with another form of wordplay he enjoyed, punning.

A moment later in the same scene, the chiastic dialogue continues:

Our next example comes from The Two Gentleman Of Verona (1590-95). Early in the play, some quibbling, which is verbal word play of a one-upmanship nature, occurs between Proteus, one of the gentleman from Verona, and Speed, the servant of the other gentleman. Speed begins by denying that he's a sheep to his master, a charge just made against him by Proteus. Note the two separate examples of chiasmus as he says:

Proteus responds with a chiastic counter-charge (again, note the double chiasm):

A moment later, the dialogue continues on chiastically as it degenerates into sexual innuendo. Speed, who now humorously refers to himself as a "lost mutton" (i.e., a lost sheep), is asked if he has delivered a letter to Julia, who he describes as a "lac'd mutton," an Elizabethan reference to a prostitute:

In Act Three, Proteus offers some good chiastic advice to Valentine, the other gentleman of Verona:

In other words, stop worrying about the things you cannot help and begin to help yourself by devising a remedy for the things you're worried about. This passage inspired me to compose a chiastic maxim I have found helpful in my own life: "Accept the things you cannot change, and change the things you cannot accept."

Our next example occurs in the same scene that gave us Shakespeare's memorable words about gilding refined gold and painting the lily:

Here, Pembroke expresses an age-old truth: attempting to excuse or explain one's faults usually backfires, only drawing more attention to them. A similar sentiment is contained in the English proverb, "He who excuses himself, accuses himself."

"The world is grown so bad That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch. Since every Jack became a gentleman, There's many a gentle person made a Jack." King Richard III (1592)

The words are from Gloucester, later to become Richard III, as he complains about royal sycophants bad-mouthing him to the king. In Shakespeare's time "Jack" was used to refer to a low-bred person. Gloucester's point, I believe, is that when low-bred fools become noblemen, noblemen begin to act like low-bred fools.

The Rape of Lucrece is a long narrative poem based on Livy's original story about the rape of Lucretia by Sextus. This line, in which gage means "to pledge," probably inspired the motto of the Three Musketeers. Dumas wrote his famous novel a century and a half after Shakespeare and was undoubtedly familiar with the line.

The words come from Richard himself when, near the end of the play, he finds himself imprisoned in Pomfret Castle. In his grief and despair, he does some soul-searching about his past and reflects upon the seriousness of his present situation.

The words come from Theseus, but they undoubtedly reflect Shakespeare's view as well, that a great poet must be able to grasp the sublime while never losing touch with the prosaic, and vice versa.

King Henry says this about himself while trying to persuade the French Princess Katherine to be his bride. His point is that he's a good catch. Here's how he'd say it in the first person if we translated it into modern language: "If I'm not fellow with (meaning equal to) the best king, I think you'll find that I'm the best king among the good fellows you might choose."

This line occurs within the first couple of minutes of the play. Leonato has just learned from a messenger that Don Pedro and Claudio are returning home from the war. When the messenger reports that he has informed Claudio's uncle of his nephew's military exploits and his imminent return home, Leonato asks, "Did he break out into tears?" When the messenger replies, "In great measure," Leonato replies with this line, meaning that tears associated with joy are the best kind of tears (no faces are truer than those washed this way), adding the truism that weeping done during times of joy is certainly preferable to feeling joy when people are weeping.

Talking to himself about the importance of wit and wisdom in Twelfth Night, Feste the clown cites Quinapalus as the author of a pithy chiastic quote. You won't find Quinapalus listed in any reference books, though. He's a fictional creation of Shakespeare's, and this is the only mention of him in his works.

There are three separate chiastic phrases in this passage, where Feste the Clown is responding to Lady Olivia's critical comments about him. Let me highlight them for you:

Here's what I think Feste is saying. He begins by identifying the conventional methods for remedying thirstiness (water) and dishonesty (good counsel). He then suggests that, when conventional methods will not lead people to mend their ways, they should be reformed by someone specially equipped to do the job, as a botcher (a cobbler or tailor) does with shoes or clothing. If I understand him correctly, he then appears to say that mended things are rarely completely fixed, and that, even if he does mend his ways, it will only be a partial fix and he'll still be imperfect.

 Continue to Part 2

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