PHONOSTYLISTIC ANALYSIS Extract from “Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare

PHONOSTYLISTIC ANALYSIS Extract from “Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare
This poem belongs to the poetic style, which is characterized by repetition of lines, which form stanzas. The atmosphere of the poem is dramatic, majestic, tragic, the narrator seems to stand at that line when you need to make a decision that changes your life forever As for the lexical stylistic devices, this fragment is rich in: metaphors: “the whips and scorns of time”, “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, “mortal coil” epithets: “outrageous fortune”, “weary life”, “devoutly to be wished”, “unworthy takes”, “the proud man’s contumely” hyperbole: “a sea of troubles”
As far as syntactic stylistic devices are concerned, this fragment comprises variety of: parallel constructions: “the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay”, “the oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely”, “the insolence of office and the spurns” repetition: “to be”, “To die – to sleep”, “for” ellipsis: “no more” rhetorical questions: “To be or not to be”, “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?” inversion: “for in that sleep of death what dreams may come”
As for the phonetic devices, this fragment is rich in: assonance: “the insolence of office”, “ but that the dread of something after death”, “he himself might his quietus”, “oppressors wrong” alliteration: “no traveler returns”, “ thus conscience does make cowards”, “the insolence of office”, “bare bodkin”
The stresses are concerned, that’s why the poem is rich in both emphatic (“with a bare bodkin”, “who would fardels bear”, “whether ‘tis nobler”, “the thousand natural shocks”, “perchance to dream”).
The voice range is wide and the voice pitch is various to show the most intense moments and to hold the intrigue, to keep listener’s attention. The speech tempo is also various according to this plan.
There are both short and long sense-groups.
Short: “ To die – to sleep – no more”, “puzzles the will”. Long: “and makes us rather bear those ills we have”, “to grunt and sweat under a weary life”, “for who would bear the whips and scorns of time”.
As for the pre-nuclear pattern, The Sliding Head “The pangs of despised love”. “To grunt and sweat under a weary life”. “To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”. The Descending Stepping Head “And by opposing end them?” “ Their currents turn awry, and loose the name of action” are mostly used in this extract. Final and Non-final terminal tones are mostly the falling ones “No more”, “This conscience does make cowards of us all” to show us that the author is upset, he worries about his actions and he reconsiders his whole life. The pauses are not predictable and do not coincide with syntactical division “There’s the respect That makes calamity of so long life”
“…and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes…”