Re:Overuse of the word “the” in “Macbeth”
by andensande on Friday August 27, 2021 @06:59PM
(#28333907)
The conclusions of the article seem a bit far-fetched to me, and seem to ignore the rhetorical style of poetry and theatre at the time. One of the examples the author gives (where they missed a contracted instance of "the"):
> [...] Look like th' innocent flower,/But be the serpent under ’t.
It is still acceptable in modern English to say something like
> Seem like the innocent flower, but be as the serpent underneath it.
Certainly not casual, everyday speech -- but using a rhetorical strategy of referring to an archetypal innocent flower, or an archetypal serpent. I think it's an enormous stretch to claim that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had a specific innocent flower in mind when they were speaking.
> [...] Look like th' innocent flower,/But be the serpent under ’t.
It is still acceptable in modern English to say something like
> Seem like the innocent flower, but be as the serpent underneath it.
Certainly not casual, everyday speech -- but using a rhetorical strategy of referring to an archetypal innocent flower, or an archetypal serpent. I think it's an enormous stretch to claim that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had a specific innocent flower in mind when they were speaking.