What is ANTANACLASIS? + PUNS & PUNNING-Definition & Meaning-William Shakespeare examples & wordplay

What is antanaclasis? What does antanaclasis mean? And how does it relate to puns & punning? The video defines & explains the meaning of antanaclasis as a figure of speech in rhetoric, & provides examples using William Shakespeare's plays (& others, including Jane Austen & Samuel Johnson). Antanaclasis is a type of pun & uses punning wordplay, so I also outline the definition of puns. In order to explain the meanings of these two terms (antanaclasis & pun), I also define & explain the terms paronomasia & polysemy. Examples from William Shakespeare include: Othello, Twelfth Night, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, & Hamlet.
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[@DrOctaviaCox]

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[@claratakken3671]

Thank you for your marvellous videos. I enjoy them immensely. I would like to thank you with my donation.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I'm so pleased that you enjoy my videos. And thank you very much indeed for your donation - it is much appreciated.

[@bethanyperry5337]

I appreciate your weekly lessons. Donated today.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@bethanyperry5337 Many thanks Bethany! I'm very pleased you enjoy my videos.

[@HRJohn1944]

Small one-off donation made (I left my Wagnerian yahoo e-mail) - thank you. But why quote Mary Crawford for rude-ish puns (about "a man of vicious conduct") - the rudest pun I can think of is by Hamlet to Ophelia in the "play-within-a-play" scene

[@joanhall9381]

Real-life antanaclasis. I was at a large church convention, and during one of the sessions, a board member told the audience that we all needed to take care to supervise our children because there had been trouble with some of the teens getting in some of the golf carts at the resort and driving them recklessly. It happened that there were some young people sitting near me and I glanced over at them. They smiled and said, "Don't look at us; we're *responsible* teenagers. I replied, "Responsible for what?"

[@phemyda94]

"Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat" is the old "that's what she said"

[@soniamoreira9034]

More Shakespeare's plays analysis, please! Love your work. Thank you!

[@ConstanzeWeber]

Octavia drops a new technical video with great dollops of wonderful, exquisite Shakespeare.... I am one happy girl!!!!!! Another corker, thank you, it's so lovely to hear your passion for all this!!!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

What a lovely comment - thank you!

[@bonniehagan9644]

Not really antanaclasis, but I love the pun made by Mercutio before the Queen Mab speech, "That dreamers often lie." Makes me laugh. Thank you for the delightful videos. I'm loving this exploration of classic literature!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha! - a lovely example of punning wordplay. And many thanks for watching my videos.

[@kellwillsen]

I've always liked this like from Much Ado: "The Count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor well, but civil count, civil as an orange, and something of that jealous complexion." I think it showcases Beatrice's playful and clever wit, while demonstrating that she can use it to defuse situations as well as to inflame them.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

And she's punning too on the homophone 'Seville', also known as bitter orange.

[@bethanyperry5337]

I look forward to your presentations every Friday. Wonderful lesson for the day and I watched it twice. Your insights make me realize that I need to slow down to more fully appreciate excellent writing. Thank you.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

It's my pleasure, Bethany. My advice for good reading is always to read first time for plot only and then focus on analysis on subsequent readings.

[@stephenkoritta9656]

Superb, Doctor Cox! A rigirous analytical treatment of wordplay expanded my understanding of my favorite literary device.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Oh good - I'm very pleased that you found my analysis illuminating - especially given it's a favourite device of many literature lovers (me included!).

[@josephkarl2061]

I like your second reading of Johnsons quote personally. If I had my life again, that's the way I'd go about things 🤣

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Well perhaps if one knew one wasn't going to get caught!

[@mrs.manrique7411]

"False face must hide what the false heart doth know." - Macbeth

[@Tevildo]

That's excellent! "False" was shifting in meaning at the time from "cunning" to "deceitful" (cf _The Tempest_, Act 5 Scene 1 - "Sweet lord, you play me false"), and this is an excellent example of the two meanings in parallel.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Lovely example - "false" face meaning 'artificial / lying'; and "false" heart meaning treacherous.

[@ruthfeiertag]

Get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come.

[@Desvilleux]

I hope to attend one of your lectures next year (Hillary). But for now, your videos are saving my sanity. Thank you.

[@mrs.manrique7411]

The fine line from Hamlet is both amusing and tragic - "amusing" because he's describing a lawyer, "tragic" because he's applying the thought to himself.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, indeed.

[@RaysDad]

Thanks. You always opt for the optimal.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha! Thank you.

[@wendymurphy1967]

Have enjoyed all your Austen talks, thank you . This though is especially wonderful on Antanaclasis (a word I didn’t know!) My mind just boggles at the genius of Shakespeare. You so obviously delight in him yourself and enrich us all with these talks. Thanks again!

[@wizkhalifaa2012]

I love your master classes in youtube. Thank you very much.

[@loveanddeathoncc]

I wrote this yesterday, and then I saw this video: She cleared her throat. “I hope you are well?” “Very well.” Why would she ask such a question? Could she not spare him from deception? She then ventured, “The Leggat boy?” “His discretion was purchased with an apple.” “Very well.”

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Do share your own examples of Shakespearean antanaclasis.

[@marycrawford1594]

I'm not sure if this quite qualifies, but the same words are used over and over again in Margaret's speech in Richard III: 'I had an Edward till a Richard killed him ... And the names in each case refer to a different person. Incredibly clever writing, though there may not be a technical name to describe ti.

[@ruthfeiertag]

I think Hamlet’s repeated “fines” are also a glancing pun on “fine” as “end”: what is (end) point of all these fines if we all finish with the dirt of death (our ultimate end/finis/finale) in our skulls? In similar vein, Mercutio tells us to ask for him tomorrow and we will find him a grave man. On a different note, in _R III_, we learn that the winter of our discontent will be made glorious summer by this sun/son of York. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, living about Fortune’s waist, are her privates, her confidantes - or did you think I meant country matters? Beatrice and Benedick’s initial verbal horseplay ends with a jade’s trick and their love is affirmed when their letters are revealed and their own hands are against their hearts. Petruchio asks Grumio to knock him here soundly, while Petruchio’s chat with dainty Kate - for dainties all are Kates - is nothing but running puns. Kate fends off Petruchio’s threat of violence by telling him if he strikes her, he’ll be no gentleman and so shall lose his arms. My favourite pun may be when she calls him a lunatic: “Then God be blest, it is the blessed sun,/ But sun it is not, when you say it is not;/ And the moon changes even as your mind.” Sovereigns are kings and coins, e.g.: “Full many a glorious morning have I seen/ Flatter the mountain top with sovereign eye, /Kissing with golden face the meadows green/ Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy.” Both kings and coins may be counterfeit. (Hal makes good use of this trope as well, though he intends to show his falseness is what’s false - a dangerous game for the son of a usurper.)

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@marycrawford1594 This is a really interesting point. I suppose that names, in some sense, are the ultimate example of a polysemous word! - So the same repeated words, "Edward" and "Richard", having different meanings (i.e. referring to different men/boys) is an example of antanaclasis. Fascinating example!

[@melissarey2973]

Excellent!! I enjoyed this so much I listened twice.

[@MilciadesAndrion]

This is a great explanation of these terms that for me are complex but Dr. Octavia Cox's explanation makes them simple. I like the video and I subscribe to the channel.

[@wraithconscience]

Another lovely, erudite explication! God bless!

[@signespencer6887]

Hamlet’s speech reminds me of the ‘flight of ideas’ seen in mania. With the dark, depressive undertone

[@Happyheretic2308]

I've learned a new word!!

[@marycrawford1594]

Thank you, Octavia, that was fascinating. Can I draw your attention to the Beatles' song, Because. John Lennon loved wordplay, and I think this one was clever, but would it qualify as antanaclasis because the word repitition with an alternative meaning is implied? 'Because the world is round It turns me on.' (The world *turns* is implied.) 'Because the wind is high It blows my mind.' (The wind *blows* is implied.) 'Because the sky is blue It makes me cry.' (The word 'blue' having another meaning as sad is implied.)

[@pmarkhill519]

Excellent

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I'm glad you found the video fascinating. And an excellent bit of Mary Crawford in there too! I would have said that your example is more rhetorical anaphora rather than antanaclasis. The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms defines anaphora as: "A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences." I think the repetitions of "Because" are anaphoric rather than antanaclastic because the meaning of the word "Because" remains the same in each of the three sentences, even though what that "Because" refers to changes.

[@p_nk7279]

Reporter: Did you have anything on in the photo shoot? Marilyn: I had the radio on. Reporter: And were you wearing anything? Marilyn: I was wearing Chanel No. 5.

[@stacyrodgers5121]

Две равно уважаемых семьи В Вероне, где встречают нас событья, Ведут междоусобные бои И не хотят унять кровопролитья. In case you are wondering, it's the first lines of "Romeo and Juliet", translated into Russian. I've just realized that, unfortunately, all the wordplay is lost here

[@kirstena4001]

This was so informative and interesting!

[@Happyheretic2308]

As Sir Terry Pratchett has it, "it is a Pune, or Play on Words" 😊😇

[@leond8549]

Hamlet's nihilism is particularly apt for the times we are living in - especially in my country - the USA "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sickled o'er with the pale cast of thought. And enterprises of great pith and moment - With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action." My 10th grade self in 1968 thought conscience here meant "sentience" - never found a confirmation - most seem to say it means guilt. I still prefer the more secular meaning... Leon

[@ruthfeiertag]

More Shakespeare, please. How about all of Shakespeare?

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ha! - duly noted. I'm very pleased these videos examining Shakespeare seem to be wanted.

[@ruthfeiertag]

@@DrOctaviaCox Very much so! There is the double delight of your analyses and of getting to listen to your beautifully expressive voice bring Shakespeare's words to life.

[@fayej6591]

He who would pun would pick a pocket.

[@CaroleMcDonnell]

Thank you

[@saragianettitamargo990]

One other meaning of “light” in Othello’s speech before he kills Desdemona is between her light skin and his dark skin.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, indeed - a theme of course that runs throughout the play (from our first meeting of them in Act One).

[@davidperfette1425]

Thanks!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Oh, thank you. Much appreciated.

[@Tevildo]

Beautiful analysis of Hamlet's speech - this was one of the favourits of the Baconians, who argued that only a lawyer would get all the technical terms correct. :) I'm not sure if this strictly counts as antanaclasis, but there's a legendary exchange from the French Revolution: Desmoulins: He [St Just] carries his head like the Holy Sacrament! St Just: I'll make him carry his like St Denis. Are "carry" and "like" sufficiently different in meaning to bring this within the definition?

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Ooooh, this is a really interesting question. Although it doesn't explicitly repeat 'carry his head like', it certainly relies on the _spirit_ of antanaclasis for the joke, so yes I think it counts!

[@barbaratomlinson4433]

"Only" a lawyer could get the technical terms correct? What nonsense by the Baconians! Anyone can get hold of a lawbook and memorize a bunch of terms, and someone as interested in words for their own sake such as Shakespeare obviously was..... Moreover, these were terms used by landowners, disputes over land ownership and use were common in those litigious days, and Shakespeare was a wealthy landowner in his home town of Stratford-on-Avon. No doubt those and many more terms were familiar, and only sound exotic to us who no longer use them. [The lawbooks would have often been written in or translated from Latin, and as education even in lower grades was conducted in Latin, one did not have to be a scholar or go to a University to have an understanding of such texts.]

[@stefanwild326]

now I am curious and have to look up how that fine play on words is translated in the German version of Hamlet

[@jornbaa5151]

I like your beautiful videos and beautiful ones in videos.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you!

[@tamarabedic9601]

Feste's "my house doth stand by the church" has a double meaning. It provides a location for a physical structure (Feste's dwelling place); but also to say "my house" means my family and my servants. My family and my servants "doth stand by the church". Meaning my entire household are in spiritual conformity, are spiritually obedient. A life or death issue in 1601-1602.

[@reilly17]

Civil blood makes civil hands unclean

[@MrAlexsegal]

In some sentences a word or phrase is repeated, and one occurrence is direct speech and the other occurrence is quotation. See below for examples. Does anyone know if there is a name for this? Also, am I right in thinking that this does not count as antanaclasis? Examples: Never say “never”. I love you, and long for the day, / The day when you say “I love you”. (Irving Berlin) In the run-up to Christmas, I will publicly disembowel anyone who says “In the run-up to Christmas”.

[@zillie8167]

I wonder if Shakespeare himself was prone to wondering about himself in this way - "Will this be the fine of my fines...to have my fine pate full of fine dirt?"

[@pmarkhill519]

Hamlet is questioning whether the soul and spirit of humans exist. He’s hoping it does, because otherwise, there is no meaning. God is Good.

[@donsharpe5786]

Better still as in Plymouth sound. A the said person Any sound in the sound would not be sound.

[@Natopera]

Your second interpretation of craft would certainly be how Falstaff lived his life. He is also one of the greatest punners in Shakespeare.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

And Pistol too, I imagine!

[@Natopera]

@@DrOctaviaCox yes, Pistol in Henry IV part 2 is full of over the top language, including borrowed lines from Marlowe. There are quite a few puns on discharge and Pistol in his first conversation with Falstaff in act II scene IV. I have been watching the Henry IV plays and they are criminally underrated. Falstaff is the most fantastic comic character. Wonderful insults and wonderful writing. I am currently working on a series of videos on the "complete" works of Shakespeare on my other channel. I am about half way through.

[@harpar1028]

esemplactic a word fantastic

[@harpar1028]

PUN IS FUN.....LIKE CREAM ON BUN

[@harpar1028]

days on end i daze on