SABRINA'S LONDON DIARIES- An American Girl's Adventure in Londinium

Sunday 24 July 2011

Shakespeare: Contribution to the English Language

This is my favorite of all the favorite quotes in the world.
"All the world's a stage"..

Meaning

Life is like a play - we merely go through the stages of our life acting it out.

Origin
From Shakespeare's As You Like It, 1600:

JAQUES:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Book Review- Anne Bronte- Agnes Grey- The Private Life of a Governess

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bronte, Anne. Agnes Grey. London: Oxford University Press. 1845.

Agnes Grey written by Anne Bronte, the youngest of the Bronte sisters, is an autobiographical account of her life and experiences as a governess. Anne Bronte has set out in her own first personal narrative voice to describe the dark side of governesship. In Agnes Grey , Anne Bronte depicts her experiences with two families that employed her, the Murray’s and the Bloomfield’s. Within both families she has to tolerate vile, spoiled children, disrespectful parents, and jealous servants. Agnes Grey is not just governess novel, but a historical novel that depicts what daily life was for a young middle class governess in nineteenth century England. In this novel Anne Bronte was able to record for posterity, point out the specific obstacles and humiliations that many governesses herself included endured to ultimately elevate her status in society’s eyes and gain dignity. This novel Agnes Grey although a real depiction of governess life, is predictable and sometimes lacks sophistication of plot and story telling.

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