Journal of English Language Teaching

Words, Actions and Truth: Philosophy of Language in Shakespeare’s Plays

N.S. Gundur

Associate Professor, Department of Studies and Research in English, Tumkur University

Keywords: Philosophy of Language, Speech acts in Shakespearean plays, King Lear

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Abstract

A certain kind of critical enquiry into Shakespeare’s plays, from Johnsonian criticism to the recent David Crystal’s linguistic criticism, hails the way Shakespeare handles language in his plays as his unique artistic achievement. However, in the celebration of Shakespeare’s linguistic-artistic triumph what has generally been overlooked is his deeper insights about the role of language plays in human affairs. While making a sharp distinction between Shakespeare’s use of language and Shakespeare’s understanding of human language, the present paper focuses on the latter; it tries to argue that one  can reconstruct Shakespeare’s philosophy of language through the reading of some of his plays— King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice, among others. Although these plays can be read at various levels, one  cannot miss the element of ‘verbal tragedy’ in these plays, especially in King Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet. In this sense, these plays are meant for their protagonists coming to terms with their understanding of human speech-acts. At the very obvious level,  Lear does not know how to receive the speech-act of Cordelia, Macbeth lacks, what Speech-Act theorists call, ‘pragmatic competence’, and the problem of Hamlet (Oh my God! Oedipus complex in Hamlet is too big a thing to be understood) is the problem of how to ‘read’ the words of the ghost. In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock fails to comprehend the mischief language plays in legal affairs. However, this paper confines itself to the analysis of King Lear.

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References

Searle, John. (2009) Making the Social World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shakespeare, William. (1966). King Lear in Complete Works of William Shakespeare. B. Hodek. London: Spring Books. All textual references are to this edition.