【Ted-ED】中字·你应该知道的文学常识

p1:莎士比亚的侮辱

Shakespeare's Use of Words

:how and why did his words make him popular?

-Background: Back in the late 1500s and early 1600s, English literature flourished （蓬勃发展） throughout history to represent the most brilliant century of all. Even though this led to great discoveries of literature, most of the works were really depressing and tragic （悲剧）.

-While on the other hand, Shakespeare uses a lot of insults in his writings. They unified the audience and lightened the mood: "no matter where you sat, you could laugh at what was going on the stage".

THE USAGE OF WORDS:

1. set the mood (营造氛围）

2. strengthen the atmosphere（描写环境）

3. develop relationships between characters（发展人物的关系）

And unsurprisingly, insults fulfill all above.

Examples:

Hamlet:

Hamlet calls Polunius a "fishmonger".

"Fishmonger": (n.) seller of fish （卖鱼的）

: (alt) Elizabethan slang for "fleshmonger"/ "pimp"(中间贩）

Which implies that Polunius is brokering his daughter for money(利用他女儿赚钱).

Romeo and Juliet

bite my hand: they are provoking (挑衅） each other into a fight.

heartless hinds:

heartless: (adj.) lacking in spirit, drive or courage (懦弱的) .

hinds: rear end (屁股).

Hamartia: (n.) fatal character flaw leading to one's downfall. (判断错误; 悲剧性的弱点; 组织构成缺陷;)

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p2: 什么是乌托邦？

Utopia and Dystopia

Utopia: （乌托邦）

an ideal world

Though, it's funny that utopia means "no place" in Greece.

Dystopia: （反乌托邦）

a state of injustice or suffering in the society

One of the earliest (最早的） dystopia books was "Gulliver's Travels"（《格列佛游记》）, through his travel, he encounters what-seemed to（看似） be impressive（ 厉害、敬佩的）societies, but then, turn out to be flawed（有缺陷的）. Many of his journeys involved in the realization of social classes (社会地位）, wealth gap（贫富差距）, and other types of problems in the society.

Throughout these Dystopian books, it's clear that they are expressing real life portrays of the world around us.

In history, there has been many events where these 'fictional' stories had became real life. Governments that wanted to get rid of all social distinctions followed the path of 'dystopia' life, where life was watched by the state and people who didn't belong would only be executed.

And even today's Dystopian books continues to reflect on modern inequality (不公）, climate change（气候变化）, government power（政府权力）, and global epidemics（流行病）.

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