Jewellery In Literature – Part 2

Shakespeare
is considered one of the finest English playwrights and his works have been
translated into every language. While
some people may have bad memories of being forced to read his works at school,
there is a definite beauty in his prose and poetry as he makes good use of the
imagery associated with objects to evoke certain emotions and feelings.
In
Shakespeare's time, jewels had a lot of significance attached to them, making
his choice of a particular gem in any particular setting poignant for reasons
that modern readers may not be aware of, but those multiple levels of meaning
are a key feature of his writing.
Much Ado
About Nothing is one
of his comedies, touching on the interplay between courting couples. One of the lead females, Beatrice, is
renowned for having a low opinion of men, the conclusion of the piece being
that she is eventually won round by a charming man. At first, she describes men thus: “If tall, a
lance ill-headed; If low, an agate very vilely cut” showing that even a
precious stone can be worthless if it is not cut properly, or the cutting style
reveals flaws hidden within the stone, a fine metaphor indeed.
In Macbeth
King Duncan sends Lady Macbeth a gift of a diamond. Diamonds were incredibly rare at the time and
most often had to come from India – there were very few in Europe at the time,
so to give one as a gift imparted a certain status on the giver and the
giftee. The significance of the diamond
underpins the dichotomy between Duncan and Macbeth – Duncan is kingly and
deserves the throne, while the murderous Macbeth is not; it is later noted that
as king, he does not give his followers diamonds which is a reference to the
actual gift, but is also a reference to his poor abilities as a leader. The way that the diamond changes hands
throughout the play, and the actions each character takes with it, are symbolic
of their broader personalities and this theme runs throughout the play, with
the transference of the diamond a key prop in the telling of the story.
Throughout
his writing, Shakespeare used jewels and jewellery to add emphasis to
characters and to show the relationships between them in a typically subtle
manner – next time you read any of his work you may be surprised at the sheer
amount of jewel based imagery he uses.
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