The passage chosen for this assignment is passage A. some of the images and phrases that stand out in the passage come about by the mention of heaven and torch lighting as in “Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, not light them for themselves; …” These trigger the mind of the reader by figuring out the lighting phenomena from the torch relative to heaven with us. It is metaphorical that the nature is likened to a thrifty goddess. This metaphor describes the great and secure basis on which nature determines the glory of a creditor.
The two selected words from the passage are character and virtues. In the selected passage, the word character is used as a noun. However the word can be interpreted as an adjective. On the other hand, the word virtue is used as a noun and has no other interpretation as is in the passage.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The word character in its context measure for measure is used to mean the distinctive nature of a person. The name originated from Old French caractere, via Latin from Greek Kharakter “a stamping tool “earlier then, it meant ‘distinctive mark’ from which the definition ‘token, trait or feature’ arose early in the 16th century which was its earliest days of use. From this definition, arose “a description of a person’s qualities” as the new definition which further gave rise to “distinguishing qualities”. In measure for measure, Shakespeare used the word to mean the strength and originality in a person’s nature. Shakespeare in this context did not change the meaning of the word. Today, the word is generally used to mean; first, the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Second, a person in a play, novel or film, third, in computing it means a printed or written letter or symbol and fourth, a species characteristic as used in biology.
The word virtue as used in the context measure for measure means a quality considered morally good or desirable in a person that in its old version holds the contextual meaning of chastity. The name originated from Old French vertu, from Latin virtus meaning ‘valour, merit, moral perfection’ and from vir that was used to mean man. It was used by Romans as virtus to refer to “men’s excellent qualities”. It was then used in English as virtue early in 13th century. It has since been used to mean the excellent qualities of a person regarding morality. Shakespeare used the name to refer to its ordinary meaning, that is, the good personality, although it could also be interpreted in its archaic meaning to refer to chastity in the same context. The word is used today to mean behavior showing high moral standards and has a second definition in traditional Christian angelology to mean the seventh highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.
The meaning of these words ease the understanding of the passage and creates a picture of the characters in the reader’s mind. The words researched on in the passage open up the mind of the reader to have a clue of the traits and thematic influences of passage characters. Character exposes the leader to understand the qualities of the people while virtue, as used in the play, has unintended and double meanings depending on its placement in the play.
