In Shakespeare, “Anywhere You Dig, You Actually Get to Some Kind of Deep Groundwater!”—Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One’s Point

Here’s a recent example of a highly effective communicator using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making his assertion indelible—an example which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative analogies, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

• In his new book “Tyrant—Shakespeare on Power,” renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores The Bard’s relevance to the current political goings-on. Elaborating on the central theme of that publication during a “BBC World News America” interview, Greenblatt suggested: “In difficult times, it helps you to take a deep breath and look at things from an oblique angle because Shakespeare is arguably the greatest, deepest, profoundest thinker of human life.”  He then added: “One of the marvelous things about Shakespeare is anywhere you dig, you actually get to some kind of deep groundwater.”

Of special interest to students and teachers of Shakespeare:
On being asked which play of Shakespeare best mirrors our world, Greenblatt replied: “There are several, (most notably) Richard III; Henry VI, Part 2; ...”

© Copyright 2018  V. J. Singal