Flowery Elizabethan English: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This is often used for immortals or [[Really 700 Years Old|near-immortals]], like [[Our Elves Are Better|elves]] or [[Physical God|gods]], or for characters with a very strong connection to the era (perhaps a hyper-obsessive scholar). It can be used in alternate worlds and [[Fantasy]] works where there never was an Elizabethan England. May also be used by [[Time Travel|time travelers]]. Works written during or set in the Elizabethan era do not qualify, however, as the [[People Sitting On Chairs|purpose there is quite different]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Sekirei]]'', Tsukiumi talks like this, most likely as a way of translating her formal Japanese. When she says "Have at thee, villain!", though, it's hard not to imagine her being Thor's [[Distaff Counterpart]].

 

== Comic Books ==

* Parodied in a comedy version of ''[[Alpha Flight]]'', in which the Native American character, Yukon Jack, a loincloth-clad savage from the Canadian north woods whose tribe has had very limited contact with the outside world, speaks fluent Shakespearian all the time.

* Much like Thor, ''[[The Incredible Hercules|Hercules]]'' and the Olympians from Marvel generally talked like this, too. This is averted and subverted at different times in the current run by Greg Pak and Fred van Lente. Hercules talks in modern English. When he goes to the Underworld at one point, his {{spoiler|former human half}} talks in Shakespearean English. Hercules gets mad and asks why he talks like that when they're from ancient Greece.

 

 

* In the ''[[Retief]]'' short story, "Ballots and Bandits", the natives of the planet Oberon all speak this way, for no apparent reason beyond [[Rule of Funny]]. (The name of the planet is a reference to the character from Shakespeare's ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''.)

* In Steven Brust's ''[[To Reign in Hell]]'', most of the angels speak modern English, but Beelzebub speaks in a flowery Elizabethan flavor due to being injured by chaos:

* In [[Roger Zelazny]]'s novel, ''Creatures of Light and Darkness'', a fantasy set far in the future, the immortal Prince Who Was A Thousand tends towards this style of speech, especially when conversing with his bodiless love, Nephytha. Other immortals and gods speak normal modern English, for the most part.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' a number of immortals, particularly [[The Sidhe]], have a tendency to use "thee" and "thou" in casual speech.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'', when they're at a [[Renaissance Faire]].

'''Doris''': Whatever. }}

* Dinobot from ''[[Beast Wars]]''.

 

 

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[[Category:Language Tropes]]