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The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples: Difference between revisions
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Shakespeare was not only the first to use many a trope, but the first troper. That is, the first to comment on it. Some examples:
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: ''[[As You Like It]]'' is adapted from Thomas Lodge's novella ''[[Rosalynde]]'', having an expanded cast and plot.
* [[Badass Beard]]
{{quote|"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man;"
|''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]''}}
* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Sir Toby Belch, from ''[[Twelfth Night]]''; guy can use a sword pretty well for someone who's always drunk.
* [[Cain and Abel]]: Occurs in:
** ''[[Hamlet]]'', an essential part of the plot, Claudius murdering Hamlet's father to usurp the throne of Denmark.
** Twice in ''[[As You Like It]]'', with Oswald and Oliver fighting over their inheritance, and the rivalry between Frederick and Senior; in both cases, the pair of brothers reconcile.
** In ''[[King Lear]]'', Edmund manipulates his father into thinking his half-brother Edgar is plotting against him. Also, the rivalry between scheming sisters Goneril and Regan and Cordelia, the one honest sibling. It ends badly for all of them.
** The rivalry between Don Pedro, the prince of Aragon and his illegitimate half-brother Don John in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]''.
** Prospero in ''[[The Tempest]]'', the rightful Duke of Milan, deposed and exiled by his evil brother Antonio.
* [[Exact Words]]: The Bard ''loved'' this Trope. To give one example, from ''[[Twelfth Night]]'':
{{quote|'''Viola:''' Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live by thy tabour?
'''Feste:''' No, sir, I live by the church.
'''Viola:''' Art thou a churchman?
'''Feste:''' No such matter, sir. I do live by the church; for I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the church.<ref>For anyone who does not "get" the joke, Feste is saying his house is next door to the church, thus he "lives by the church.</ref>}}
* [[Fatal Flaw]]
{{quote|"So, oft it chances in particular men,
Line 18 ⟶ 32:
As infinite as man may undergo --
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault."
|''[[Hamlet]]''}}
* [[Black Comedy]]: The gravedigger scene in ''[[Hamlet]]''. Plus the protagonist's explanation of what he did with Polonius' body:
{{quote|'''Claudius:''' Now Hamlet, where is Polonius?
'''Hamlet:''' At supper.
'''Claudius:''' At supper! Where?
'''Hamlet:''' Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him.}}
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: Shakespeare coined the phrase, although he used it to mean the [[Inverted Trope|inverse]] and it got [[Trope Decay|trope decayed]] ("foregone" means "averted" [[You Keep Using That Word|even today]]):
{{quote|"But this denoted a foregone conclusion: 'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be [[All Just a Dream|but a dream]]."
|''[[Othello]]''}}
* [[Milking the Giant Cow|Hamming It Up]]:
{{quote|"Nor do not saw the air too much with your hands, but suit the action to the word, the word to the action."
|''[[Hamlet]]''}}
* [[Miles Gloriosus]]: Ancient Pistol is a character who appears in three plays (''[[Henry IV Part 2]]'', ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'', and ''[[Henry V]]'') and is a pretty straight example.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]:
{{quote|"If this were acted upon the stage I would condemn it as an improbable fiction."
|''[[Twelfth Night]]''}}
* [[MST3K Mantra]]:
{{quote|"Do not infest your mind with beating on
The strangeness of this business"
|''[[The Tempest]]''}}
* [[Naughty Nuns]]: In ''[[Measure for Measure]]''
* [[
{{quote|
The good is oft interred with their bones.”
|''[[Julius Caesar (theatre)|Julius Caesar]]''}}
* [[No Man of Woman Born]]/[[Prophecy Twist]]: ''[[Macbeth]]'' is the [[Trope Namer]] for the former - the prophecy of the Weird Sisters says "no man of woman born" can harm Macbeth, but MacDuff was "untimely ripped" from his mother's womb (as in, born via Caesarian section), and thus not "born" the regular way.
* [[Out, Damned Spot!]]: Well, of course, as it's the [[Trope Namer]]:
{{quote|"Out, damned spot! out, I say!"
|''[[Macbeth]]''}}
* [[Prince and Pauper]]: ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' used this one almost three centuries before the [[Trope Namer]] did.
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]
Line 37 ⟶ 67:
''That you have but slumbered here / While these visions did appear''
''And this weak and idle theme, / no more yielding, but a dream''
''take my hand, if we be friends / and Robin shall restore amends''
|''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''}}
* [[Seen It a Million Times]]:
{{quote|"How many times shall this our lofty scene be acted o'er? In states unborn and accents yet unknown".
|''[[Julius Caesar (theatre)|Julius Caesar]]''}}
* [[Show Within a Show]]: Many times.
* [[Sock Puppet]]: The use of multiple user ID's to pretend to be someone else or create artificial support for one side in a debate is usually associated with the Internet era, but the same trick was used in ''Julius Caesar'' Act 1 Scene 2 by creating hardcopy messages "in different hands" (ie: by forging the handwriting to appear to be multiple other people) and physically throwing them through Brutus' window. Yes, a character uses a [[Online Personas|made-up persona]] in a play set in ancient Rome and written in Elizabethan England. It's also an early example of [[Astroturf]]ing.
* [[Spin-Off]]: The character of Falstaff, from Henry IV parts 1 and 2, was given his own play, at Royal request.
* [[The Starscream]]:
** Cassius in ''[[Julius Caesar (theatre)|Julius Caesar]]''; he succeeds in killing Caesar, but his plot to take over Rome fails.
** Possibly the title character of ''[[Macbeth]]'' (not enough is known about Duncan to label him a villain). Macbeth succeeds in his plot to assassinate Duncan, but never controls all of Scotland and is himself overthrown and slain by Macduff.
* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: The Bard had ''five'' plays that made use of this plot - ''[[As You Like It]]'', ''[[Two Gentlemen of Verona]]'', ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', and ''[[Cymbeline]]'' - long before the [[Trope Namer]] was written. Was pretty easy for a playwright to use this Trope during a time period [[Fridge Logic| where female characters were always played by men anyway.]]
* [[Your Mom]]:<ref>Yes, Shakespeare [[Double Entendre|did your mom first.]]</ref>
Line 48 ⟶ 83:
'''Aaron:''' ''That which thou canst not undo.''
'''Chiron:''' ''Thou hast undone our mother.''
'''Aaron:''' ''Villain, I have ''done'' thy mother.''
|''[[Titus Andronicus (theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]''}}
{{quote|'''Painter:''' ''Y'are a dog.''
'''Apemantus:''' ''Thy mother's of my generation. What's she, if I be a dog?''
|''[[Timon of Athens]]''}}
{{reflist}}
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