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There's husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out.
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Fri Nov 03 2006 at 6:07:52
A line from
Macbeth II.i
that is notable because
it means its own opposite
. Because the word "
out
" can take on two meanings and because "
husbandry
" refers both to putting out candles before bedtime and keeping a well-lit house, the sentence can mean two different things at the same time. Compare:
1. "There's husbandry in heaven, the stars are all out on display."
2. "There's husbandry in heaven, the stars are all snuffed out."
A similar example from
Shakespeare
can be found in one of
King Lear
's last lines: "
O you are men of stones!
" -- it conflates the idea of strength ("You are men of stone!") and the idea of weakness ("You are stones!") together. Another, extended example can be found
here
.
Both are examples of
lexical ambiguity
triumphing over
linguistic context
.
printable version
chaos
A delicious gravity
Macbeth II.i
Lexical semantic ambiguity
To be or not to be
Othello
Where songs that are played around campfires with a harmonica come from
Framing
whiskey
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