Literary Device: Pun

A pun is a play on words that often exploits a term’s double meaning (figurative and literal) or plays with words through the use of homonyms (words that sound alike, are usually spelled differently, and have different meanings).

How do the cartoons above employ puns? Which words are being “played upon”? How do the puns directly tie into the meaning and intended humor of each picture?

from Julius Caesar (Act I, Scene i)William Shakespeare

MARULLUS: You, sir, what trade are you?  COBBLER: Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, asyou would say, a cobbler.

MARULLUS: But what trade art thou? Answer me directly.  COBBLER: A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.

Julius Caesar – Author’s Purpose• Keeping in mind that a cobbler is a shoemaker, what

pun does the cobbler unintentionally employ to describe his profession? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• When spoken orally, what does the final line suggest beyond its literal meaning?__________________________________________________________________________________

The cobbler accidentally employs a pun when describing his profession – though he states that he is a “mender of soles”, when said in conjunction with “conscience” the audience automatically thinks of souls.

When read aloud, the final line suggests that the cobbler’s occupation involves the mending of twisted human souls.

• The plot of Julius Caesar centers on the betrayal of deep-seated trust and the corruption of the human heart. How does this pun, embedded within the opening scene, help to set the agenda for the drama’s major themes?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Julius Caesar – Author’s Purpose

Through the cobbler’s unintended pun, the audience is primed from the very beginning of the Shakespearean drama to consider the failing of the human conscience and the possible corruption of each individual soul.

from Richard III (Act I, Scene i)William Shakespeare

GLOUCESTER: Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

Richard III – Author’s Purpose• In the opening lines of the play, how does

Gloucester (who will later become crowned King Richard III through devious machinations) employ a pun to describe the peace achieved under his brother, King Edward (a son of York)?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Richard III, Gloucester describes his brother as a “sun” of York to contrast his sunny reign with the gloom of “winter” that the citizens suffer under before Edward’s reign begins.

• Though the kingdom does enjoy a period of peace under Edward’s rule, Richard’s darkness quickly infects the land when he is king and is only purged with the tyrant’s death. What are the deeper implications of this pun in light of the play’s plot?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Richard III – Author’s Purpose

Through this simple pun at the beginning of the drama, the reader is readied for the various shifting moods of shadow and light of the kingdom itself (hinged to the sun-filled or stormy disposition of its current ruler).

Answer the essay question below:• Within his dramatic works, William

Shakespeare sometimes utilizes puns to further develop a play’s sense of conflict or theme. In a well-organized response, with direct text evidence and relevant commentary, explore the use of two Shakespearean puns and determine their impact on the meaning of the text.

Red – Major Writing Task

Blue – Minor Insights/Instructions