الفهرس 
Tension between Meter and Syntax in HamletOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The current study aims at investigating the relationship between meter and syntax in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello to see to what extent meter is used to reinforce meaning. In other words, it analyzes the plays, concentrating on the structural elements and the character development in selected turns and soliloquies given by the two major characters namely Hamlet and Othello, based on the departures from the iambic norm. Tension between syntax and meter is discussed within and across each line of the selected excerpts in order to address issues that are effectively involved in Shakespeare’s use of poetic license and its relation to syntax to enforce his meanings and messages and to portray his characters. The study mainly tests how the metrical tools used affect the meaning. In addition, it evaluates to what extent there is a relationship between structure and meaning on the one hand and meter and meaning on the other. To achieve this, the stylistic approach is applied. The thesis comes to a conclusion that shows the importance of using meter in giving certain meanings through using different types of poetic license such as promotion, demotion, compression, trochaic substitution, anapestic substitution and feminine ending. It also summarizes how these tools are quite suitable for serving the intended meanings through using ups and downs in the metrical scansion to deliver a certain message by breaking the iambic lines. Furthermore, it gives a psychological analysis and a comparison between Hamlet and Othello in relation to the meter and sentence structure.