Thy name is
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"______ thy name is ______" is a catch phrase use to indicate the completeness of which something embodies a particular quality, usually a negative one.
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[edit] History
The origin of the term is generally agreed to come from the Shakespearean play Hamlet (I, ii, 146). In this work, the title character, is chastised by his uncle (and new stepfather), Claudius, for grieving his father so much, calling it unmanly. In the following soliloquy, Hamlet denounces his mother's swift remarriage, with the statement, "Frailty, thy name is woman."[1] He thus equates womankind with the attribute of frailty.[2]
Occasionally in modern times, the expression is rendered "thy name art," a kind of archaism that intends to emphasize the style of English used in the 16th Century. However, this usage is incorrect, and would be the modern day equivalent of saying "your name are."
[edit] Examples
[edit] Quoted
- Amos Bronson Alcott famously said of William Ellery Channing in 1871, "Whim, thy name is Channing." He was referring to Channing's Transcendentalist poetry style.
[edit] Television
- In "The Simpsons" episode entitled "Krusty Gets Busted," in reference to the titular clown, Bart pronounces, "Comedy, thy name is Krusty."
- Episode 21 of the television show Joan of Arcadia is titled "Vanity, Thy Name is Human."
[edit] Literature
- The poet Anne Sexton has a poem called "Divorce, Thy Name Is Woman"
- Edmond Dantes in "The Count of Monte Cristo" pronounces the phrase after learning that his fiancee Mercedes has married his rival Fernand
[edit] Notes
- ^ (2006). "Frailty, thy name is woman!" ENotes.com (accessed October 13, 2006)
- ^ Martin, Gary (2006). "Frailty, thy name is woman" Phrases.org.uk (accessed October 13, 2006)
[edit] External links
- "Frailty, thy name is woman", from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
