The Woman Doth Claim Too Much, Methinks

Norrie Epstein’s The Friendly Shakespeare is really a wonderful book. Instead of watching SportsCenter today over lunch, which I usually do when eating at home, I continued my perusal of this fascinating and fun resource. It is, as the subtitle tells us, “A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard.”

I was fascinated to read in this a list of expressions and phrases which we use all the time that apparently trace their first usage to one of Shakespeare’s plays. Things such as ‘household words’ (Henry V) and ‘bated breath’ (The Merchant of Venice) and ‘dead as a doornail’ (Henry VI, part 2) all were first used by Shakespeare, according the author.

I say ‘apparently’ because my confidence in Ms. Epstein was shaken by her claim that ‘the apple of her eye’ (Love’s Labour’s Lost) belonged on the list. The Bible attributes this to an older poet, a man named Moses, perhaps 3000 years before Shakespeare strutted and fretted upon his stage:

“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” (Deuteronomy 32:10)

Admittedly, there is a change of pronoun. But certainly he cannot be given credit for the image, can he?

Three other times, this expression, “apple of ___ eye” is used in these Scriptures. Shakespeare certainly knew where the image originated. I hope that someone has told Ms. Epstein.

Makes me a bit tenuous on the rest of her list, but not the rest of her book. As I said, it is not only a fascinating resource, but full of fun and delight as well.