The Power of the Pun

                There seem to be two types of people in the world: those who appreciate the art of the pun, and those who do not.  I am of the former group, and as such often attempt to use puns.  Unfortunately, these attempts are met with the very polite “shut up” or with less polite, but more creative, descriptions of how I shall come to bodily harm if I do not stop making puns.

                Despite the disdain for puns many people I know express, many of the stories we read in English Class are created by skillful authors who use puns very strategically.  At the start of the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar, which we read last year in 10 Honors English, a common man, a cobbler, uses a lengthy string of puns in an argument against a high-and-mighty Senator.  The Senator has a plethora of Ethos, which might make those witnessing the argument support him; thus, the “mender of bad soles” (J.C., Act I, Scene I) decides to undermine such respect and gain support for himself by showing off his wit with a series of clever puns that get his point across without seeming blatantly disrespectful to the Senator.  In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, mistress Hibbins refers to Dimmesdale as “The Prince of Air.” (Hawthorne p#)  Hawthorne chooses that exact wording to subtly remind readers of how Dimmesdale, despite his revered reputation, errs by committing adultery, and subsequently by hiding his sin.

                The question is, why do puns work?  Much of what we study in class is about meaning beneath the surface, but such meaning is discovered after in-depth discussion and deep thinking.  Authors, however, know that many members of the intended audience of a piece of literature will never do anything more than casually test the waters before moving on.  To communicate deep meaning, authors are thus forced to pander not to the audience’s conscious reasoning - which can yield a treasure of understanding only with focused effort on the audience’s part - but instead to the audience’s subconscious, which picks up hidden clues even without an audience member’s intent to do so.  When someone reads or hears a pun, that person might never actually say “Oh! The author is reminding me of ____!”  However, the subtlety of puns can work wonders on the psychological level, manipulating an audience member into forming the conclusions desired by the author.  Puns anchor the audience member naturally to the general area the author wants the audience member to end his or her voyage at, with a bit of leeway still remaining for the formation of unique hypotheses.

I have a sinking feeling that most people didn’t sea the common theme of my paragraph above, but I’m not shore.  However, I’m hoping you picked up on it subconsciously. J