HOW IS “WONDERFUL” DIFFERENT FROM “MARVELOUS”?
HOW IS “WONDERFUL” DIFFERENT FROM “MARVELOUS”? Marjorie Garber, in her essay on Pericles, cites a passage where “wonder” was used by Shakespeare and points out that: “Modern life has dulled the difference among…superlatives of emotion, rendering ‘wonderful’, ‘marvelous’, ‘terrific’, ‘fantastic’, ‘spectacular’ and the now-conventional ‘awesome’ as tame and undistinguishable terms.” She identifies the “quite specific” associations they formerly had.
“marvelous”—having to do with the supernatural, the unbelievable.
“fantastic”—unreal, imaginary.
“fabulous”—-fabled, fictive
“terrific”—-causing terror
“wonderful”—producing wonder and astonishment
Garber says: “Wonder in this sense [of superhuman possibility and beauty] is what is felt and expressed in all the key scenes of Pericles.”