Take-Home Essay – Language and Syntax in Coriolanus
As William Shakespeare continued to write and create plays, he became more experiential with his language and rhetoric within them. Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare’s final tragedies, exhibits a distinct syntax when compared with Titus Andronicus and Othello. Titus Andronicus was one of the first of Shakespeare’s plays and his first tragedy. The play is characterized by classic verses, mainly in the iambic pentameter form. Shakespeare did not have the experience and artistic freedom he had when writing Coriolanus; he was emerging in London’s theatre scene and played it safe by using a more traditional syntax structure. The language Shakespeare used in Othello was much more ornate and extravagant; like Titus Andronicus it is marked by many uninterrupted speeches and soliloquies. Coriolanus is much more modern-like in the syntax than William Shakespeare’s preceding tragedy plays.
The choppiness of the speeches in Coriolanus is very unlike the formal, end-stopped, verbose soliloquies and speeches in both Othello and Titus Andronicus. Both characteristics accomplish different effects in the plays - the great, long speeches in the two tragedies prior to Coriolanus allow the audience or reader to hear the internal thoughts of the characters. In Act II, Scene IV of Titus Andronicus, the audience has an opportunity to collect Lavinia’s emotion, after her rapists cut her tongue, by Marcus, her uncle’s, long soliloquy after he
Shakespeare’s language is extremely complicated to read, it is vital in education to teach the art of this literature to understand the depth and meaning. Although Shakespeare may be difficult for the modern generation to understand, it’s because of the sophistication of his work. 21st century’s English has been so simplified to the point where we are unfamiliar of this classic form of English used in his playwrights.
The use of descriptive language is important for the writer to entertain, persuade and teleport the reader into their work. Descriptive use and imagery allow the reader to experience the setting, sound, taste, and mood as if they can live through it. Which takes us to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Not only does he use exceptional details and imagery throughout the play between the characters, but the way he uses word allows us to put ourselves into the play as if we can feel what they feel. It also allows us to experience and go through the play as if we are in it also. So in this paper, I would like to focus on a few major moments where I believe Shakespeare descriptive language is the strongest.
Shakespeare was very specific, in 1603, about his choice of words when he wrote the play, “Othello”. The three language devices – “words as power”, “words as character” and “words as conversation” with the audience – are used to create characters’ identities and fates, and also to drive the plot of the play (Krieger, 2012).
Shakespearean Drama SHAKESPEARE, William, Hamlet, New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, 2003; or Cambridge School Shakespeare, 2006)
However, by the formal introduction of the rumoured moor in Act 1 Scene 2 and his monologue in Scene 3, our previous doubts of Othello’s character diminish. The magnificence of Othello shines through through his behaviour and rhetoric, becoming a juxtaposing image of a ‘Valiant Othello’ both the Duke and senators speak of. “Rude am i in my speech” proves Othello’s confidence and elegance in his language. The use of the rhythmic Iambic Pentameter within his monologue suggests a well thought out and educated response from Othello, Shakespeare decides to gift his character with eloquent and virtuous speech in order to highlight his composure as a hero and admirable character. His measured language is a sign of his confidence, self-discipline and virtue, thus agreeing to his admirability of being the tragic hero.
Sophocles and Shakespeare were both literary artists that published works that have been respected and relevant centuries later. The unique language in historical literature assists in their interpretation and their relevance to modern understanding. The masterful wielding of language, diction, and metaphor contribute to various aspects of their work, adding both elements of drama and realism. By incorporating significant words and lines into their writings, Shakespeare and Sophocles create consistent and fluid plays and stories throughout their lives that offer timeless entertainment. The manipulation of speech seen through various characters such as Teiresias, Oedipus, Margaret, Richmond and Anne play a substantial and crucial role in
Last Spring when I performed in one of William Shakespeare's classics 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Shakespeare felt to me like a mystery of words jumbled up together in a beautiful poem. In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ I learned the true meaning of Shakespeare's genius writing. A technique of writing William Shakespeare often uses in his plays like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is juxtaposition. This technique puts two unlike things next to each other. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to show the irony, drama, and the different views between characters to give his story's depth.
“Aristotle believes that the language must be sweet in tragedy. The level of language used by different characters should differ to depict the social stands of the characters” (Adade-Yeboah, Ahenkora, & Amankwa, 2012 pg. 1). Additionally, he focuses on meaningful language reflected throughout the entire play, and stresses that tragedy must be taken seriously.
With most lexile levels above 1200, Shakespeare’s plays are too difficult for high school audiences who have lexiles far below that. These plays also consist of words that cannot even be found in a dictionary anymore, therefore students do not have the possibility to look up their definitions and struggle to understand their context. Not only do the plays’ lexiles tower over those of students and the language made to seem aristocratic, but Shakespeare mainly sets his plays overseas within a series of abnormal events, incomprehensible to those who have never experienced these setting types before. With the use of technology to modernize William Shakespeare’s plays, students may find there to be less hatred towards these dramas because of the difficulty to understand and more enthusiasm about reading this legendary playwright’s
Shakespeare’s plays have endured over 400 years of significant history and have played an important role in this world’s culture. His play Romeo and Juliet (1597) is especially prolific because of the substantial use of dramatic techniques used to disclose the complexities of human nature. Shakespeare has shown these complexities through the incorporation of the dramatic techniques soliloquy, dramatic Irony, foreshadowing and conflict. These techniques emphasise the complexities of human nature through the characters Romeo, Juliet and Tybalt and identifies aspects of their personalities which, otherwise, would not have been so obvious in the absence of the dramatic techniques.
The utilization of descriptive language is important for the writer to entertain, persuade and teleport the reader into their work. Descriptive use and imagery allow the reader to experience the setting, sound, taste, and mood as if they can live through it. Which takes us to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Not only does he utilize exceptional details and imagery throughout the play between the characters, but the way he uses word allows us to put ourselves into the play as if we can feel what they feel. It also allows us to experience and go through the play as if we are in it also. So in this paper, I would like to focus on a few major moments where I believe Shakespeare descriptive language is the strongest.
William Shakespeare, arguably the greatest language in the English language and England’s national poet, has written numerous histories, tragedies, comedies and poems. Throughout his plays, his use of dramatic irony, immaculate word choice and wording, and his vast imagination has made him a successful playwright even in his time. Shakespeare’s scripts for his theatrical company, needed to pertain to the needs and fascinations of the Elizabethan audience. It is safe to assume that all his sonnets, poetic speeches, electrifying action and soliloquies in his play were created for the delicate and quickly appreciative of language Elizabethans of his time. A particular example out of the many soliloquies
The Shakespearean tragedy Othello contains a number of themes; their relative importance and priority is debated by literary critics. In this essay let us examine the various themes and determine which are dominant and which subordinate.
One of literature’s most distinguished plays, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was written by the highly acclaimed William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was an individual of many talents; among those talents were poetry, acting, and playwriting. During his life, Shakespeare wrote a total of thirty-seven plays, one-hundred-seventy-four sonnets, and invented more than seventeen thousand of the words used in current English. A great number of those plays and sonnets have been translated in over eighty languages, some of which include Chinese, Uzbek, and Bengali. William Shakespeare’s works have been so widely used in the English language that he has become the second most quoted author in English. Because of Shakespeare’s great success, The Tragedy of
In a genre that contradicts a novelist's affluence of narrative explication, the language in its purest form becomes Shakespeare's powerful instrument, wherein he controls it with the unusual combination of force, subtlety, and exactitude”