A composition on Shakespeare's form of language
Answers
The language used by Shakespeare can be traced back to the political and cultural influences of the day.
Latin and Greek Influence:
Born in the 16th century, Shakespeare went to a free grammar school. Latin was reportedly the medium of instruction. Hence the playwright’s work though mainly in English, are peppered with words and phrases of Latin origin. It is a known fact that many Latin words found their way into the English vocabulary. Similarly, he had knowledge of the Greek classics, from which he borrowed considerably. Credit goes to Shakespeare for trying to incorporate such words and ideas into his plays.
Coining words:
Shakespeare did not compromise on expressing himself as he wished to. As a result, he is said to have coined many new words that are in use even today. Some such commonly used words include accused and luggage.
Archaic words:
Though Shakespearean English is not exceedingly easy to follow, a comparative study suggests that the dramatist’s language is indeed closer to modern day English than to Old English. Some words however are difficult to understand since they are not used anymore, but other than some archaic words, the playwright’s vocabulary is not difficult by itself.
Iambic Pentameter:
Since Shakespeare wrote plays primarily for public performances, he wrote in a manner that was suitable for actors. It meant that he needed to write in a rhythmic manner, to make it easier for the performers to memorize the lines. Thus, he resorted to writing in the iambic pentameter. It means that each line is made up of 5 meters (‘pent’ means 5), or 10 syllables. ‘Iambic’ refers to the stress pattern. This helped the actors, though it made the verses a little complicated for readers. It is important to remember that Shakespeare did not write plays for readers. His focus was on theatre, which helped him earn a living. In order to fit the content into the lines, he tinkered with the order of words, which contributes to the complexity of his works.
Puns:
As was the trend during those days, like the University Wits, Shakespeare too enjoyed using puns as an added element, as with Hamlet’s dialogue, "Not so, my lord, I am too much in the sun." Such word play suggested different levels of meaning and showcases his command of the language. The connotative and denotative meanings add complexity to his work.
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright. He was one of the most recognized writers. Shakespeare's first plays adopted the conventional style. The poetries were based on metaphors and conceitedness and the language used was rather rhetorical. Soon Shakespeare adapted the traditional style of language. His poetry consisted of blank verses which were written with regular unrhymed lines and it was known as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century" , in his writing he also cleverly used puns and imageries to add more sense to the content. His style was one of the most influential styles but it also gave the feel of monotony at times.
After his most famous play Hamlet, Shakespeare changed his style which was more concentrated, rapid, varied, less regular, not seldom twisted. Then in the last phase of his career, Shakespeare adopted various techniques to achieve different effects. Which included irregular pauses and stops and variations in sentence structure and even the length of the content. The beauty of Shakespeare's style of writing was that it could handle the translation because they never lost its real meaning. In some of his works he also added punctuation to strengthen the rhythm. Humor is a key element in all of the Shakespeare's plays at the same time his works have been considered controversial because of the pun used in his writing style. His style of writing and use of language reveals the whole human experience.