Language In Shakespeare's Tragedy

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Language in Shakespeare's Tragedy The presentation of language in King Lear compliments Aristotle theory on the purpose of stylistic elements of language in a Shakespearean tragedy. In essence, these function in attaining a deeper insight in the action, feelings and motives of the characters. In the play, Shakespeare’s use of diction is crucial in creating a timeless dramatic world that has its own space, time, history and mythological background according to one critic. This world is a combination of both ancient Britain as well as the seventeenth century. This observation can be confirmed as factual as Shakespeare’s choice of words and sentence construction differ from the ordinary language. It is rather a mixture of both time periods. References made to “Apollo” and “Jupiter” links the play to the early English days of astrology and mythology while words such as “dukes” and “princes” presents the courtly world of English nobles. These references unique to King Lear allow the audience to have a grounded understanding of the historical backgrounds from which the play emerges enhancing the purpose of the unusual diction of the characters. In King Lear, Shakespeare successfully creates his own vocabulary and rules of grammar that assist in revealing the emotional intensity in the spoken words of a character. Tragedy is the highest form of drama therefore the diction would have to be adequately developed for the audience to gain an appreciation of the genre. This is particularly true to King Lear in Shakespeare’s reconstruction of sentences in order to heighten the emotional intensity of the character. In Lear’s speech the separation of verb and subject with long delaying or expanding interruptions conveys to the audience a sincerity of thought making the action seem genuine, familiar; compelling the audience to feel a sense of pity or fear (catharsis). According
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