Shakespeare's Use of Wordplay

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Shakespeare’s use of wordplay influenced his works during the Elizabethan Era. Shakespeare used wordplay by using a lot of puns to lighten the mood, double entendre to convey multiple meanings with a single stroke of his pen, assonance, alliteration and consonance to keep the audience engaged by varying the rhythm of a scene. In “Romeo and Juliet,” Shakespeare utilizes Mercutio to deliver a series of wordplays. In Act 3 Scene 1, Mercutio said, “No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o' both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.” At this point, Mercutio is responding to Romeo’s statement, “Courage, man. The hurt cannot be much.” Mercutio is angry and knows that death is near. He’s angry that Romeo interrupted the fight by jumping in the middle. If Romeo hadn’t jumped into the fight, Mercutio’s death could have been avoided. Wordplay influenced his works by keeping the audience engaged by utilizing a variety of writing styles or patterns when dealing with serious and intense issues. He used comedy to lighten the mood but remained on task delivering the message that he is trying to accomplish. “No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” The wound was not large, but it was large enough. Mercutio would be dead tomorrow, because it was a fatal wound. Shakespeare uses his plays to address social and political issues. Shakespeare presented arranged marriages in “Romeo and Juliet” where Juliet had to marry her equal or greater.
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