Ms. Sadeghi
May 9th, 2013
Eng2D1
Romeo and Juliet Language Revealing Social Class Essay.
Language is a very amazing thing, It allows people to carry out day to day tasks and communicate with others. But, it can also reveal certain clues to a persons social class. In the play 'Romeo and Juliet' written by William Shakespeare in 1596, their is very descriptive and creative language used through out the play. This type of language can be analyzed for many different reasons but one of the major reasons is to reveal social classes of the characters in the play 'Romeo and Juliet'. The Capulet’s use of formal language when speaking to others in the play conveys that they have a very high social class in the time that this dramatic and theatrical play took place. The Nurse's use of freely spoken language to her employer's, the Capulet's provides an assumption that she has a middle social class within the Capulet household. The formal language of the Capulet's and the freely spoken language of the Nurse effectively conveys their high and middle social status.
The Capulet's high social class in the play's society can be revealed through their use of formal language. The Capulet's use of formal language unmasking their social status can be seen when examining the following quote. “[Lady Capulet] Nurse, where's my daughter? Call her forth to me”(1 . 3 . 109). In this quote from 'Romeo and Juliet' Lady Capulet is speaking to the nurse in a formally demanding way, telling her to go get her daughter Juliet. The formal language used in the quote reveals the high social class the Capulet's portray through out the play due to the fact that Lady Capulet could have just as easily told the nurse in an informal way to go get her daughter. However, instead because of her poise and high social status she naturally talked in a formal way to the nurse to tell her to call her daughter forth. The Capulet's high social class can again be revealed through the provided