In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, there are an ample exhibit of puissance dynamics between the characters occurring throughout the play. The majority of this ascendancy is customarily kept within men of high division, with low reputation females receiving the least amount of potency; this can be discerned through the the interactions of characters in the play. Nonetheless, Shakespeare alters this power dynamic through the utilization of puns. These puns can have an concealed connotation that some characters don’t recognize, which can give the utilizer a sense of potency over others. Over the course of the play, certain characters maintain high power, this sense of power is often perceived through characters’ actions and conversations. For instance, Lord Capulet expresses this sense of clout when Juliet refuses to wed Paris, “... But fettle your fine joints ’gainst Thursday next, / To go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church, / Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. / Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage! / You tallow-face.” (Act III Scene V). This line exhibits Lord Capulet’s power as he coerces Juliet to do precisely as he wishes and expects full obedience from her. In addition, when Mercutio first meets the Nurse he harasses her simply due to her lowly rank, “[Nurse] My fan, Peter. / [Mercutio] Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan’s the fairer face. / … ’Tis no less, I tell …show more content…
An example of this is men of higher caste having much more control and power over women belonging to lower ends of the social spectrum. However, these power dynamics are shifted over the course of the play through the use of puns. These puns often contain underlying meanings and messages that only certain characters will grasp while others will fail to do