The Evolution of the English Language through Romeo and Juliet “Despised, Divorcèd, hated, martyred, killed! Uncomfortable time, why cam’st thou now To murder, murder our solemnity?” (Act IV, scene v, lines 59-61) In the twenty-first century these long drawn out phrases are all but obsolete in the American’s vernacular. Romeo and Juliet, along with many other Shakespeare plays utilize this “outdated sentence structure,” much to the chagrin of teenagers the world over. The English language has changed in many ways since the age of Shakespeare and his many plays. Namely, these changes include the formality of language, the length of speech, and the words that comprise an everyday person’s lexicon. An area where the formality of speech is seen in Romeo and Juliet is in the way that characters refer to each other. When characters meet, a simple “Hey” or “Hi” is unheard of. Rather, characters give a formal greeting, usually …show more content…
This in essence is saying that it was the worst day. This repetition and wordiness has been largely lost in the present day. Throughout school, students are taught not to be repetitive with their writing, and to be selectively brief in a sense. This change likely has to do with the changing of the stages of English, and the conception of instant messaging. Like stated previously, instant messaging allows you to be vague and brief. An individual in Shakespearian times likely would not waste a large portion of time sending a three word letter. Also, as English changes, so do parts of the language. That could also provide a culprit for the differing lengths of speech between middle and modern English. Unfortunately, it would be very hard to isolate the exact cause of these changes, as linguistics are abstract and ever changing, even without the knowledge of the speakers. As languages change, there are many facets that change with the language, one of these being word