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Social Classes In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a character’s style of speech identifies their social rankings and situational emotions. Wealthy or royal higher classes have a formal approach to language when the lower, servant and civilian classes have an informal approach to speech. The wealthy, higher classes can speak in sonnets to show a connection between two characters. Additionally, the type of dialogue Shakespeare creates with each character in different parts of the tragedy determine the emotions and inner feelings of the character that cannot be expressed with asides, stage directions, or the emotions of the actor. The higher, wealthy and royal class of characters in Romeo and Juliet calmly with Iambic pentameter in a form known as blank …show more content…

The connection between the two characters is shown by the two speaking in a sonnet and completing the other’s lines of iambic pentameter. The 14 lines of a sonnet are in iambic pentameter and the ending words of each line follow an “ABABCDCDEFEFGG” rhyme scheme. In their meeting scene, Romeo says “To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss,” and Juliet completes this line with her line “Good pilgrim, you do wrong with your hand too much,” (I.v.105-107). The sonnet segment here follows the same rules as iambic pentameter, but the next line in this sonnet will rhyme with “kiss.” The characters share the sonnet with each other to show their instantaneous love and connections. The iambic pentameter used in the sonnet shows that the two members of wealthy, higher-class families are at a time of peace. Another sonnet, shown at the beginning of Act II demonstrates how sonnets can be used at times of intense emotions. “Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie, / And young affection gapes to be his heir. / That fair for which love groaned for and would die,” (II.i.1-3). Notice how the lines follow the strict rules of iambic pentameter as well as rhyming the words “lie” and “die” in the ABAB rhyme scheme. The sonnet portrays the idea of love being to die for, a feeling of profound

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