Neil Bowen on
Shakespeare’s Style
Prose, blank verse and rhyming couplets
Shakespeare’s plays are written mainly in blank verse – lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Sometimes characters speak in prose – usually to reflect lower status, greater familiarity in their relationship or lower moral standards.
Rarely a character will use rhyming couplets – this is the highest form of the three and rhyming couplets are used by characters of high social station and/or to particularly emphasise the importance of something being said. Often they are used at the end of a scene to ‘round the scene off’ with a dramatic flourish.
Contrast between use of prose and blank verse
Look at the contrast between the three in the extracts you are studying – it is these contrasts that are often used to further emphasise Shakespeare’s thematic and dramatic intentions.
For example, in Act 4 Scene 3 Emilia speaks mostly in prose to represent her status as a servant. However, in her big speech on the abuses done to women by men (lines 82-101) Shakespeare changes to blank verse to add more status to her words and emphasise that Emilia is now playing a more choric role.
Another example occurs in Act 1 Scene 3 where Roderigo and Iago speak in prose (lines 298-373) to emphasise the low morality of their conversation and the sense of comfortable familiarity that Iago encourages. However, at the end of the scene Shakespeare uses blank verse for Iago’s soliloquy to gives it more authority.
Choric role
A character in Shakespeare will occasionally act like a chorus and become a kind of commentator on the action of the play, like Emilia does when she talks of the abuses suffered by women in Act 4 Scene 3.
Dramatic irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience understands the true significance of what is said on stage while the characters do not.
For example, when the characters in Othello so often call Iago ‘honest’ the audience realises that Iago is a liar while clearly the characters do not.
Dramatic irony creates tension in the build up to tragedy and also helps to illustrate the theme of appearance and reality in Othello.
Diction
Choice and use of words in speech or writing.
It is always helpful to examine the word choices used by Shakespeare. Look for patterns in Shakespeare’s choice of words because it often helps emphasise character or themes in the play.
For example, Shakespeare fills Iago’s diction with words connected with hell to emphasise his diabolic nature. Later, Othello’s diction also becomes filled with words connected with hell. This shows Othello is becoming more and more like Iago. It shows the corrupting effect of jealousy.
Motifs
A motif is a a recurrent thematic element in a literary work.
In the same way Shakespeare uses diction to illustrate character and themes in the play, he also uses motifs to emphasise important ideas.
For example, the ideas of appearance and reality and of reputation are continually brought up by characters in the play.
Figures of speech
Figures of speech such as metaphor, simile and personification are often used by Shakespeare to describe themes and aspects of character visually to the audience.
For example there are a number of figures of speech in Othello connected with the image of poison/disease or drugs. These help emphasise to the audience the destructive effects of jealousy and revenge.
Another more complex figure of speech is used in Othello – this is oxymoron. An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.
For example, Iago says ‘divinity of hell’ in Act 2 Scene 3, and the oxymoron here emphasises Iago’s inversion of order and his sadistic pleasure in perverting the divine.
Sound devices
Shakespeare also uses sound devices like alliteration and assonance to affect the tone of his characters’ speeches.
Look especially at contrasts of heavy and soft vowels and consonants and the variance in tone these establish. Often these tonal differences indicate important details about a character’s emotions.
For example, Othello uses a lot of soft and rich vowel sounds in his speech to emphasise his exotic nobility of character. However, after his corruption by Iago his speech becomes harsher, shown by the hard consonants in exclamations like ‘devil’ and ‘I will chop her into messes’.
Syntax
Syntax is sentence patterns and formation.
Changes in syntax are also used by Shakespeare to emphasise character and themes.
Look for aspects of syntax such as parallel structure, balanced clauses, broken syntax where a character’s speech becomes fragmented and ‘choppy’.
For example, Othello uses balanced clauses often in his speech to reflect his balanced and noble character. However, after his corruption by Iago his speech becomes filled with more examples of broken syntax, especially when he is enraged. This broken syntax emphasises his unbalanced, chaotic state of mind.
Paradox
Also look for paradox. Paradoxes are contradictory statements.
There are many paradoxes in Othello. For example, ‘die upon a kiss’ and ‘kills for loving’ combine two contradictory ideas, love and death. Paradoxes such as these highlight the disordered world, the ‘divinity of hell’, created by Iago in the play.