Raegan Kennedy 1st Lit
Use of Language between Social Classes
Shakespeare characterizes characters such as Romeo, Peter and Friar Lawrence with the different language he uses between social classes.

One of the most unarguable important characters in this play is Romeo Montague. Romeo is a member of the higher social class. Shakespeare gives this character Romeo lines of iambic pentameter. In this play Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter in order to give a certain character the impression of sounding intellectual and poetic. Many of Romeo’s lines are long and flowy. Romeo had many soliloquies which are usually filled with many similes, metaphors and imagery. whilst when he is with Juliet he switches to sonnet (or rhyming verse) form – this was considered very romantic in this period of history. oxymoron. Additionally, high class characters use metaphorical language throughout the play to a greater extent as to low class characters. In the play, Romeo compares Juliet to the sun "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." (2.2.2). Shakespeare made main characters use metaphors often because the literary device adds complexity and depth to speech given out by a character. Thus, metaphors will help develop the character and show the viewer about his or her emotions. With speech from a high-class character being complex, the audience will spend more time on the main character rather than characters of the lower classes.
Peter is a personal servant of the nurse and is from the lower class. Shakespeare gives members of the lower class pros to speak in. Pros are ordinary speech with no regular pattern of accentual rhythm. An example would be this line spoken by Peter in Act 1 Scene 5, “where’s Potman, that he helps not to take away? He shifts a trencher? He scrape a