Puns In Romeo And Juliet

uns are the ultimate literary device. They can be corny and make you groan, or poetic and full of raw meaning. Shakespeare fully realized the power of the pun, and worked to make it a focal point of his play Romeo and Juliet. He uses puns to a plethora of extents, from displaying character emotions, foreshadowing, and malapropisms that convey a deeper meaning.
One of the primary functions of puns in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is to convert character emotions. An example of this is when Romeo describes his depression over his rejected love in terms of dance to his friends, where he says “ Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead.” (1. 4.) The pun stems from the homonyms soul and sole, which Shakespeare uses to convert the lead like a weight on Romeo’s soul that Rosalind’s rejection is. Along with this, Shakespeare often uses dancing to symbolize a type of fulfillment, so Romeo’s refusal to dance also symbolizes how he feels lost and empty. Another example of puns conveying character emotions is also in Act 1, scene 4, when Mercutio tells Romeo to overcome his plight and use his love to move on, Romeo responds by saying “ I am too sore enpierced with

For example, “dance a flamingo ” being used instead of “dance a flamenco”. It is used by Shakespeare many times, particularly in the character of Juliet’s nurse. Once, on a trek to find Romeo to find out his wedding plans for Juliet, she says “I desire some confidence in you.”(2.4.) The nurse intends to say “I desire a conference with you,” but her malapropism conveys a deeper meaning, that she does not have confidence in Romeo’s love for Juliet, along with adding even more humor to Mercutio's hijinks. Another malapropism directly follows this, where Benvolio jokes “She will indite him to some supper “(2.4.). While the proper word for the sentence is “invite”, Benvolio uses malapropism to make fun of the nurse’s slip up, this time for pure comedic