Hidden Use of Language

The uses of language and imagery define the contents of a story. It’s another outlet for authors to provide a perspective of specific characters. In William Shakespeare and Carol Mason use different language style to give emphasis on certain characters. In Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night and Mason’s Intercession of the Saints use different language to describe a setting or character. The use of language and certain imagery helps authors better depict the experiences and personalities of characters in their stories.

Mason’s descriptive imagery and language helps her better portray the hallucinations of Ava. Earlier this evening I attend a lecture by Carol Mason a distinguished author and English professor at Brown University. She has written many fiction and non fiction books and has published many essays; her most recent book is a work in process called Bay of Angels which will consists of different stories and essays. Intercession of Angels is an essay about the thoughts of a woman, Ava, on her deathbed while her husband reads a book of saints to her. While Mason read the story the thoughts and emotions of Ava came alive because the particular words and imagery she used. After she read the story, Mason shared with the audience that the language she uses in her stories is due to the church.

Shakespeare uses language to tell the reader who to trust and who is the voice of reason. In the Twelfth Night, Viola and the Clown are the voice of reason and the two characters who speak the most poetically. Viola and the Clown are the wisest characters in play and greatly contrast characters like Sir Andrew and Sir Toby. Shakespeare uses this technique to inform the audience which characters they can trust and take seriously. Shakespeare uses this method at the end of the play. When Sebastian and Viola meet for the first time after the ship wreck and everything is unraveled, most of the characters begin to speak in perfect poetic form. Here Shakespeare is explaining to the audience that order has been restored and all problems resolved.

Many people don’t realize that language is not only used for people to communicate but also allows people define personality. Many authors use this method to their advantage to help the audience/ reader better understand the work. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Mason’s Bay of Angels and other works the authors do an excellent job of presenting the different personalities and settings with their use of language and imagery.