"" Hamlet is shown, through Shakespeare's diction, as an intelligent and well educated prince. He uses words like disposition and promontory, words not recited by the less educated men of the day. Throughout the play he is seen reciting soliloquies in which his speech is formal and sophisticated, he is shown as an intelligent character. .
Shakespeare also uses his word choice to make characters look less intelligent. This is more subtly noticed in Hamlet because most of the main characters are educated and well read, but it is very imminent in many of his other writings. Evidence of this is present in The Tempest by the character of Caliban. Caliban is first introduced in Act I Scene II, where he speaks for the first time. "I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first, thou strok'st me and made much of me, wouldst give me water with berries in't, and teach me how to name the bigger light, and how the less, that burn by day and night; and then I lov'd thee, and show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle, the fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile. Curs'd be I that did so! All the charms Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! For I am all the subjects that you have, which first was mine own king; and here you sty me in this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me the rest o' th' island."" (The Tempest Act 1 Scene 2) From the first time Caliban speaks Shakespeare makes it eminent that he is little more than a moron. He speaks with a very informal language and a foreign dialect. From this it is easy to gather that he is a poorly or un-educated man who speaks with an accent. From only one quotation from a character in a Shakespearian play much information is inferred, he uses his characters dialogue to portray them with the traits he wishes to make known. Shakespeare chooses to give characters like Caliban a unique dialect, it allows for a deeper and more interesting character.
