Great Expectations Rhetorical Devices

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For as long as humanity has prospered within the bounds of civilization, the use of language has followed. From the epics and myths of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt to the vast archive of text available today on the internet, the widespread use of written, spoken, and performed language has played a major role in how humans interact, not just with each other, but also with the rest of the natural and supernatural world. Words and speech were held to have power beyond the physical, whether it be the metaphorical power to communicate, persuade, frighten, and coerce, or esoteric forms that could control spirits or call down mystical ruin. Oftentimes, these purposes were one and the same, addressing both the person before the speaker and the forces …show more content…
When analyzing Margaret’s curses, the theme of grief-motivated retribution stands clearly as the source and inspiration of Margaret’s words. Having been directly wronged by every person on the scene in some fashion (aside from Buckingham), she creates unique punishments for each party reflecting her individual experiences of their personal betrayal. This can be most clearly seen with Elizabeth, where Margaret curses her to bear her own fate as a powerless, childless widow, mirroring most clearly the Old Testament judicial concept of “an eye for an eye” found in Leviticus 24. It is only with Richard that she moves from personal justice to more general damnation, as his actions are severe enough to warrant being called “the troubler of the poor world’s peace” (1.3.229), and his traitorous nature terrible enough to stir sympathy for Elizabeth, who she had given the second longest curse to at the beginning of her dialogue, even to the point of warning her of imminent …show more content…
3.3.16) and Elizabeth finds herself recalling: “O, thou didst prophesy the time would come That I should wish for thee to help me curse That bottled spider, that foul bunch-backed toad!” (4.4.84) Margaret’s curses remain accurate even in their specificity, and thus even the skeptical words of Buckingham, that “curses never pass / The lips of those that breathe them in the air” (1.3.298) are proven folly by his own admission in Act 5, Scene 1. In stark contrast, Caliban’s words do nothing of note to his targets, aside from making them angry. He cannot even divert the misfortune placed upon him by Prospero’s own verbal commands, which act as a sort of anti-curse or reversal of the established concept of Shakespearean cursing. While Margaret and Caliban curse from their deficiencies, Prospero threatens with his proficiencies, the power he has as an authority rather than a humble subject. Richard attempts a similar reversal on Margaret by interrupting her curse with her own name, but evidently, he ends up
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