Answering the Shakespeare question

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Answering the Shakespeare question
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Contextual features

• Situational factors
• Where is it set?
• Who is present?
• What has just happened previously?
• What will happen next?
• What act and scene is it from?

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Contextual features

• Status and relationships
• Who is speaking?
• Is it soliloquy, dialogue or conversation?
• Is it blank verse or prose?
• What is the status of the characters?

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Interactional features

• Initiating turns
• Length of turns
• Turn taking in dialogue
• Pauses
• Agenda setting
• Modes of address
• Pragmatics
• Politeness principles

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Lexico-grammatical features

• Types of utterance
• Figurative language
• Rhetorical strategies
• Vocabulary
• Non-fluency features

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Phonological features

• Intonation
• Word stress
• Tone of voice
• Accent/dialect

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Dramatic effects

• Presentation of themes, attitudes and ideas
• Construction of character
• Unfolding of the plot
• Build up of tension, suspense, climax
• Creation of mood, tone and atmosphere
• Showing relationships between characters
• Effect on audience
• Irony, rhetoric, persuasion, humour, etc

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Contextual features

• Discourse conventions
• What is the dramatic purpose of the scene?
• What would be the effect on the audience?
• What is the genre of the play?