Shakespeare’s mastery of the English language and enduring themes makes his writings still pertinent today. With carefully selected words and diction, images are easily visualized in the minds of people reading his plays. In Act 3 Scene 2 of Hamlet, Hamlet speaks with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, and his diction guides the actor on how to act out the lines in the scene. The scene’s tone reveals Hamlet’s distrust displayed by Hamlet’s unusual repetition of the word “sir” to his friends. In order to portray this, Shakespeare puts emphasis on the word, sir, every time it is repeated in Hamlet’s lines. Shakespeare’s diction also guides the actor to portray disbelief towards anything that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern speak. Shakespeare
