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Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Act 1, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The Two Noble Kinsmen is characterized by a very formal and ornate tone. The play’s chief characters are primarily drawn from the highest classes of Ancient Greek society, including monarchs, gentlemen, and courtiers. Fittingly, they speak in a formal and highly rhetorical fashion that is anything but casual. A key feature of this formal and courtly tone is the use of lengthy epithets, or descriptive titles. When the Second Queen addresses Hippolyta, for example, she first describes her with a series of grand titles:
Honored Hippolyta,
Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain
The scythe-tusked boar; that with thy arm, as strong
As it is white, wast near to make the male
To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord,
Born to uphold creation in that honor
First nature styled it in, shrunk thee into
The bound thou wast o’erflowing, at once subduing
Thy force and thy affection; soldieress
That equally canst poise sternness with pity,
Whom now I know hast much more power on him
Than ever he had on thee.
In these 12 lines, the Second Queen does not even start her petition, but rather, compliments Hippolyta with magnificent epithets, such as “Honored Hippolyta,” “Most dreaded Amazonian,” and “soldieress / That equally canst poise sternness with piety.” Throughout this scene, in which three Greek queens implore the monarchs of Athens to go to war against Thebes, these royal characters use florid honorifics when addressing each other, in order to emphasize their respect for one another.
