Investigating the Pragmatics of Swearing in Classic English Dramas

The current work aims at assessing pragmatic uses of swearing in the English classics that include She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. This paper adopts a quantitative method of analyzing the exact number of daily swearing occurrence, how swearing is used in these texts and the pragmatic functions of swearing. It is shown that swearing is primarily used for purposes of enriching the conflicts and the characters’ relations, with considerable differences in frequency across the works. As for the existential element, it is also heightened by the act of swearing in Doctor Faustus, while the element of emotion overwhelms the authority aspect in Macbeth. Thus, the research is relevant to the analysis of how profanity as rhetorical appeal is used to enrich the overall portrayal of the themes and the characters in classical works.